Author: admin

Many thanks again to all who participated on Saturday in a successful exercise! Please jot down your thoughts and suggestions while you have them fresh in your mind, and forward to your DEC and/or me (where there isn’t a DEC present). We’ll post the consolidated comments here shortly. W1MPN

1245 PM EST FRI FEB 7 2003

..WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT THROUGH THIS EVENING…THE WINTER STORM WARNING HAS BEEN EXPANDED TO INCLUDE NW RHODE ISLAND…NORTHERN CONNECTICUT…AND CENTRAL & EAST COASTAL MASSACHUSETTS THROUGH THIS EVENING.THE LATEST RADAR…SATELLITE AND SPOTTER REPORTS HAS INDICATED THAT THE HEAVIER SNOWFALL HAS MOVED FURTHER INLAND. THE SNOW WILL CONTINUE THIS AFTERNOON… TAPERING OFF TO SNOW SHOWERS BEFORE ENDING EARLY TONIGHT.

THE WARNING NOW INCLUDES THE CITIES OF HARTFORD…WILLIMANTIC…WOONSOCKET…WORCESTER…BOSTON…QUINCY & GLOUCESTER.

TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS ARE NOW EXPECTED TO BE IN THE 4 TO 8 INCH RANGE BEFORE ENDING EARLY TONIGHT ACROSS THIS AREA.

THE CAUSE OF OUR LATEST BOUT OF WINTER WEATHER IS QUICKLY DEVELOPING LOW PRESSURE WELL SOUTH OF THE S. NEW ENGLAND COAST. BECAUSE OF COLD AIR ACROSS THE REGION…THE SNOW WILL BE POWDERY. AT TIMES…VISIBILITY WILL BE REDUCED TO A HALF MILE OR LESS.

MOTORISTS WILL NEED TO USE CARE WHEN DRIVING…AS MANY ROADWAYS ARE SNOW COVERED & ICY. BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS ON ANY UNTREATED SECONDARY ROADS.

A WINTER STORM WARNING IS ISSUED WHEN HEAVY SNOW ACCUMULATIONS EXPECTED TO BE GREATER THAN 6 INCHES.
STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO…OR YOUR FAVORITE RADIO OR TELEVISION STATION…FOR THE LATEST INFORMATION ON THIS WEATHER WEATHER SITUATION.

Hello to all…

The Department of Homeland Security Raises Threat Level to Orange (High Threat). This is a general warning designed to trigger certain pre-planned and predetermined activities in public safety organizations’ contingency plans. No specific threat has been cited as the reason for raising the level, but rather concern about unusual activity of surveilled terrorist entities. You may recall that the last time the level was raised was last September during the week of remembrance of the Sep 11, 2001 disaster.Several actions are requested of all ARES members and leaders of emergency communications teams. First, participate in the exercise tomorrow. There is no better way to prepare for an actual exigency than to practice our procedures and skills.

Secondly, (as we requested last September) please raise your individual readiness by checking your “go kits”, battery supplies, and radio/antenna systems as soon as you can. Exercise participants have already been doing this, and it is much appreciated. Additionally, please carry a hand-held radio with you at all times when it is practicable, and recheck your mobile system’s ability to conduct simplex operations. Please remember to secure your home and family’s ability to react to any contingency, so that you can help your community in time of crisis. You can get more information on this at http://www.mass.gov/portal/index.jsp?pageID=agcc&agid=mema&agca=preparedness&agcc=dizkit&s=0&= . A complete reference page containing many specific topic pamphlets is located on the FEMA website at http://www.fema.gov/areyouready/ .

