[MDC-EC] Important Changes to ARES Tactical Address

[Mike Liller]

Hi all,
Hope everyone enjoyed Field Day and The 4th of July holiday. 
In accordance with ARRL Public Service Communications Manual, App. B, MPG Chapter 6, updated Nov 2010, all MDC ARES organizations need to make the following changes:
6A6.3.2 ARES® ADDRESSING
ARES® ADDRESSES, 3 TO 12  CHARACTERS; EXAMPLES 
SECTION, 2-5  Char. COUNTY 3-4  Char. [Site  Name] -*  [ssid]* 
SECTION, 2-5  Char. COUNTY 3-4  Char. [Local  official] -*  [ssid]* 
SECTION, 2-5  Char. [Section  official] -*  [ssid]* 
SECTION, 2-5  Char. (any combination  of letters) -  * [ssid]* 
SECTION, 2-5  Char. Letters, [-], Numbers/Letters/Hyphens 
* The hyphen and ssid (specific station ID) are optional, but  a hyphen must precede any figures used. Examples:
MDCSM, MDCSEC, MDCBACIEC, MDCBACOEOC, MDCPRGESH-3, MDCPRGEHOS-1, MDCPRGE-H1, etc. 
 
By convention set in this  protocol the first 2 to 5 characters may represent the US ARES® or  Canada Section (see the Section table below). This method parallels the  leadership designations in the Field Organization which are organized by  Section. The second field may be any permitted characters, county abbreviation,  or Section official’s title abbreviation. The third field may be site name, such  as EOC, shelter, or hospital abbreviation, etc. Numeric characters may be placed  anywhere after the first hyphen in the address. A specific ID (ssid) would then  be designated by a hyphen followed by one or more numbers or letters or hyphens  in any combination.

These address choices will  help other users to identify the client location and to segment addresses on a  national, Section, and Local jurisdiction scale. This will facilitate the  generation of address books of convenience for ARES® and official’s  use.
Please ensure you add a tactical address to your ARES function winlink stations as per above above: 
At our EOC in Allegany county, we are both ARES and RACES, so for example: we will use MDALLEEOC for RACES to be compliant with MIRCAppendix C – Maryland RACES Winlink2000 Tactical Email Addresses 
 
and:
 
MDCALLEEOC for ARES operations to be compliant with ARRL Public Service Communications Manual, 
APPENDIX B
MPG CHAPTER 6 - NTSD AND RADIO-EMAIL
 
All of the new changes can be reviewed at:  http://wx4j.com/MPG6_NTSD_RADIOEMAIL.htm
 
BTW, our own Al Nollmayer W3YVQ, MDC STM, was a member of the ARRL committee that did these updates.  Thanks for the hard work Al.
 
Don't forget the next section-wide Winlink test on July 12.  This month, I would like ARES stations with tactical addresses to send the test using their new ARES tactical address, to my tactical address: MDCASEC
More to come on the Winlink test.
 

73de
Mike Liller, N7NMS
ARRL Maryland/DC Section, Assistant SEC