Upcoming Events!

Hello to all from your EMA ARES SEC.

There are a number of activities coming up in the next few weeks so I wanted to make sure everyone was aware of them.

1) Our neighbors in NH are having a SET exercise on November 5th from 0800-1300 and are interested in out of area stations on HF, and VHF/UHF if you can reach them to simulate ARESMAT activities.
Details: http://ares.ema.arrl.org/node/733
ARES NH web site: http://www.nh-ares.org/

2) Our military counterparts, MARS, will be having an exercise from 10/30 – 11/1.
Details: http://ares.ema.arrl.org/node/734
Webinar (11/25 2000 ET): https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4300481724544982273
Facebook Event for Webinar: https://www.facebook.com/events/111916665942194/

3) During the NH ARES SET the Eastern MA hospital net will be happening at its usual time on 11/5 at 1000. Details will be posted on these lists.

4) The monthly ARES net on the MMRA system will be on 11/7 at 2030. We will be continuning our added traffic passing of infrastructure reports (including all okay reports) and ATIS/aviation weather data relayed from stations that can hear their local airport weather stations over RF. This information will be relayed to MARS and Skywarn as a practice of passing situational awareness traffic. More details will be in the ARES Net reminder, or see last months ARES net reminder.

Thank you.
Marek Kozubal, KB1NCG
Eastern MA ARES SEC
kb1ncg@arrl.net

MARS to Conduct Interoperability Exercise with Amateur Radio Community

From 30 October through 1 November, members of the Military Auxiliary Radio System will be conducting a quarterly Department of Defense Contingency Communications exercise. The purpose of this quarterly exercise is train on our ability to provide communications following a “very bad day” scenario when traditional forms of communications will likely be unavailable. While the simultaneous loss of all communications nation-wide is not likely, for training purposes, we are assuming there has been a massive nation-wide outage.

One of the objectives of this exercise is to continue the partnership with the amateur radio community to help provide information about local conditions and send this information to the Department of Defense to help understand what is happening around the United States.

During this exercise, we will use 60 meters, local VHF and UHF repeaters as well as HF NVIS amateur radio bands. Our goal is to have a conversation about the local conditions in and around your county. During the conversation, our operators will be asking basic questions such as the status of commercial power, public water systems, and road conditions. These will be person to person conversations…you don’t need to use any digital modes or know any special messaging formats.

To kick off this exercise, we are encouraging the amateur radio community to monitor 5,330.5KHz from 0300-0400 Hrs Zulu on 31 October. During this hour, we will be doing a high power voice broadcast from a military station on the east coast and alternate with a voice broadcast from the west coast. Amateur radio operators are encouraged to submit a reception report as indicated in the voice broadcast.

For the remainder of the exercise, MARS personnel will be calling for amateur radio operators on the 60 meter channels as well as using already established amateur radio nets on HF NVIS and VHF/UHF repeaters.

Amateur radio operators are also invited to attend the ARRL webinar scheduled for 25 Oct at 2000 hrs eastern time where Dave Stapchuk, Chief AF MARS, and the Army MARS Program Manager will give a presentation about the MARS program. Please register for the webinar here.

Additional information is on the U.S. Army MARS Facebook page.

NH ARES SET 11/5 0800-1300 local

You and your teams are invited to participate in the NH ARES SET – 5 Nov from 0800-1300.

Two-layered SET

Goals:

1) Test message handling skills
2) Exercise new ARESMAT procedures,
3) Move messages “out of the area.”
4) Stand up and operate two HF nets at the same time.

Exercise Plan:

1) Systems to be utilized and tested: HF Section nets, local VHF nets, NTS, Winlink
2) Repeaters will be operational until 10:30 am, and then all will fail, forcing all operations to go simplex. Repeaters should actually be shut down where possible, and ops will move to repeater output frequency, or to a simplex frequency as listed in Attachment A if a shutdown is not feasible.
3) All stations will be encouraged to operate on battery or generator power from 10:30am until exercise termination.
4) Two HF nets – Section Net to handle traffic, Resource Net to handle ARESMAT coordination – Liaison stations required for each net.
5) Give groups an opportunity to set up field HF stations to simulate ARESMAT volunteer reception centers
6) Precipitating disaster: Large category 5 hurricane that zeroes in on Hampton Beach before veering northward and ripping up the center of the state. No counties are spared, stretching all our resources very thin.

