Good Morning all…
It appears that the risk of significant damage has passed, and so I am withdrawing the notification for a possible standby activation today. Small pockets of problems are still a possibility, but we should be OK from this point on.
Thank you for your preparation and standing ready to help today. There are still reports of some slick secondary roads in our area.
Thanks again, and have a good weekend.
Michael P. Neilsen, W1MPN
EMa SEC
978.562.5662 Admin
978.389.0558 FAX/Secondary—– Original Message —–
Sent: Friday, April 04, 2003 1:48 PM
Subject: Fw: Possible Standby Activation for EMa ARES
***** Possible Standby Activation for EMa ARES *****
***** Minor/Moderate Infrastructure Damage May Occur *****
Hello to all…
I am writing this while I look at flowers in my garden…go figure, but yes, a significant freezing rain event may develop for parts of our section roughly north of the 42-00 latitude line (excluding Cape Cod). This includes all of Norfolk county and some the Bristol/South Shore (Plymouth) districts. In view of possible infrastructure damage that could result from this type of weather event, please be ready to mobilize in standby mode starting as early as 0600 EST tomorrow Sat 4/5. DEC’s please ensure that qualified NCS’s are ready to assume that role as needed tomorrow.
ARES Mobilization in standby mode may be needed where damage is expected or where minor damage has already occurred, AND RACES has not been mobilized. During standby mode, the net control station would announce his/her presence on the RACES repeater, while allowing QSO’s to continue as long as stations agree to: leave gaps between transmissions, yield to break traffic, and vacate the frequency when requested by the NCS. Additionally, similar to SKYWARN’s “self-activation” procedure, if the NCS feels that more formal action is warranted, they should proceed without prior request and then report that mobilization to EC/DEC who will in turn relay to the SEC. If events move severely and swiftly, then any ARES team member should assume NCS until relieved by a designated station.
Our initial role will be to provide fill in communications as necessary to support RACES operations (if they are mobilized), or to assume that role ourselves if they are not. Remember, that in accordance with our current doctrine, we will mobilize from home stations first, then respond to local needs as requested by Public Safety or EMa or Service Agencies (Red Cross, etc.) and approved by your EC/DEC. One important collateral role in these trying times will be to insure current/correct information is disseminated, and rumors about anything else not applicable to the storm (war, terrorism, SARS) event are controlled.
Please take time this evening to insure your home stations are ready to operate and that you have emergency power ready. If and when requests are received for any post disaster assistance during the day Saturday, Saturday night, or even Sunday, we will conduct a callout by email, phone, or radio to reach you. Remember, please guard your RACES repeater (or SKYWARN repeater if you can’t raise RACES), but remember to move off to other local frequencies to do follow up communications. Please contact your EC and/or DEC to obtain the latest frequency plan. A directory of RACES repeaters can be viewed by pressing the “Where Am I” button on our website, http://ares.ema.arrl.org .
Since bordering counties of NH will be significantly affected, we will set up the PART (146.955 PL 74.4) and Haverill (146.625 PL 156.8) repeaters for NH ARES to reach us if they need to. Move traffic off to one of their ARES repeaters, such as Manchester etc, and follow NCS instructions there.
Thank you in advance for your preparations and availability for tomorrow.
Think Spring!
s/Michael P. Neilsen
Michael P. Neilsen, W1MPN
EMa SEC
978.562.5662 Admin
978.389.0558 FAX/Secondary