You can also find out more about the security code system by pressing the “Homeland Security Codes” button to the left

Thank you for your assistance. We will keep you advised of any changes, either by email or on our website, http://ares.ema.arrl.org

s/Michael P. Neilsen
Michael P. Neilsen, W1MPN
Section Emergency Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts Section
Pager: 1-800-759-8888 PIN 1155084
Admin: w1mpn (symbol for at) arrl.net
978-562-5662 Primary/Voice Mail
978-389-0558 FAX/ EFax Voice Mail

Exercise Envelopes are being distributed this afternoon to team leaders under separate cover. Please contact your DEC or me with any questions you may have. W1MPN

NWS is expecting a significant snowfall for the southern portions of EMa. We are evaluating the forecast now, and I will issue a special statement this afternoon (Thurs). Please listen for any last minute postponement messages on Saturday morning from your nearest SKYWARN repeater about 0800 Saturday morning. W1MPN

An exercise update #2 is available to the left by clicking on the button. – W1MPN

K1ARC American Red Cross 3.915 MHz Net

Wednesday, February 5, is the next American Red Cross
K1ARC Emergency Training Net. The K1ARC net meets at 8:00 P.M. (local) on 3.915 MHz (LSB-Voice), plus or minus 5 kHz, on the FIRST Wednesday of each month.This net is open to all amateur radio operators who are interested in HF emergency communications. The purpose of this regional Red Cross Net is to discuss emergency communication topics and to act as a liaison net between Red Cross Chapters and volunteers.

Plus, feel free to visit our K1ARC Red Cross web page
at: http://www.qsl.net/k1arc/

Based on a salient comment by Bob N1BE, we will use the following frequencies for 6m liaison within Region 1.

52.53 Calling. Move down to 52.51 and 52.49 to pass traffic

Region 2 (Bristol/Plymouth) will use different 6m frequencies. Cape Cod ARES will use 52.54.

Please click on the “List of Players” button to the left for the list of players as of this moment. Finalized frequency plans have also been posted individually under each team’s name.

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT…PACK MONADNOCK NOAA WEATHER RADIO
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
350 PM EST FRI JAN 31 2003

…NEW NOAA WEATHER RADIO TRANSMITTER SERVING SOUTHERN NEW HAMPSHIRE AND NORTHERN MASSACHUSETTS NOW ON THE AIR…A BRAND NEW NOAA WEATHER RADIO TRANSMITTER IS NOW ON THE AIR. IT IS LOCATED ATOP PACK MONADNOCK IN PETERBOROUGH NEW HAMPSHIRE AND IS BROADCASTING AT A FREQUENCY OF 162.525 MEGAHERTZ. IN ORDER TO RECEIVE THE SIGNAL YOU NEED A 7-CHANNEL WEATHER RADIO OR A SCANNER. THE BROADCASTS ORIGINATE AT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON MASSACHUSETTS.

THE SIGNAL IS QUITE STRONG AND HAS BEEN HEARD CLEARLY THROUGHOUT MUCH OF CHESHIRE AND HILLSBOROUGH COUNTIES IN NEW HAMPSHIRE…AND IN MUCH OF CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS. THIS WILL IMPROVE THE SERVICE IN AREAS THAT HAVE HAD RECEPTION DIFFICULTIES IN THE PAST…SUCH AS IN PORTIONS OF NORTHERN MIDDLESEX COUNTY AND MUCH OFSOUTHWEST NEW HAMPSHIRE.

COMPLETE HOURLY OBSERVATIONS ARE GIVEN FOR BOTH MANCHESTER AND JAFFREY…WITH SKY AND TEMPERATURE CONDITIONS FOR MANY SURROUNDING SITES. LOCAL FORECASTS FOR SOUTHWEST NEW HAMPSHIRE…THE MERRIMACK VALLEY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE…AND THE MERRIMACK VALLEY OF NORTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS ARE BROADCAST. SHORT FUSED WARNINGS…SUCH AS FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS…TORNADOES…AND FLASH FLOODS…WILL BE BROADCAST FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES…

IN VERMONT…
WINDHAM

IN NEW HAMPSHIRE…
SULLIVAN
MERRIMACK
CHESHIRE
HILLSBOROUGH
ROCKINGHAM

IN MASSACHUSETTS…
FRANKLIN
WORCESTER
MIDDLESEX
ESSEX

Two EMA nominations have been received for the League’s Herb S. Brier Instructor of the Year award from the Billerica Amateur Radio Society and the Framingham Amateur Radio Association, respectively. The national award is presented by the Board of Directors in recognition “of the very best in volunteer Amateur Radio instruction.”