Layer 1 – External communications with ARC National HQ, FEMA, NWS via usual net structure

Specific assigned stations will simulate National Red Cross, FEMA and NWS to receive and originate messages on the Section Net. Local stations can simulate shelters or agency sites. Messages should include:

a) SITREPS
b) Support requests and replies

Layer 2 – ARESMAT manpower and resource requests via Section HF Resource Net

Messages requesting additional ARES operators and resources, messages between ARESMAT volunteer reception centers and Section Resource Net stations regarding:

a) In-Section support requests to SEC
b) NE Division requests
c) ARRL national requests
d) Communications between simulated ARESMAT volunteer reception centers and members of HF Resource Net.

1) Each group will have one member of its leadership team on the HF Resource Net

2) ARESMAT volunteer reception centers will be simulated at Salem I-93 rest area, Lebanon I-89 rest area, Seabrook I-95 State Liquor Store, Keene State Liquor Store,  Pheasant Lane Mall southern overflow parking (actually in MA) (Do not actually set up at any of these locations without permission  – find a suitable similar field location to set up in). HF operation will be required.

3) Messages coordinating our groups’ needs with simulated incoming volunteers from outside the state

Remember that ARESMAT messages are internal – we would be generating these ourselves during an actual disaster.

When playing a role, think about it as though it were real and act accordingly. Don’t forget to begin and end each message and tactical exchange with “This is a drill.”

2016 SET – Key Players

Section Level
HF Traffic & Coordination Net NCS (?)
HF Resource Net NCS (?)
Red Cross – Washington DC HQ simulator (K1PJS)
NWS-Gray simulator (?)
NTS Liaison (?)

Local Level
Section T&C Net Liaison
Section Resource Net Liaison
Agency sites (actual or simulated)
Reception Center Operator on Section Resource Net (if one is in your area)

—————-

2 years ago SECs in NE met in Worcester to discuss common challenges and coordinating response.  One outcome was a draft plan for ARESMAT.  We have incorporated that draft plan into our comm plan and will be testing it this SET.

Some details on the ARESMAT concept:

Layer 1

In past SETs, we’ve focused heavily on in-state agency message traffic. This is because, based on nationwide experience, 99% of the agency message traffic will be in-state. However, that 1% of traffic to distant agency offices and facilities (Red Cross and FEMA) can be pretty important stuff. Most of these messages will be sent during the very earliest hours after the storm has moved on, before national agency communication resources have been moved in and set up, typically within 72 hours.

Our Section Emergency Communications plan establishes two primary paths out to these agencies – Winlink 2000 radio email, and ARRL’s National Traffic System (NTS). In past years we haven’t exercised these resources to their fullest – this SET changes that. Even though a typical disaster won’t generate a large volume of external agency traffic, this exercise is designed to put stress on those systems and give everyone some practice in utilizing them.

Of course, we won’t be sending traffic to real agency sites – we’ll set up some simulated stations to handle that function.

Layer 2

During a major disaster such as the hurricane we’re using for this SET, many of the resources we assume will be there – us – won’t be. Family needs come first, and sometimes our jobs will require our presence immediately post-disaster. Instead of 250 NH-ARES members available, we might have fewer than 100 state-wide. Perhaps many fewer. Our repeaters will be down, personal equipment damaged or lost, and basic supplies like batteries in short supply.

That’s why we have ARESMAT – the ARES Mutual Assistance Team concept. An ARESMAT is a group of hams dispatched by a neighboring or distant ARES group in response to a call for assistance. They are supposed to be equipped to be self-sufficient so as to not become part of the problem. They are supposed to know what their mission is, where to go, who to contact, and how long they’ll stay before ever leaving home. The reality is that some or all of these things may not be true.

The plan calls for the requesting Section to set up one or more volunteer reception centers at or near the best point of entry to the disaster area. We have identified several, which are listed in the SET plan under Layer 2. ARES groups across the Section would participate in an HF “resource net.” ECs or their designees would send formal messages to the Section official on the net requesting specific resources. He or she would then coordinate with the reception centers to send in appropriate resources as they become available. The HF resource net would operate separately from the regular Section Traffic and Coordination Net, which will continue to do its regular job of moving agency and public message traffic and coordinating the activities of various nets and hotline circuits.

When an ARESMAT team is exiting the state, we would ask them to stop by the reception center on the way out to let the reception center know they were leaving the area. If that was impractical for any reason, they could check into the resource net or contacting the reception center via 2m FM on the way by. We know this will not always be possible, but this is a way to help ensure the safety of ARESMAT responders.

