Hello to all….
On behalf of the entire Eastern Massachusetts ARES staff, I’d like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year and a Happy and safe holiday season to those celebrating other holidays that are occurring during this time of year. It was another active year for ARES, RACES and SKYWARN and I want to thank everyone for putting in a tremendous effort in 2006 and look forward to working with everyone in 2007.
We conducted another successful Emergency Communications Workshop in Walpole, Massachusetts in early Apil 2006. In addition to that workshop, weeknight workshops held once per week for a period of 6-8 weeks were conducted in both Taunton, Massachusetts and Falmouth Massachusetts targeting specific emergency communication teams in those regions. We thank those that attended and assisted in those workshops.
The most significant ARES/RACES response in recent memory was executed during the May Floods of 2006 in Northeast Massachusetts. Terry Stader-KA8SCP, Region One RACES Radio Officer and a team of roughly a dozen Amateur Radio Operators, manned the Region One MEMA Headquarters in Tewksbury for 5 days assisting with communications not just via Amateur Radio but with other means of communications for MEMA. Eastern Massachusetts ARES supported SKYWARN operations providing several hundred reports of flooding, rainfall and significant impact to life and property. The American Red Cross of Mass. Bay and Northeast Massachusetts utilized close to 2 dozen Amateurs over a period of three days for damage assessment and relief operations in Northeast Massachusetts. This was a tremendous job by those involved in these efforts.
Through the efforts of Phil McNamara-N1XTB and contributions from all of you, we now have an Eastern Massachusetts ARES online registration form and database that brings us forward in terms of knowing who is available for emergency communications needs when required. Phil’s superb technical expertise and many months of efforts has provided a superb system that will be able to be used for many years to come.
This year brought a tremendous amount of severe thunderstorm activity to the region with the highest number of severe reports received in over 10 years. Several reports from SKYWARN spotters resulted in timely warnings being issued for an area along with a much better understanding of what was happening at the ground resulting in the protection of life and property. Several exercises and other smaller events were completed in 2006 including the annual WX4NHC Communications Test, the Simulated Emergency Test and the MEMA yearly hurricane exercise and the Monthly ARES and RACES nets continued on a regular basis.
Thanks to all of you for your efforts in 2006 and we look forward to working with all of you in 2007. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Happy Holidays to all of you!
Respectfully Submitted,
Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section 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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