[W1SMH] Fwd: The ARES E-Letter for November 18, 2015

[RayCord]

 Some Good info in this newsletter.
Especially the Oregon Exercise Lessons learned and Maintaining A STRICT LISTENING WATCH
73

 


Ray K2TGX 


 

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: ARRL Web site <memberlist at www.arrl.org>
To: raycord <raycord at aol.com>
Sent: Wed, Nov 18, 2015 5:43 am
Subject: The ARES E-Letter for November 18, 2015





If you are having troublereading this message, you can see the original at:
http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/ares-el/?issue=2015-11-18


November 18,2015
Editor: Rick Palm, K1CE

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In This Issue:

 

Oregon 2015 QuakeEX SETs: ARecap
Maintain a Strict Listening Watch
Typhoon! -- A Lesson in Pacific Island DisasterRelief
Amateur Radio Club Helps Promote DiabetesAwareness
Veterans' Day Month: HDSCS Loses One of ItsOwn

ARES Briefs, Links
Hams Support Air Force Marathon (11/6/2015); Putting Contesting to Work for Your Public Service Team(10/30/2015); Amateur Radio to Have a Presence at National Tribal AssistanceCoordination Group Workshop (10/27/2015); National Emergency Net Active as Category 5Hurricane Patricia Nears Mexico (10/23/2015); Radio Amateurs in Mexico Prepare as PowerfulHurricane Patricia Nears Landfall (10/23/2015); Amateur Radio Was Part of Typhoon Koppu Response inthe Philippines (10/19/2015)
Oregon 2015 QuakeEX SETs: A Recap
Next spring,FEMARegion X, county emergency management agencies statewide, many othersand Oregon ARES/RACES will participate in the FEMA Cascadia Rising exercise. This is a functionalexercise that will play out what might happen should/when a majorearthquake strike the Pacific Northwest. The drill scenario anticipates widespreadloss of normal communication modes such as cell phones, Internet and publicsafety radio as well as major power outages.
Toprepare for Cascadia Rising, Oregon ARES/RACES conducted two statewide simulatedemergency tests (SETs) patterned after the FEMA scenario playbook. Thespring 2015 SET involved 24 counties, four cities, ten hospitals, about 300ARES/ACS/other volunteers and moved about 1,700 messages to various addresses(mostly by HF Winlink Pactor) during the six hour SET. All traffic went bysimplex VHF (no repeaters), HF SSB and HF Winlink Pactor to out of stategateways. All of this was done from within state/county/city EOCs statewide.The fall 2015 SET played the same scenario but mostly from the field ongenerators/batteries and in stormy weather. The November SET involved 16counties and about 250 volunteers.
The differences betweenthe two SETs were striking, proving that operating from the field, Field Daystyle, is far more challenging. During high winds and heavy rain, HFantennas were blown down, tents were flooded and operators got uncomfortable. Wediscovered that under field conditions with no Internet, if you haven'tupdated your modem firmware lately or obtained your Winlink password, you areoff the air. Repairing broken HF wire antennas in the wind and rain meansthat you hope you have that backup antenna! And if the generator won'tstart you have no power. If your people aren't trained or prepared forcontingencies, these problems just seem to multiply.
We'velearned that as much as you might think you are "ready" to go into the field ina major disaster like a magnitude 9 earthquake, it takes constantpreparation and training to be truly "ready." Those that have participated inOregon's Quake EX SETs have learned a lot and have a lot more work to do. It wasa realistic training experience. More information is available on-line atOregonARES/RACES on the Cascadia Rising and SET pages. -- John Core, KX7YT,Oregon ARES/RACES SET Coordinator, KX7YT at arrl.net