The SET plan asks each group with a potential reception center to simulate opening one from a field location, kind of a mini-Field Day setup. All it has to be is one HF NVIS station on 75m for the resource net, and a 2m station for local communications.

——————

I do hope you can join us.  I also hope this invite and information will reinvigorate the ARESMAT plan discussion.  We still have the draft plan and would be happy to recirculate to SECs for consideration.

73,

Wayne

Wayne W. Santos
N1CKM
SEC
NH ARES
n1ckm@arrl.net
n1ckm78sec@gmail.com
603-856-5459
Twitter: #n1ckm78
www.nh-ares.org

NH ARES SET 11/5 0800

You and your teams are invited to participate in the NH ARES SET – 5 Nov from 0800-1300.

Two-layered SET

Goals:

1) Test message handling skills
2) Exercise new ARESMAT procedures,
3) Move messages “out of the area.”
4) Stand up and operate two HF nets at the same time.

Exercise Plan:

1) Systems to be utilized and tested: HF Section nets, local VHF nets, NTS, Winlink
2) Repeaters will be operational until 10:30 am, and then all will fail, forcing all operations to go simplex. Repeaters should actually be shut down where possible, and ops will move to repeater output frequency, or to a simplex frequency as listed in Attachment A if a shutdown is not feasible.
3) All stations will be encouraged to operate on battery or generator power from 10:30am until exercise termination.
4) Two HF nets – Section Net to handle traffic, Resource Net to handle ARESMAT coordination – Liaison stations required for each net.
5) Give groups an opportunity to set up field HF stations to simulate ARESMAT volunteer reception centers
6) Precipitating disaster: Large category 5 hurricane that zeroes in on Hampton Beach before veering northward and ripping up the center of the state. No counties are spared, stretching all our resources very thin.

Layer 1 – External communications with ARC National HQ, FEMA, NWS via usual net structure

Specific assigned stations will simulate National Red Cross, FEMA and NWS to receive and originate messages on the Section Net. Local stations can simulate shelters or agency sites. Messages should include:

a) SITREPS
b) Support requests and replies

Layer 2 – ARESMAT manpower and resource requests via Section HF Resource Net

Messages requesting additional ARES operators and resources, messages between ARESMAT volunteer reception centers and Section Resource Net stations regarding:

a) In-Section support requests to SEC
b) NE Division requests
c) ARRL national requests
d) Communications between simulated ARESMAT volunteer reception centers and members of HF Resource Net.

1) Each group will have one member of its leadership team on the HF Resource Net

2) ARESMAT volunteer reception centers will be simulated at Salem I-93 rest area, Lebanon I-89 rest area, Seabrook I-95 State Liquor Store, Keene State Liquor Store,  Pheasant Lane Mall southern overflow parking (actually in MA) (Do not actually set up at any of these locations without permission  – find a suitable similar field location to set up in). HF operation will be required.

3) Messages coordinating our groups’ needs with simulated incoming volunteers from outside the state

Remember that ARESMAT messages are internal – we would be generating these ourselves during an actual disaster.

When playing a role, think about it as though it were real and act accordingly. Don’t forget to begin and end each message and tactical exchange with “This is a drill.”

2016 SET – Key Players

Section Level
HF Traffic & Coordination Net NCS (?)
HF Resource Net NCS (?)
Red Cross – Washington DC HQ simulator (K1PJS)
NWS-Gray simulator (?)
NTS Liaison (?)

Local Level
Section T&C Net Liaison
Section Resource Net Liaison
Agency sites (actual or simulated)
Reception Center Operator on Section Resource Net (if one is in your area)

—————-

2 years ago SECs in NE met in Worcester to discuss common challenges and coordinating response.  One outcome was a draft plan for ARESMAT.  We have incorporated that draft plan into our comm plan and will be testing it this SET.

Some details on the ARESMAT concept:

Layer 1

In past SETs, we’ve focused heavily on in-state agency message traffic. This is because, based on nationwide experience, 99% of the agency message traffic will be in-state. However, that 1% of traffic to distant agency offices and facilities (Red Cross and FEMA) can be pretty important stuff. Most of these messages will be sent during the very earliest hours after the storm has moved on, before national agency communication resources have been moved in and set up, typically within 72 hours.

