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Hello to all..

Cape Cod and Islands ARES received some excellent kudos from the American Red Cross on their efforts during Hurricane Earl. Congratulaitons to Cape Cod ARES DEC, Frank O’Laughlin-WQ1O and the Cape Cod and Islands ARES group on the publicity! Below is an article on their efforts including a link from the Red Cross complete with pictures:

http://newsroom.redcross.org/2010/09/07/story-amateur-radio-operators-provide-vital-communications-links-between-red-cross-shelters-during-hurricane-earl/#more-4063

Story: Amateur Radio Operators Provide Vital Communications Links Between Red Cross Shelters During Hurricane Earl

This post is written by American Red Cross disaster volunteer Allen Crabtree.

Friday, September 3. 2010 – HYANNIS, MA – “K1PBO, this is W2BTA with the shelter status report from the Nantucket shelter.”

Amateur Radio Technician Wini Lord Meservey was on duty at the communications room crowded with radios and computers in the basement of the American Red Cross Cape Cod Chapter in Hyannis, MA. She returned the radio call from the amateur radio operator located at the Red Cross shelters on Nantucket Island, one of many regional shelters opened in response to Hurricane Earl.

“W2BTA, this is K1PBO. I copy you,” Meservey replied. “Go ahead with your shelter report.”

One by one, each of the stations at the Red Cross shelters checked in with the count of residents and tourists who had sought shelter from Hurricane Earl. This information, along with current weather and reports of flooding, was gathered and then passed along to the Red Cross as well as the Emergency Operations Center and the nearby military base.

“Amateur radio provides communications to support the disaster relief efforts of the American Red Cross,” said Frank O’Laughlin (WQ1O). “When all other forms of communications go out, we are still on the air to keep vital emergency links open. This is particularly important here at the Cape. We are vulnerable here on our peninsula and on Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard to storms and power outages.”

O’Laughlin is the Director of the local Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES – pronounced A-Rees) and is a veteran ham radio operator and trained Red Cross volunteer with twenty years’ experience. ARES is a program of the Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL) that provides point to point communications between shelters, assists in recovery efforts, provides weather reports in weather disasters and sends messages where normal communications have failed or are overloaded.

“The ARRL operates under a Memorandum of Understanding with the American Red Cross,” said Keith Robertory, Manager for Disaster Technology at the American Red Cross. “The hams are all volunteers and many of them are also trained Red Cross volunteers. They are our `force on the ground’ that respond when there is a disaster anywhere in the country.”

ARES has been supporting Red Cross disaster relief operations for a very long time and will celebrate its 75th anniversary this month. “We have been working with the Red Cross long before there were cell phones,” said Alan Pitts of the ARRL. “When the Internet, the cell phones and the electricity go out, they call on us, the hams, to get the job done.”

Effective disaster relief operations rely on a number of different skills and trained volunteers, and the dedicated ham radio operators of ARES play an invaluable key role in Red Cross emergency service delivery around the country, wherever disasters occur. Frank O’Laughlin and his crew of 35 committed amateur radio operators on Cape Cod expertly filled that role during Hurricane Earl, and when the next disaster strikes they are trained and ready to respond whenever called upon.

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
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
http://www.wx1box.org

Hello to all..

The Hurricane Earl Post Storm Report and analysis and Eastern Region Communications Test Reults have been posted to the WX1BOX web site. It is posted at the following link:

http://www.wx1box.org/node/337

73,Rob-KD1CY.

Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator

ARES SKYWARN Coordinator for NWS Taunton Massachusetts

Please see the MEMA Training Classes being offered as forwarded by Massachusetts State RACES Radio Officer, Tom Kinahan, N1CPE.

The following new courses have been added to the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency’s
training calendar:

Incident Command System 200 at 911 Public Safety Academy on August 31, 2010

Incident Command System 200 at Agawam Training Room on September 9, 2010

Incident Command System 200 at Mema Region I on September 29, 2010

Incident Command System 300 at Plymouth Cty. Sheriff’s Dept. Regional Training Center on September
14, 2010

Incident Command System 300 at Agawam Training Room on September 20, 2010

Incident Command System 400 at Plymouth Cty. Sheriff’s Dept. Regional Training Center on October 5, 2010

Incident Command System 400 at Lanesborough Fire Station on October 28, 2010

Small Animal Handling & First Aid (3:00pm – 5:00pm) at Paxton Public Safety Complex on September 24,
2010

Small Animal Handling & First Aid (6:00pm – 8:00pm) at Paxton Public Safety Complex on September 24,
2010

Visit our web site at
http://www.mass.gov/portal/index.jsp?pageID=eopsmodulechunk&L=3&L0=Home&L1=Public+Safety+Agencies&L2=Massachusetts+Emergency+Management+Agency&sid=Eeops&b=terminalcontent&f=mema_mema_dept_training&csid=Eeops
for more details.

Please see the article as posted on the Eastern Massachusetts ARRL Section Web Page on the Hurricane Hudson Drill and the statewide participation in that exercise:

http://ema.arrl.org/node/1721

Hello to all..