The two nominations were received by EMA Section Manager Phil Temples, K9HI prior to the January 31, 2003 deadline, and have been forwarded to ARRL Headquarters. A panel of Educational Advisors will recommend its selection of the recipient to the Volunteer Resources Committee by June 15, with the recommendation to be circulated to the ARRL Board of Directors by June 30. The Board will then make a final determination at its second annual meeting.

The national winner will receive an engraved plaque, along with ARRL publications of a value up to $100.00.

Hello to all….Volunteers Being Solicited for the Emergency Communications Exercise for Saturday February 8th from 10 AM-Noon…[0900-1200 for the Section, W1MPN]

We are looking for volunteers to join us for the Eastern Massachusetts ARES Emergency Communication Exercise which is on Saturday February 8th from 10 AM-Noon. For the Greater New Bedford area, we are working with the Red Cross in New Bedford, Massachusetts.
The following site has details on the Emergency Communications Exercise that is slated for this Saturday:

http://ares.ema.arrl.org/

This site contains generic information on the exercise that will be done across the Eastern Massachusetts section. Across South Coastal Massachusetts, where we are just starting to make an attempt to rebuild ARES and to forge ahead with a relationship with the New Bedford Red Cross, we plan to make the drill more simplistic and use repeater operation for this drill. thers across the section will be using Simplex communications and other more elaborate forms of communication.

The exercise involved a Major Winter Storm that results in damage, power outages and shelter openings. Since the Fairhaven Repeater, 145.49, would typically be used for SKYWARN Operations, the 147.000 Dartmouth Repeater will be used for this exercise. The repeater will be put into its “Emergency mode” to allow for smoother operation just like it would be in a real event.

For the purpose of this exercise, we will follow a scenario where we would “pretend” to get people staged and mobilized to shelters across the New Bedford coverage area. No one will be asked to actually mobilize but we will pass tactical and formal messages indicating that we are working a mobilization. We do plan to have 2 operators at the American Red Cross in New Bedford. We are looking for 2 volunteers to man the SEMARA Club house for communications. It would be logical that the SEMARA Club house facility, in the event of a real disaster, would be a meeting place for Amateurs in the event of a mobilization. Between either the Red Cross station or the SEMARA station, the goal will be to liasion with the RACES Net in the local area on the 147.135 Taunton Repeater and to contact other Emergency Communication teams and EOC’s that neighbor the south coast of Massachusetts. We will also do mock liaison work with SKYWARN on the 145.49 Fairhaven Repeater just like we would in an actual weather related incident although for the purpose of this exercise, we will not formally have a SKYWARN Net up and running as this exercise will simulate the effects of the storm right after it has impacted the region and the storm has passed.

We are looking for as many people to participate in the exercise as possible. We’d like to see at least one person in every town from New Bedford to Wareham to participate and we encourage other Amateurs across the South Coast to participate in the exercise. During the exercise, we will be asking people to handle both tactical and formal written NTS traffic messages. Please do not be intimidated by the fact that we will use formal NTS traffic messages and no one has to have prior knowledge of handling these messages to participate. We encourage anyone to participate even those who are not familiar with NTS traffic messages. We are looking for people to participate and do the best they can so that those that may never have done NTS traffic messages before are the people we are actually looking for because it can help them practice and learn how to handle the traffic. Details on how to write and receive NTS traffic messages are at the
following link:

http://nts.ema.arrl.org/

Along the left hand side of the page there is a link to the NTS manual and message handling instructions and these links provide valuable information on how to format NTS traffic messages. Please contact myself or Tony Duarte, N1XRS, with any questions or to volunteer to participate in any form for this drill. My contact information is below and Tony’s email address is TDDuarte@attbi.com

Thanks to all and we hope for great participation in this exercise!!!