Our Section Emergency Communications plan establishes two primary paths out to these agencies – Winlink 2000 radio email, and ARRL’s National Traffic System (NTS). In past years we haven’t exercised these resources to their fullest – this SET changes that. Even though a typical disaster won’t generate a large volume of external agency traffic, this exercise is designed to put stress on those systems and give everyone some practice in utilizing them.

Of course, we won’t be sending traffic to real agency sites – we’ll set up some simulated stations to handle that function.

Layer 2

During a major disaster such as the hurricane we’re using for this SET, many of the resources we assume will be there – us – won’t be. Family needs come first, and sometimes our jobs will require our presence immediately post-disaster. Instead of 250 NH-ARES members available, we might have fewer than 100 state-wide. Perhaps many fewer. Our repeaters will be down, personal equipment damaged or lost, and basic supplies like batteries in short supply.

That’s why we have ARESMAT – the ARES Mutual Assistance Team concept. An ARESMAT is a group of hams dispatched by a neighboring or distant ARES group in response to a call for assistance. They are supposed to be equipped to be self-sufficient so as to not become part of the problem. They are supposed to know what their mission is, where to go, who to contact, and how long they’ll stay before ever leaving home. The reality is that some or all of these things may not be true.

The plan calls for the requesting Section to set up one or more volunteer reception centers at or near the best point of entry to the disaster area. We have identified several, which are listed in the SET plan under Layer 2. ARES groups across the Section would participate in an HF “resource net.” ECs or their designees would send formal messages to the Section official on the net requesting specific resources. He or she would then coordinate with the reception centers to send in appropriate resources as they become available. The HF resource net would operate separately from the regular Section Traffic and Coordination Net, which will continue to do its regular job of moving agency and public message traffic and coordinating the activities of various nets and hotline circuits.

When an ARESMAT team is exiting the state, we would ask them to stop by the reception center on the way out to let the reception center know they were leaving the area. If that was impractical for any reason, they could check into the resource net or contacting the reception center via 2m FM on the way by. We know this will not always be possible, but this is a way to help ensure the safety of ARESMAT responders.

The SET plan asks each group with a potential reception center to simulate opening one from a field location, kind of a mini-Field Day setup. All it has to be is one HF NVIS station on 75m for the resource net, and a 2m station for local communications.

——————

I do hope you can join us.  I also hope this invite and information will reinvigorate the ARESMAT plan discussion.  We still have the draft plan and would be happy to recirculate to SECs for consideration.

73,

Wayne

Wayne W. Santos
N1CKM
SEC
NH ARES
n1ckm@arrl.net
n1ckm78sec@gmail.com
603-856-5459
Twitter: #n1ckm78
www.nh-ares.org

Head of the Charles Regatta, Oct. 21, Volunteers Sought

Mark Richards, K1MGY writes on the PART of Westford list:

The Head of the Charles Regatta (http://www.hocr.org/) is a fantastically fun and exciting event for Amateur Radio public service. This premiere rowing event, attracting competitors from all over the world, relies upon Amateur Radio communications for coordination and medical support of both land and boat-based services along the beautiful Charles River.

HOCR has a need for at least three more communications volunteers.

On 21 October (Friday) the event holds a practice session for participants from mid morning to late afternoon. There are two land-based positions available.

On Saturday the event kicks off. There is one land-based position available.

There are no slots available for Sunday, 22 October, but I’m sure HOCR will put you on a reserve list if you’d like a slot there.

To serve, you need a decent dual-band hand-held radio and should have some experience supporting communications and working within teams. Familiarity with the Communications Standards used at the BAA Boston Marathon is a good starting point. See https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_R6snQbpJ3MUzBzTEZ0c0VaRkU/view?usp=sharing

If you wish to apply, you may contact me directly through this email list

Mark Richards, K1MGY

or phone directly: 617 592 4392

I have several years of experience working this event and would be happy to give you more information.

Military Auxiliary Radio System to Conduct Interoperability Exercise with Amateur Radio Community

Army MARS Region One Executive Officer Tom Kinahan, N1CPE writes:

From 30 October through 1 November, members of the Military Auxiliary Radio System will be conducting a quarterly Department of Defense Contingency Communications exercise. The purpose of this quarterly exercise is train on our ability to provide communications following a “very bad day” scenario when traditional forms of communications will likely be unavailable. While the simultaneous loss of all communications nation-wide is not likely, for training purposes, we are assuming there has been a massive nation-wide outage.