Maintain a Strict Listening Watch
"We have two ears andone mouth and they are to be used in proportion." - anonymous. Inthe days where every ship of credibility carried a Morse code set, the radiooperator was required to maintain radio silence on the internationaldistress frequency of 500 KHz for a three minute interval, at 15 and 45 minutesof every hour. As radiotelephone came into being a 3 minute watch wasmaintained at 0 and 30 minutes. If the disaster your vessel encountered fitwithin the 30 minute schedule, your weak, plaintive CQD (later, SOS) had a goodchance of being heard amidst all the commercial traffic and noise.
Today, satellite communications systems have forced these"antiquated" structures into retirement, but not entirely. A few years ago Ienjoyed a tour of a huge container ship at Boston Harbor. After pleasantrieswith the Captain I asked for permission to meet his Radio Officer. "OurEngineer holds that title," he told me, "but in reality," with the Captainputting his hands on a piece of satellite gear, "this is our Radio Officer."Paying deference to the captain and the high tech gear, I then headedstraight for the radio room - thankfully they still had one -- and was warmlygreeted by a middle-aged man of professional bearing in full white uniform.There, in a large space, were three racks, each with a high powered HFtransmitter. The wise officer revealed his best-kept secret to safety: "Shouldwe be going down," he said, opening a small desk drawer, "I'm using this." Arather sturdy Morse hand key was revealed, and there began anunderstanding between us. "The satellites don't talk back," he told me. "This does."
Quiet Periods, Listening Watches and Amateur Radio
He knew about the quiet periods and listening watches of oldand the stories of lives lost and saved. He also knew that the necessity ofmaintaining a strict listening watch has not been lost to time andtechnology. In fact, it's a greater necessity than we may have considered in ourown Amateur Radio service. The very first Amateur Radio public service eventI was responsible to organize included this concept. "Let's keep an ear onthe radio, so we might be less tied up with getting your attention andhave more time to pass actual traffic." Time and experience reveals that otherproblems such as the limitations of newer digital modes are mitigated bythe maintenance of the strict listening watch.
My localclub, the PoliceAmateur Radio Team (PART) of Westford, Massachusetts, operates a 2-meteranalog repeater that is a fantastic performer. It's reliable. It has a widereach. It is well maintained. Still, there are instances where thecombination of interference, distance from the repeater site, and operator techniquecombine adversely.
The Boston Athletic Association Boston Marathoncommunications system offers excellent fodder for study. With almost 300communications volunteers and a few dozen unique repeaters and otherradio-communication systems all pressed to the limit within a very short time span, anythingand everything that can go wrong generally does go wrong. I have, as avolunteer (this is my 15th year), listened in pain to dreadfully long attemptsat getting a simple message between two units, which generally begin withseveral unanswered calls, adding to the mess. In 2015, in a leadershipcapacity, I targeted the only variables within our immediate control: theoperator on both ends of the circuit. Maintaining a strict listening watchbecame a mantra, and it will continue as long as we hold a radio in one hand anda cup of coffee in the other.
At a public serviceevent many of us clip our radio to the belt. Body fading, the same physicalphenomena that aids us in Fox Hunting, attenuates what's coming in and ofcourse what goes out. I now encourage my Net Control Operators (NCO) to requestthat field units "raise the radio over your head and try again" in thefirst instance where that unit is unreadable. This solves the input problem inalmost all cases. With sufficient practice, it's hoped that awareness willspread, and the reminders be made obsolete.
The outputproblem - the ability to receive the repeater output in the field - israrely that the (stronger) repeater transmission cannot be heard. It's simplythat the operator is not focused, not listening for the call. The operatoris chatting with friends, tired and glazed, or listening to othercommunications. One volunteer insisted that he bring along another radio so he might"listen in on public safety." "That's nice," I replied, "but it's not inour job description." I feared that, while lost to more exciting radiobanter, my volunteer would lose awareness - of our situation and responsibility-- so necessary to maintain. I was right. He was often difficult to reachand generally ineffective. Hopefully it was a lesson learned. 
Sure, our work can sometimes involve simply waiting for that onecall, and this can be boring. But think of how interesting we can make ourlistening watch when we form a picture in our mind of what's happening at theevent overall, and what has happened in the past, to grasp that we performa life or death function. 100% focus on our duty and assignment is criticalto our "client" event officials being able to secure the public's safetyas best they can, at the rest stop, intersection, or Red Cross facility towhich we are assigned.
Maintaining that strict listeningwatch repeatedly overcomes the limitations inherent in our technicalcommunications method, promotes situational awareness, improves oureffectiveness to the teams we support, and in the end is a discipline that keeps usfocused on the reason we're standing underneath that silly orange hat in thefirst place: to provide instant, reliable communications.
So maintain that strict listening watch. Your performance and overallsatisfaction, and public safety at the next public service event will be allthe better for it. -- Mark Richards, K1MGY [Richards serves as amember of the Boston Athletic Association Communications Committee, and is afrequent public service event volunteer and organizer. He is employed in thetechnical design and product development of hand-held environmentalmonitoring instrumentation].

