[W1SMH] Fwd: Call for Volunteers for the Democratic National Convention

[David Bodman]

>From :   Rob Macedo <rmacedo at rcn.com>
Sent :   Thursday, July 1, 2004 8:25 AM
To :   <Undisclosed-Recipient:, >
Subject :   Call for Volunteers for the Democratic National Convention
Update #1

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----


Hello to all.....

My apologies for any duplicate messages and for those on my SKYWARN
Newsletter email list, my apologies for making this non-weather related
announcement but we are trying to get the word out to as many Amateurs as
possible, starting particularly in the Eastern Massachusetts ARRL section
and also to notify other ARRL areas concerning limited ARES deployment for
the Democratic National Convention. Below is the updated announcement:

***** Call for Volunteers for duty during for the DNC Update #1*****

Requirements for the Democratic National Convention (DNC) continue to be
developed by our clients.  In particular, the American Red Cross has
solidified their plans and what they are requesting from their volunteers.
Amateur duties that the Red Cross is requesting include responding to the
Red Cross chapters in Boston and Waltham during normal and potential
incident operations.

Other duties expected from our cadre will range from maintaining net watches
at home stations to passing status traffic messages directing mobilization.
Teams supporting other served agencies such as the Salvation Army will be
mobilized as required.

We are also looking for a large number of “stand-by” operators that will be
ready to provide additional support if an incident occurs.  As per our
doctrine, Amateurs volunteering for this duty will always be asked to accept
any further deployment, so please consider being part of our standby corps!

The Red Cross is requesting the following support during the week of the DNC
to support their concept of “normal” operations:

-Two Amateur Radio Operators deploying to the Waltham Red Cross Chapter from
8 AM-4 PM Monday July 26th through Friday July 30th.
-Two Amateur Radio Operators deploying to the Waltham Red Cross Chapter from
4 PM-1 AM Monday July 26th through Thursday July 29th.
-One Amateur Radio Operator deploying to the Boston Red Cross Chapter from 8
AM-4 PM Monday July 26th through Friday July 30th.

It is noted that the DNC is still roughly one month away and these
requirements listed above could experience several minor adjustments as we
approach the week of the DNC.

A Net Control Command Center will be setup to support this activity
utilizing the town of Bridgewater Emergency Operations Center (EOC). We’d
like to take this opportunity to thank Herb Lemon, KC1ZW, Bridgewater
Emergency Management Director and Chairman of the Board of Selectman for his
support in allowing us to utilize the EOC for the week of the DNC. Carl
Aveni, N1FY, newly named ARES District Emergency Coordinator for Plymouth
County, will be coordinating the net control activity at the Bridgewater
EOC.

As stated in the previous call to action, the day shift will be most
challenging to fill, as the DNC will be taking place during the workweek.
The ARES staff cannot ask anyone to take time off from work, but if you can
arrange to donate a vacation day or two to help, it would be greatly
appreciated. Amateur Operators that have already contacted us in the first
DNC Volunteer Call to Action announcement will be contacted again within the
next 7-10 days to discuss where they will be best suited to serve in this
operation.

In the previous call to action, we asked about what ARES members have
received any form of ICS training. While we are still asking ARES members to
respond to this question (it would be greatly appreciated since it is not in
our questionnaires), you do not need to be ICS trained to assist us in DNC
operations.  Frankly, we are rather looking for “good old-fashioned” Amateur
Radio knowledge, good operating skills and most importantly, a sincere
desire to serve the agencies that are requesting support, and being flexible
with the situation and conditions of the deployment.

With this entire infrastructure being setup to support the DNC, as was done
by the Red Cross and Salvation Army for Boston First Night New Year’s
celebrations, it is important to remember that the most likely outcome is
that nothing of consequence will happen during the DNC.  This was what we
experienced during the limited ARES Activation on New Year’s Eve.

In that scenario, this will lead to quite a bit of time where we are
monitoring the event with nothing happening, and we are just sitting
watching and waiting. While it may not be exciting or glamorous, the
agencies we are serving view this stand-by and limited deployment by us as
providing them a huge advantage in case something does happen. Moreover,
serving in this capacity at these agencies’ request give us tremendous
credibility with their organizations and is greatly appreciated. We ask that
those that deploy to the served agencies to bring a book, game, or something
to entertain them during this potential for large periods of “down” time.
The ARES staff, however, will be utilizing the DNC as a great training
opportunity to practice an ARES-MAT, fine-tune net control skills as we will
have regular call-ups of nets every few hours, pass routine NTS status
traffic messages.  We will continue to exercise our net call-ups and regular
NTS traffic nets every evening, and practice home station usage and message
handling. If, on the low probability that some type of incident occurs (and
an incident could range from a wide variety of different things through
man-made or natural causes), activity could rapidly ramp up and quickly
transition routine nets to heavy use for important and vital emergency
traffic.

More updates to this call to action will follow over the next few weeks. We
ask that interested Amateurs please contact Mike Neilsen, W1MPN, and Robert
Macedo, KD1CY during this timeframe if you live in the Eastern Massachusetts
section via email. Their email addresses appear below:

W1MPN-Mike Neilsen:           w1mpn at ema.arrl.org
KD1CY-Rob Macedo:            rmacedo at rcn.com or kd1cy at comcast.net

Amateur Radio Operators outside the Eastern Massachusetts section should
first contact their ARES Section Emergency Coordinator.  Their response will
depend on how much support is received from inside the Eastern Massachusetts
section, before we ask for support outside the section to support our served
agencies needs as required.

The ARES Staff would like to extend our sincere thanks in advance for your
efforts!

Respectfully Submitted,

Michael P. Neilsen, W1MPN
Eastern Massachusetts
Section Emergency Coordinator
w1mpn at ema.arrl.org
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
978.562.5662 Office
978.389.0558 FAX

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
Deputy Section Emergency Coordinator
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Southeast Massachusetts ARES District Emergency Coordinator
SAMARA ARES Emergency Coordinator
Pager #: (508) 354-3142
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)
Work Phone #: 1-800-445-2588 Ext.: 72929 (8 AM-5 PM)
Email Address: rmacedo at rcn.com
http://users.rcn.com/rmacedo

rm