One of the objectives of this exercise is to continue the partnership with the amateur radio community to help provide information about local conditions and send this information to the Department of Defense to help understand what is happening around the United States.

During this exercise, we will use 60 meters, local VHF and UHF repeaters as well as HF NVIS amateur radio bands. Our goal is to have a conversation about the local conditions in and around your county. During the conversation, our operators will be asking basic questions such as the status of commercial power, public water systems, and road conditions. These will be person to person conversations…you don’t need to use any digital modes or know any special messaging formats.

To kick off this exercise, we are encouraging the amateur radio community to monitor 5,330.5KHz from 0300-0400 Hrs Zulu on 31 October. During this hour, we will be doing a high power voice broadcast from a military station on the east coast and alternate with a voice broadcast from the west coast. Amateur radio operators are encouraged to submit a reception report as indicated in the voice broadcast.

For the remainder of the exercise, MARS personnel will be calling for amateur radio operators on the 60 meter channels as well as using already established amateur radio nets on HF NVIS and VHF/UHF repeaters.

Amateur radio operators are also invited to attend the ARRL webinar scheduled for 25 Oct at 2000 hrs eastern time where Dave Stapchuk, Chief AF MARS, and the Army MARS Program Manager will give a presentation about the MARS program. Please register for the webinar at: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/regist…/4300481724544982273.

If you have further questions about this exercise, please email: mars.exercises@gmail.com.

Reminder: Monthly EMA ARES Net 10/3 8:30pm

…Please read below as we will be requesting new information after checkin on the net…

Hello to all…

We will be resuming our monthly ARES Net in October. The monthly ARES Net for October is Monday the 3rd, at 8:30 PM on the MMRA Repeater system. This is after the MEMA Nets earlier in the evening. For frequencies that will be linked into the ARES Net on the MMRA Network, please see the following link from the MMRA web site detailing the repeaters that will be linked in through Hub 1:

http://www.mmra.org/repeaters/repeater_index_by_linkstate.html


Make this first Monday of the month, “Emergency Communications Night” and check into your local RACES Net and then check into the ARES Net on the MMRA Repeater System. We look forward to your participation and remember, we are always looking for Net Controls to run the ARES Net.

As part of our relationship with MARS and our own situational awareness gathering we will be asking for any known infrastructure issues that you are aware of. The information must either be personally observed, or obtained “over the air” via amateur radio. Items considered to be infrastructure include but are not limited to: electrical power, water, medical facilities, sanitation, communications, and transportation. Examples of failure would be: small or large area power failure, water main breaks, hospitals’ ER closed, sewage issues, TV/radio station off the air (including public safety),  interstate highway or major road closed. No known issues are just as important as reporting failures.

Additionally we are interested in relay of any weather information from airport ATIS/ASOS stations that you can directly receive via radio. These stations broadcast continuously in the 120.000 – 138.000 MHz frequency range using amplitude modulation. Information from the ATIS should include airport, temperature, altimeter (barometer), wind, precipitation, and visibility.

A list of stations with their frequencies and a map can be found at: https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/weather/asos/?state=MA

A brief introduction to ATIS can be found at: https://www.ivao.aero/training/documentation/books/PP_ADC_ATIS.pdf
A more detailed introduction to ATIS/ASOS can be found at: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/brochures/ASOS-book.pdf

We will have several interesting announcements for the net that evening and we look forward to everyone’s participation. Updates will be posted via email and on the Eastern Massachusetts ARES Web Site at http://ares.ema.arrl.org

Thanks for your continued support of ARES!

Marek Kozubal, KB1NCG
EMA Section Emergency Coordinator

501(c)(3) Club Forum at NEAR-Fest, Oct. 14

NEAR-Fest General Chairman Mike Crestohl, W1RC writes:

Most radio clubs are set up as non-profit corporations but this does not mean that they are tax exempt under current IRS rules. Up until two years ago attaining TE status under section 501(c)(3) of the tax code was very involved and required a great deal of paperwork. However some very important changes were introduced in July 2014 that make it a great deal simpler for smaller organizations with less than $50,000.00 in annual gross revenues to qualify for tax exempt status with a minimal amount of paperwork.

NEAR-Fest is pleased to announce that a special forum on how to attain 501(c)(3) status for clubs and non-profit organizations. The forum will be presented by Lynn Baxter, W0LTB, CPA, and will focus on what is required for your club or organization to become a tax-exempt non-profit under the new rules and how to file a simple online annual report to maintain that status.