Typhoon! -- A Lesson in Pacific Island Disaster Relief
With a population of 103,000, the Federated States ofMicronesia (FSM) in the Pacific is comprised of four states -- Pohnpei, Kosrae,Chuuk and Yap. There are more than 600 islands, spanning 1800 miles from eastto west and several hundred miles north to south. On the night of March 31,2015, super typhoon Maysak struck Ulithi Atoll in Yap State.With winds of more than 160 mph and gusts greater than 210 mph, Maysak was aCategory 5 storm. A major storm surge resulted and on most islands,infrastructure including schools, homes, power and communication systems, sufferedmajor damage or were destroyed completely. No fatalities occurred onUlithi.
I have a home there (on Falalop Island) and my job isto develop computer systems for schools. I also teach technology to theschools' students and train their teachers. I also provide humanitarianservices with the help of our local radio club, the Big Island Amateur Radio Club. I was off theisland when the typhoon hit, but was ticketed to fly home on April 10 - mymission upon arrival would be disaster relief.
I packedcommunications equipment, emergency power sources, antennas, tools, spareparts, survival equipment, and enough emergency food for my adopted family of14 (including ten hungry high school students from Satawal Island) for aperiod of five weeks. Some of the supplies were shipped to Yap just before Ileft Hilo, Hawaii, but 11 bags had to be taken on the plane. (HawaiianAirlines waived all excess baggage fees). There were some customs hang-ups tobe dealt with.
My house survived, but power lines weredown and the diesel generator power house was partially destroyed. TheInternational Office of Migration (IOM) loaned me two 60 amp/hour batteries andgave me a ride to my home. Richard Darling, AH7G, and Barbara Darling,NH7FY, had provided funding for a Renogy 100 watt suitcase folding solarpanel, inverter, battery pack, and toolbox. By morning, I had set up thebatteries and solar power systems, and an Icom IC-718 HF transceiver. Fiberglassmasts and antennas were erected. I then contacted Richard Darling, AH7G, andWilliam Radolfetheg, V63YWR, as scheduled, with good propagation andsignals. We ultimately conducted 35 health-and-welfare phone patches fromFalalop, Ulithi, and another 38 patches from Federai back to Hawaii and beyond.
ARRL Pacific Section Manager Bob Schneider, AH6J,procured an ARRL HF Go Kit from ARRL HQ to be set up as a secondary station atthe dispensary. The kit contained four VHF hand-held radios, which proveduseful for local communications.
Falalop Island wasdevastated, with vegetation gone, including food plants. There was no shade. Ourhousehold had only 48 hours' supply of potable water. Much of the watercatchment systems on the island were destroyed. In many cases, remainingstanding water was contaminated and amoebic dysentery became a problem. Thewater problem was solved when IOM set up a desalinization plant. Water was thentransported to the people by wheelbarrow or by whatever containers couldbe found. Relief food and supplies started to arrive from Guam.
Many had no houses left and the houses that remained had no roofs.The United StatesAgency for International Development (USAID) sent tarps for temporaryroofs. Most of the island's HF, SSB and VHF communications were down for anextended period -- there was no power and most of the antennas were destroyed.We got the dispensary's VHF communication systems up and running again withemergency repairs on its antenna.
Insult to Injury
On Monday, May 4, tropical storm Noul hit us, and the nextmorning it hit the rest of Yap as a full category 1 typhoon. Our 20-metervertical was blown almost horizontal, but continued to hang in there.During this storm, we remained in communication with Darling, Radolfetheg, andRay Gibson, KH2GUM on Guam. Granola bars were the food of the day. Between 8pm and 10 pm that night our dining hut with my antenna still attachedfinally blew away. The next day, after the storm had blown by, we gathered allof the pieces of the hut and rebuilt it. The vertical antenna and mast hadsurvived but the radials had broken. After more work, everything wasrepaired and we were back up on the air. Unfortunately, all of the USAID tarps onthe roofs had blown down so we were back to square one with no roofs toprotect many of us. A week later, typhoon Dolphin came along, but thankfullyit missed us on Ulithi by a few hundred miles. It did hit Guam.
I was then tasked by the Yap State Department of Education toassist in rebuilding and restarting the schools that had been destroyed. All ofthese buildings were constructed with concrete!
TheValue of Amateur Radio
There were two amateurs on FederaiIsland: William Radolfetheg, V63YWR and Albert Haped, V63YAH. RichardDarling, AH7G, Ray Gibson, KH2GUM, and I were in communications with Federaievery evening as the storm approached. We remained in communications untilfour hours before the storm made landfall. As a result, the Federai communitytook our warnings very seriously and was well prepared: Roofs were tieddown with large ropes, school computers were stored in the new dispensary,and families with children were sheltered in the dispensary building. WhileFederai also had a lot of storm damage, they fared much better than theother islands. The point is that Amateur Radio communications can be even morevaluable in advance of and leading into a disaster like this where there istime for preparations to be made. Amateur Radio communications in remotelocales like this is more effective and efficient than all othercommunication systems -- both before and after the onset of the effects of thedisaster. The health-and-welfare phone patches alone were of great humanitarianvalue.
A technical note on antennas: the elevated groundplane antenna with resonant radials performs very well. It's aninexpensive, effective, efficient antenna, easy to transport, and easy to assemble. Itis more resilient than other antennas.
See the V63JB page on QRZ.comfor photos and more information on typhoon responses. -- John Bush,KH6DLK/V63JB; and Bob Schneider, AH6J, ARRL Pacific Section Manager [Bushis the 2012 ARRL International Humanitarian Award winner -ed.]

