SEMARA ARES Self-Activated

New EMA ARES Hello to all…

SEMARA ARES was self-activated by ARES Assistant Emergency Coordinator, Tony Duarte-N1XRS, as a power outage gripped an area from the Plymouth area to Cape Cod and Islands and appeared to extended from roughly Dartmouth/Westport eastward across much of South Coastal Massachusetts.

The ARES Net was started at 6:30 PM and preempted a Swap Net that would typically be held at 7 PM that evening on the 147.000-Dartmouth Repeater. [Please read on by pressing link below – W1MPN]A total of 20 check-ins were recorded. Amateurs relayed information of where the power was out, any public safety issues and when power was restored to their specified areas. I was enroute home from work when the event occurred and when notified by Tony-N1XRS, I went to man the Southeast Massachusetts Amateur Radio Association (W1AEC) so that additional district coverage could be maintained from our affected area to other parts of the Eastern Massachusetts section. Southeastern Massachusetts district relay was done to the Metro Boston Area and the Cape Cod districts via the 146.685-Plymouth Repeater where contact was made with Metro Boston ARES District Emergency Coordinator, KB1EKN, Mark Duff and Cape Cod and the Islands District Emergency Coordinator, WQ1O, Frank O’Laughlin. Liaison was also maintained with ARES DEC’s and ARES Section Emergency Coordinator, Mike Neilsen, W1MPN via AOL Instant Messenger during the latter portions of the event.

Power started being restored across the area at approximately 7 PM and was fully restored to all areas by 8 PM with South Dartmouth, Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard being some of the last areas where power was restored. Amateur Operators checked in from the area as power was restored and also reported if they still did not have power. With Frank, WQ1O, tied up talking with Emergency Management directors, I established contact with Nantucket Island RACES Radio Officer, N1NBQ-George Allen and he told us when power was restored for the island via the main line power cable.

The ARES Net was secured at 8:30 PM. The following Amateurs checked in on the 147.000-Dartmouth Repeater.

1.) KB1FYF-Brian
2.) K1AHA-Dick
3.) W1RJC-Rick
4.) W1AEC/KD1CY-Rob
5.) K1KID-Carl
6.) KB1HJL-George
7.) W1VRP-Joe
8.) N1XKD-Peter
9.) WA1CRA-Dick
10.) W1EAV-Chris
11.) W1GYL-Henry
12.) N1EBW-Ray
13.) KB1EVX-Ray
14.) W1DBX-Larry
15.) WA1ZCB-Ed
16.) K1IBR-Bill
17.) N1NBQ-George
18.) N1VDM-Bob
19.) N1ZZN-Jeff
20.) N1XRS-Tony (NCS)

Mike Neilsen-W1MPN, when informed of the ARES Self-Activation and the response of the Amateurs from the SEMARA club, was tremendously pleased and thankful for the efforts of the SEMARA ARES team. He stated that he was pleased that the workshop and exercises were increasing awareness and resulting in such a strong response to a real event and was very impressed with the fact that SEMARA ARES responded quickly to an event that had no advanced warning.

Please let me know if any check-ins were missed during this event or if there are any additional major points that should be included in this report. Thanks!

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Southeast Massachusetts ARES District Emergency Coordinator
SEMARA 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@rcn.com
http://users.rcn.com/rmacedo

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