This means that under some circumstances amateur radio clubs can accept donations and issue receipts for tax purposes. There are many more benefits as well so this is an excellent opportunity to learn more about them.

Lynn’s forum will be held on Friday October 14th at 3:00 PM at NEAR-Fest in Deerfield NH. Clubs are invited to send one representative as seating is limited.

Hope to see you there.

 

Ashland Half Marathon Needs Volunteers, Oct. 29

David Wolfe, KG1H writes:

The 5th annual Ashland Half Marathon 5K Race & One Mile Walk/Run will kick off on Saturday October 29, 2016 and begin and end at Marathon Park, which marks the original starting line area for Boston’s marathon for its first 27 years, from 1897-1923.

Set in late October to take advantage of the cool temperatures runners of all stripes desire the Ashland Half-Marathon winds its way along a picturesque 13.1 mile figure 8 course through Ashland’s foliage-filled roads and lanes.

Contact Mark Richards kmalittl1@gmail.com if you are interested in participating.

David/KG1H
MMRA Public Service Coordinator

ARES Display at Falmouth Emergency Preparedness Fair, Oct. 1

ARES logo

Henry Brown, K1WCC writes on the Falmouth Amateur Radio Association Facebook page:

Emergency Preparedness Fair today, Saturday, October 1

From 10 AM to 2 PM the Falmouth LEPC is presenting its annual Emergency Preparedness Fair at the Gus Canty Building on East Main St. in Falmouth. Falmouth Hospital ARES will be there with a display-hope you get to stop by. We will be actively recruiting for our upcoming Tech License Class.

 

Cape Ann ARA Portable HF Operating Event in Gloucester, Oct. 9

Cape Ann ARA logo

Dean Burgess, KB1PGH writes on CAARAmail:

[Cape Ann Amateur Radio Association members] are going to set up HF portable at Stage Fort Park in Gloucester from noontime onwards on Sunday, October 9. This is an “every man for himself, keep it simple” unorganized event made just for fun. So if you want to bring your set up, or if you want to stop by to see some portable HF operations in the works that’s fine too. […]

If you have any questions fell free to e-mail me.

73,
Dean Burgess, KB1PGH

 

ARES Net Resumes in October

ARES logoEastern MA Section Emergency Coordinator Marek Kozubal, KB1NCG writes:

We will be resuming our monthly ARES Net in October. The monthly ARES Net for October is Monday the 3rd, at 8:30 PM on the MMRA Repeater system. This is after the MEMA Nets earlier in the evening. For frequencies that will be linked into the ARES Net on the MMRA Network, please see the following link from the MMRA web site detailing the repeaters that will be linked in through Hub 1:

http://www.mmra.org/repeaters/repeater_index_by_linkstate.html

Make this first Monday of the month, “Emergency Communications Night” and check into your local RACES Net and then check into the ARES Net on the MMRA Repeater System. We look forward to your participation and remember, we are always looking for Net Controls to run the ARES Net.

As part of our relationship with MARS and our own situational awareness gathering we will be asking for any known infrastructure issues that you are aware of. The information must either be personally observed, or obtained “over the air” via amateur radio. Items considered to be infrastructure include but are not limited to: electrical power, water, medical facilities, sanitation, communications, and transportation. Examples of failure would be: small or large area power failure, water main breaks, hospitals’ ER closed, sewage issues, TV/radio station off the air (including public safety), interstate highway or major road closed. No known issues are just as important as reporting failures.

Additionally we are interested in relay of any weather information from airport ATIS/ASOS stations that you can directly receive via radio. These stations broadcast continuously in the 120.000 – 138.000 MHz frequency range using amplitude modulation. Information from the ATIS should include airport, temperature, altimeter (barometer), wind, precipitation, and visibility.

A list of stations with their frequencies and a map can be found at: https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/weather/asos/?state=MA

A brief introduction to ATIS can be found at: https://www.ivao.aero/training/documentation/books/PP_ADC_ATIS.pdf

A more detailed introduction to ATIS/ASOS can be found at: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/brochures/ASOS-book.pdf

We will have several interesting announcements for the net that evening and we look forward to everyone’s participation. Updates will be posted via email and on the Eastern Massachusetts ARES Web Site at http://ares.ema.arrl.org

Thanks for your continued support of ARES!

Marek Kozubal, KB1NCG
EMA Section Emergency Coordinator