[W1SMH] Fwd: April 06, 2020 - MEMA RACES Preparedness net Reminder and Important Information

Mon Apr 6 10:11:56 EDT 2020

Ray Deputy Director Norton EMA-CERT70 East Main St Norton, Ma. 02766508-726-1054 cell 

-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Leger <mpleger at comcast.net>
To: wc1mab at gmail.com
Sent: Mon, Apr 6, 2020 1:24 am
Subject: April 06, 2020 - MEMA RACES Preparedness net Reminder and Important Information

This message contains no confidential or sensitive information. 

 This message DOES contain information that may be of a time sensitive nature. 

 Wide dissemination of this message is requested. 

       If you wish to be removed from future messages of this type. Please contact Mike (N1YLQ) at       WC1MAB at gmail.com. 

Hello to all, 

   I hope that this note finds you well and healthy. Typically these reminder notes have very little variation from month to month but this month, as we all now know, things are considerably different. If you have been paying attention to the radio, TV, or really have been alive at all in the last couple weeks, you should have NO need for me to make reminders about the importance of hand hygene or social distancing. I DO feel that I should make some notes about how the many many new rules that have been put in place by local emergency response agencies which we serve are changing and may change how we work with those we serve.    
        Many of us operate out of EOCs, police stations or fire stations when we work as RACES operators in any official capacity. At the moment, many community agencies do not consider us essential to the level that would allow us access to the places they are trying to keep as low risk as possible for the CoVID-19 virus. I do hope that none of you take offense to this determination. They are not trying to slight us and they are not wrong. While this is a significant global emergency, it is a health emergency and not a communications emergency of any kind. That doesn't mean that it can't escalate into one eventually, but we are still a fair number of problems or failures away from that becoming the case. While the agencies we serve are letting us know what we CAN'T do right now... I would like to focus on what we CAN do. We CAN stay vigilant and make sure that our home communications systems are intact and that we know how to operate nets in a somewhat fragmented manner. This is NOT because I expect the system to have massive failures. This is so that we can, if necessary, be able to do a ham radio version of parallel processing to get large amounts of messages through in a short period of time by using any part of the radio spectrum that the FCC has granted us for decades. With our skills sharp and ready, we can be prepared to tell our served agencies YES we CAN help to take some of the stress off of your system if you want or need us to. We can be ready and willing and professional enough to know that we are here to support them however they need us and that we recognize that we may not be used in the way that we are accustomed to being asked to help. Here are some things we can do to prepare...   
   1.) Learn and understand how to obtain the information contained in the AR-2 Form that I have attached to this message. (Special thanks to Frank WQ1O, our ARES Cape and Islands DEC, for sending me a beautiful PDF version of the form to share with you all. My paper form is still missing and has now been replaced by this one.) This form is an exhaustive All Hazards type of form with some fields not applicable to all emergencies. As we are under a State of Emergency in the Commonwealth, we should be prepared to use this format for the quick and efficient passage of data to and from the State EOC (WC1MA.)   
   2.) Monitor and become familiar with the radio methods used by your local emergency services departments. While it is unlikely that any of us could be called upon to assist as a "pinch hitter" in the dispatch department, we can provide some solid situational awareness for our EMD's who may be too busy to listen to local radio chatter on the public safety radio systems. As communicators we can be an excellent "wide angle lens" for them as events unfold around us.    
   3.) Be patient with the agencies that we serve. They are trying their best to help people while at the same time being worried for their safety and the safety of literally everyone that they know and love. Sleep may not come easy to them at the moment and with that tempers can become short. If faced with a short temper please try to de-escalate and remember that, when this is all done, someone who may have had that short temper may actually be a really nice person to talk with under less harrowing circumstances.    
   4.) Check in with one another. Remember that being social over distance is what Amateur Radio is ALL ABOUT!!! It's what we DO!!! This is an opportunity for us to shine.    
   5.) Practice net ops and learn how to run a net as a Net Control Station... because we have VERY few of those at the moment and if any of them become ill, we need operators to step up and take charge so the nets will still continue to move info to those we serve.    
       This months nets will occur on the same frequencies and at the same times as they always do. My work schedule on the Chandra X-Ray Observatory has placed us in Contiunity Of Operations Plan procedures and I will be at our ops center in Burlington, MA unable to run nets as NCO. This means that the Sector 2A, 2B and 2C nets will all need Net Control Operators. PLEASE let me know if you are available to assist.    
        This month we will forego our simplex test. We have had simplex tests nearly every month for the last couple years and I think we have a handle on which stations we can and cannot reach. This month I would like the Net Control Stations to perform a role call of any hospital or RACES stations requesting the following data from the AR-2 Form:   
   Items 1, 2 (If activated), 3 (If activated), 4, 5, 6, 17, And an additional two items not on the list to indicate if their served agency/community has active WebEOC access and if it has requested or plans to request MEMA assistance.  

Additional items may be added to this list of situational awareness items as this emergency progresses. I would like to demonstrate to MEMA and our local agencies some of the info that we can handle. I am also open to any ideas from you or your EMDs as to other ways we or ARES members may be of use to the community. If you have such ideas, please try to structure them as NTS messages to me and I will do my best to accommodate.    
   Net Controls: Please record the information from the AR-2 in a spreadsheet that you can e-mail or on a piece of notebook paper that you can scan or send to me as a photo.    
      I continue to ask that any operators who have the time, please try to check into sector nets from near-by sections. This will allow any our Net Control Operators to practice fielding nets with a strong check-in count and will also serve to help practice with relays or modified sector assignments in the event that a single repeater is out of service.  

      For those operators who serve as Net Control Operators, please try to remember to send me a list of the stations and communities that check into your nets. The numbers are reported to MEMA to show them our level of participation. I am also continuing to work on a graphical map based report to show which parts of our section have strong coverage and which areas may need a more targeted recruitment campaign to improve our ability to provide back-up communications in an emergency.  

The Region #2 and State Net Schedule for this evening is as follows: 

| Net
 | Frequency/Offset
 | Time
 |
|   Sector 2A 
 |   147.00 /+0.60  PL 
 |   19:30 Local 
 |
|   Sector 2B 
 |   145.39/-0.60  PL 67.0 
 |   20:00 Local 
 |
|   Sector 2C 
 |   146.955/-0.60  PL 88.5 
 |   20:00 Local 
 |
|   Sector 2D 
 |   146.865/-0.60  PL 103.2 
 |   19:30 Local 
 |
|   6-Meter State Net 
 |   53.31 / - 1.0  PL 71.9   
  Note: 53.31 has been reported to be having difficulties lately.   The appropriate people are aware and working to remedy any issues. 
 |   19:00 Local 
 |
|   MA RACES HF Net 
 |   3930 KHz LSB moving up to 3955 KHz until there is a clear frequency 
 |   18:45 Local 
 |

       I appreciate you all answering the call to serve even when things are uncertain and tough to manage as they can be right now. Thank you all for helping us keep things on track and prove that we remain consistent. Consistently there with a quiet professionalism ready to serve as a voice  to whomever needs one to get help to those who are in need.   
    If you know someone who would benefit from being on this list, please have them contact me at   WC1MAB at gmail.com and I will add them to this distribution. Thank you all! 

      If anyone has any questions or comments I can be reached by e-mail or cell phone. Thanks for being a part of our team and I look forward to hearing back on who can participate this month. 

Sincerely,   Michael Leger (N1YLQ)   MEMA Region #2 RACES Officer   P: 386-566-7666  