The following information was provided by ARES Assistant Section Emergency Coordinator, Carl Aveni, N1FY, on Amateur Radio volunteer communication opportunities at the South Shore Hospital where an Open House for Amateur Radio Operators has been scheduled. The text of the press release and the flyer are listed below:

Based on recent FCC data, there are 91 active Amateur Radio licenses in the town of Weymouth and many more in surrounding communities. If you are an experienced Amateur Radio Operator and you are interested in becoming a Radio Communications Volunteer for South Shore Hospital, please join us at an open house on Tuesday, August 24, 2010, from 5:00pm – 7:00pm in the Private Dining Room on the second floor of the Emerson Building.

For more information, please call Joan Cooper-Zack, RN, Emergency Preparedness Manager, (781)-624-4366

Or email

Joan_Cooper-Zack at sshosp.org

John_O’Neill at sshosp.org

South Shore Hospital Open House Flyer: http://ares.ema.arrl.org/local/Ham_Radio_Flyer_8-24.pdf

Hello to all…

The Massachusetts Statewide Hurricane Drill – Hurricane Hudson is set for Monday August 2nd, 2010 from 7-9 PM. The participants document has been created. This participants document is revision 1. The document may be revised once more between now and drill time but represents all of the pertinent information for the exercise as of Sunday July 25th. A link to the document is provided below:

http://ares.ema.arrl.org/local/2010_Hurricane_Hudson_Mass_Drill_Participants_Doc_Rev_1.pdf

The biggest highlight to mention to all participants is that there will be failover from repeaters, Echolink/IRLP etc. to 2-Meter simplex, HF and RF only modes including Winlink RF only modes at a certain juncture within the exercise. This will be an opportunity to practice failover which has not been practiced in a number of exercises and will be a worthwhile item to practice as part of this exercise.

We encourage strong participation across RACES, ARES, SKYWARN and MARS members. Water temperatures off our coastline are warmer than normal. While this won’t necessarily dictate the track of hurricanes towards the region, it is an indicator that if we do get a hurricane coming up the coast posing a potential threat to New England, the water temperatures will be warmer alllowing the hurricane to sustain its strength longer than normal. This exercise will serve as good practice to a real hurricane situation. Thanks to all for their continued support of RACES, ARES, SKYWARN and MARS in the commonwealth of Massachusetts.

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
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
http://www.wx1box.org

Hello to all..

The Massachusetts Statewide Hurricane Drill is set for Monday Evening August 2nd, 2010 from 7-9 PM. The drill will be similar to past years in that it will be leveraged off the MEMA Region Two scenario and expanded statewide and will be named ‘Hurricane Hudson’. There will be some changes, however, from past hurricane drills and it is hoped these changes will bring further interest in the exercise and allow for practice in newer items that have not been attempted in quite some time. Region Two will hold a briefing approximately 4-7 days prior to the exercise.

A meeting was held with Region Two Communications Officer Doug Forbes, Region Two RACES Radio Officer, Bob Mims-WA1OEZ, Mike Russas, MEMA Exercise Planner from the MEMA Training Department at Framingham HQ, Carl Aveni, Assistant ARRL SM/ARES ASEC and Rob Macedo-KD1CY, Eastern Massachusetts ARES SEC. The meeting was held on Tuesday June 29th. The drill scenario was reviewed with the new/different components added to the exercise.

Further details on the scenario will be posted in approximately 1-1.5 weeks with coordination with other parts of the state in a similar timeframe. This notice is being sent out as a primer to reach Amateurs in ARES/RACES/SKYWARN/MARS and other EMCOMM groups who would be interested in participating in this exercise. Thanks for your interest in the exercise!

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
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
http://www.wx1box.org

Hello to all..

The following information was provided by N1DHW-Frank Murphy, Salvation Army Boston Emergency Communications Coordinator for SATERN on their new disater vehicle and FedEx Nascar vehicle that will be on display in Boston on Thursday June 24th at Boston City Hall Plaza. A brochure of the disater vehicle is listed at the link below and the PR announcement from Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Services Director, Chris Farrand, is listed below as well.

DRU-2 Vehicle Brochure: http://ares.ema.arrl.org/local/DRU2_Brochure.pdf

On June 24th The Salvation Army and FedEx will be hosting a dedication for a newest addition to our Emergency Disaster Services Massachusetts division fleet. This event will be held at City Hall Plaza beginning at 11am until 1pm and will include the FedEx NASCAR stock car and driver, tours of the new vehicle, a TSA band, and iced coffee and snacks served from the new canteen. This new vehicle, a DRU-2, will be the largest of The Salvation Army fleet in Massachusetts, and will provide primary support of the Mass Bay area from the new Kroc Center as well as secondary support throughout the state. Please plan to attend if you are available as your presence would be a welcome addition to the event.

Chris Farrand
Director
Emergency Disaster Services

The Salvation Army
Massachusetts Division
25 Shawmut Rd.,
Canton, MA  02021

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
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
http://www.wx1box.org