Amateur RadioClub Helps Promote Diabetes Awareness
Members ofthe University ofMississippi Amateur Radio Club (UMARC) provided on-course communications forthe annual Walk For Diabetes held in Oxford on Sunday, November 8. Thewalk, sponsored by the Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi, began at the LyceumLoop on the university campus and continued to the downtown area beforereturning to the Lyceum. 
UMARC members took up positionsat rest stops and key junctions, calling in status reports on the progressof the more than 150 walkers via the club repeater located on the campus.
The Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi conducts these and similarevents to raise awareness of diabetes and raise financial support in helpingthem provide care for Mississippians who have diabetes. 
Sarah Abraham, Program Coordinator, made the request to UMARC forsupporting the event. A number of walkers assembled in groups, each distinguishedby colorful tee shirts showing their support for a loved one who hasdiabetes. All who finished the walk received a medal to wear and most got a teeshirt promoting diabetes awareness.
Located on theuniversity grounds, UMARC operates with station call sign W5UMS. Members providesimilar coverage for other local events such as the annual Double-DeckerFun Run and anticipate a continued partnership with the Diabetes Foundationof Mississippi. -- Ron Lefebvre, W1IBL, President, University ofMississippi Amateur Radio Club
Veterans' Day Month: HDSCS Loses One of Its Own
On November 6, theARES-affiliated HospitalDisaster Support Communications System, Orange County, California, lostmember Roman Kamienski, KG6QMZ, a Lt. Colonel in the Army Reserves andactive Army MARS operator. He was remembered in a military memorial servicecomplete with flag presentation to his wife and a 21 gun salute. Only 56, hedied of complications from a ruptured cerebral aneurysm. During Roman's 12years with HDSCS he participated in almost every major drill. He alsocommunicated in some actual emergencies, including a 2004 phone failure causedby a power interruption at an Anaheim Hospital. In 2005 he was on site for astandby operation during phone work at St. Jude Hospital in Fullerton,which then turned into an all-night emergency when the system did not comeback on line. In addition to a display of his military certificates andmedals, including the Army Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf cluster fordistinguished achievement presented in 2007, Roman's wife added his HDSCS blue vest,name badge, certificates related to HDSCS service and an HDSCScommemorative challenge coin numbered 73. We were honored to have had him in HDSCS asa communicator and antenna team member. - April Moell, WA6OPS, DistrictEmergency Coordinator, Amateur Radio Emergency Service; Hospital DisasterSupport Communications System, Orange County, Cailfornia 
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