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
SEMCARES 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

_______________________________________________
Semcares-members mailing list
Semcares-members@cmpsa.org
http://cmpsa.org/mailman/listinfo/semcares-members_cmpsa.org

The February 5, 2003 meeting of the Cape Ann Amateur Radio Association features John Graves who will talk on interfacing computers and Amateur Radio equipment. The club’s president, WI1U, writes, “the talk should be very interesting considering all the new modes that use your computer’s sound card.”

“Several related tech talk articles are available on the CAARA web page for those of you who would like to prep up a little,” WI1U adds.

See http://caara.net/directions.html for directions and a map to the meeting sight.

From WA1R – The RACES HF net will be on for the Feb. 8 exercise. Our operations will start on the published frequencies (3.943 and 7.245) and move up for QRM/QSB. Four NCS stations are:

AA2T, WA1FIA, W3EVE, WA1R

Greetings…Please submit your frequency choices to your DEC as soon as you can, so we may help get them finalized for your planning. Please refer to the Exercise plan and the change 1. If you need any assistance, please contact us.

Please note that the combined exercise (periodic) and the annual SET areas have been split into two new function buttons to the left. This should make access a little easier for you.

1204 PM EST MON JAN 27 2003

..WIND CHILL ADVISORY HAS BEEN EXTENDED UNTIL 942 AM EST TUESDAY MORNING…

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A WIND CHILL ADVISORY FOR TONIGHT…WHICH INCLUDES N. CONNECTICUT…ALL OF RHODE ISLAND AND MASSACHUSETTS…EXCLUDING CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS. AN ARCTIC FRONT WILL MOVE ACROSS THE REGION THIS MORNING. HIGH TEMPERATURES TODAY WILL OCCUR THIS MORNING…THEN BEGIN TO FALL INTO THE TEENS AND SINGLE DIGITS THIS AFTERNOON.A BRISK NORTH WIND WILL DEVELOP THIS MORNING & WILL CONTINUE INTO TONIGHT. WIND CHILLS WILL LOWER TO MINUS 5 TO MINUS 15 DEGREES TODAY. FRIGID TEMPERATURES TONIGHT COMBINED WITH A STIFF NORTH WIND OF 15 TO 25 MPH…WILL CREATE DANGEROUS WIND CHILL VALUES BETWEEN MINUS 15 & MINUS 24 DEGREES TONIGHT. WIND CHILLS THIS LOW POSE A SIGNIFICANT PROBLEM FOR THOSE HAVING TO SPEND EXTENDED PERIODS OF TIME OUTDOORS.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR FAVORITE MEDIA OUTLET FOR THE LATEST INFORMATION ON THIS DEVELOPING WEATHER SITUATION. A WIND CHILL ADVISORY IS ISSUED WHEN PROLONGED COLD TEMPERATURES…COMBINED WITH SUSTAINED WINDS…ARE EXPECTED TO PRODUCE BITTER COLD WIND CHILL VALUES OF -15 TO -24 DEGREES…FOR AT LEAST 3 HOURS.

IF VENTURING OUTSIDE…MAKE SURE TO DRESS IN SEVERAL WARM DRY LAYERS. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO KEEP YOUR HEAD…HANDS…AND FEET COVERED TO AVOID FROSTBITE. WITH THESE WIND CHILL ALUES…FROSTBITE MAY OCCUR IN 20 TO 30 MINUTES ON EXPOSED SKIN.

Please be advised that Ed, N1VSJ has been relieved of his duties as Middlesex District Emergency Coordinator (DEC) effective this weekend. Ed has accepted the newly created position of Emergency Operations DEC.Ed will be one of our primary leaders in any emergency, and will continue to develop deployment standards and training. Please join me in congratulating Ed in his new responsibility! 73,

s/Michael P. Neilsen
Michael P. Neilsen, W1MPN
Section Emergency Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts Section
Pager: 1-800-759-8888 PIN 1155084
Admin: w1mpn (symbol for at) arrl.net
978-562-5662 Primary/Voice Mail
978-389-0558 FAX/ EFax Voice Mail

Change 1 to the 2/8/03 Exercise Plan has been posted. Please click on the “Exercises/SET” button to the left. An easier to read copy of the exercise plan is in the section below the change.