Month: January 2021

Hello to all…

The February Eastern Massachusetts ARES section net will be Monday February 1st, 2021 at 830 PM on the MMRA Repeater system.

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

We look forward to your participation and remember, we are always looking for Net Controls to run the ARES Net. For this month’s ARES Net, given the major winter storm affecting the region, we’d like to ask all stations to provide a measured snowfall total, whether precipitation is occurring and their current temperature if they have thermometer. We will also have comments on the Eastern Mass ARES Section Exercise for Saturday February 6th, 2021 from 1000 AM-1200 PM.

Thanks for your continued support of ARES!

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)
Work Phone #: 508-346-2929 (8 AM-5 PM)
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
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The Eastern MA Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES) will conduct an exercise in conjunction with the Cape Cod ARES exercise Operation “Frozen Days” on February 6, 2021 from 10 AM to 12 Noon (setup to start at 830-9 AM where needed) to test its capability in establishing communications with stations inside and outside of the section. Operation “Frozen Days” will attempt to build upon the lessons learned from past operational exercises.

The exercise scenario involves a series of coastal storms battering Cape Cod and the Islands with winds over 90 MPH over several storms. Eventually, hundreds of thousands of people in Eastern Massachusetts are left without power due to this series of coastal storms.

“This exercise guideline is deliberately broad and generic in nature like the fall exercise. ARES groups are free to adapt this scenario and conduct their exercise as needed for their group,” writes District Emergency Coordinator Frank O’Laughlin, WQ1O.

“This is another great opportunity, similar to the Fall exercise, for new Amateur Radio Operators, whether they are involved in ARES or not, to check into nets, provide simulated information and exercise traffic, or just check in and learn how nets work and what ARES can do during an actual event. This includes the National Weather Service SKYWARN component of ARES” writes Rob Macedo, KD1CY, Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator.

With the ongoing COVID-19 situation in MA, it will be unlikely that groups will be able to operate at EOCs and other municipal locations. Therefore any activation of shelters will be simulated by role play. It is likely that most of the operations involved in this exercise will utilize home stations along with field sites on Cape Cod and at other local ARES groups and those local groups’ discretion.

Some exercise objectives include:
• Simulate the activation of shelters in your area;
• Simulate the activation of EOC stations in your area;
• Establish and conduct a tactical net on simplex 2m FM/ repeater for your group;
• Simulate contact with any Town EOC RACES stations;
• Establish contact with other ARES districts where possible;
• Establish an HF 75 meter voice net for all of MA (and potentially other areas);
• Pass an NTS type message on 2 meters VHF and/or 440 MHz;
• Pass a SKYWARN and/or tactical message on voice 2 meters and on the HF net;
• Optional components of the exercise to pass information digitally via Winlink and NBEMS (Narrow Band Emergency Messaging System)

For full details, see the “Eastern MA Exercise Scenario and Guidelines” document at Eastern Massachusetts ARES Winter Exericse – Saturday February 6th, 2021