Emergency Communications

KC1AEI-Matt Knowles writes:

Hi all!

I’m passing along this message in hopes that there are some more amateur
radio operators interested in volunteering at the 2021 Head of the
Charles with special attention for those willing to work on safety
launch boats.

In keeping with the theme of creating a safe environment to hold W1R,
the World’s #1 Regatta, and after consulting with a team of experts from
Massachusetts General Hospital, we’ve updated our COVID-19 guidelines.
Only individuals who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 will be
eligible to volunteer. We may require proof of vaccination closer to
race weekend. “Fully vaccinated” individuals are those who have received
two doses of an mRNA vaccine series (Pfizer or Moderna) or a single dose
of the Johnson&Johnson vaccine, with at least two weeks having elapsed
since the final dose. A third “booster” dose is not required for
participation.

Perks of volunteering: A nice Vineyard Vines quarter zip, branded with
the Head of the Charles Regatta logo. You’ll also get a boxed lunch
delivered to you (or to the dock where a safety launch can come in and
pick up), and gluten free and vegetarian options are available. Aside
from that, all I can offer is a fun day on or near the water with a
great crew of volunteers!

Here is the link for Regatta Central.
https://volunteer.regattacentral.com/hocr/browse This is where you will
go to register to volunteer.

There are lots of exciting updates about this year’s event being posted
on social media, so be sure to like and/or follow Head of the Charles
Regatta on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hocr1965/, Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/HOCR1965 , and Twitter https://twitter.com/HOCR
to stay in the loop. If there are any questions with this, please send
them my way and I’ll answer them to the best of my ability. I know that
this is short notice, and I appreciate your consideration and hope to
hear from you. Thanks!

Matt Knowles
KC1AEI
Matt Knowles <matthewsknowles@gmail.com>

Hello to all…

This is the second in a series of monthly Eastern Massachusetts ARES reports that we have published on the Eastern Massachusetts ARES web site and will redistribute via the ARRL Section News provided we can meet the Section News deadline with our report. In the future, we plan to include additional statistical information on number of SKYWARN and ARES activations, total number of ARES members in the section as well as a narrative report in key happenings in Eastern Massachusetts ARES. We hope everyone finds these reports informative.

As this ARES report is being written, the 125^th running of the Boston Marathon will take place on Monday 10/11/21. We thank all Amateur Operators and those that are Amateur Radio SKYWARN Spotters and ARES members for their participation in race day despite COVID and dealing with the COVID precautions. We wish everyone a great and fun race day on Marathon Monday. Also upcoming for public service events are the Baystate Marathon and the Head of the Charles Regatta.

Eastern Massachusetts ARES has lost a key member of its staff. Metro Boston ARES District Emergency Coordinator, K1BTH-Blake Haskell is now a silent key along with his wife Deb Haskell. Eastern Massachusetts ARES honored Blake with a last call on the October Eastern Massachusetts ARES Net and on many of the RACES nets that took place. The ARES Net and Sector 2 RACES Net last calls were recorded and can be heard here:

https://ema.arrl.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Sector_2C_RACES_Net_K1BTH-Blake-Tribute.mp3

https://ema.arrl.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Eastern_Mass_ARES_Net_K1BTH-Blake-Tribute.wav

The Eastern Massachusetts ARES staff will review his vacancy and announce a replacement over the course of the next 1-2 months. Our sincerest condolences are extended to the friends and family of Blake and his wife Deb and to all in the Amateur Radio and Public Safety community that knew them.

The month of September after Labor Day was a bit less active from an ARES-SKYWARN perspective as the weather pattern changed allowing for less activations. Nonetheless, the weather pattern remained fairly wet across the region with 6 self-activations for SKYWARN during the period mostly for heavy rainfall events but also for isolated severe thunderstorms on 3 of the self-activation for SKYWARN. More information on the larger activations with post storm reports and photos from the 2021 tropical and severe weather season will be posted on wx1box.org over the course of the next week.

ARES/SKYWARN members from across the country including Eastern Massachusetts support the VoIP Hurricane Net as Hurricane Larry made landfall in Newfoundland Canada. Details on this activation can be seen here:

https://ema.arrl.org/2021/09/16/voip-hurricane-net-lauded-for-efforts-during-hurricane-larry/

As we go through the month of October, the threat of direct impacts of tropical systems to our region is less as water temperatures cool but strong hybrid coastal storms become a potential concern. Given the continued very wet weather pattern of the last few months, we will need to monitor this potential for both SKYWARN and ARES activations.

Eastern Massachusetts ARES will conduct its Simulated Emergency Test (SET) coincident with the national Winlink exercise on Saturday 11/13/21 from 1000 AM-1200 PM. Further details will be posted on the Eastern Massachusetts ARES/ARRL section web site towards late October.

Thanks to all for their continued support of Eastern Massachusetts 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
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
http://www.wx1box.org
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KA8SCP-Terry Stader, MEMA Region 1 RACES Radio Officer & ARES District Emergency Coordinator writes:

I apologize for this late notice on this.

Amateur Radio operators have been asked once again to support the Baystate Marathon and Half Marathon. This year the event is on Sunday, October 17th. Our operational time period is from approximately 0700 until event completion (estimated 1400). Our assistance has been requested by Lowell Office of Emergency Management and Lowell Fire Department. The communications team will be employing Amateur Radio to provide this communications asset.

Amateur Radio will be used for:
* Accountability net: the purpose of this net is to coordinate with a race public information booth the status of runners who are unable to complete the race for any issue to any one is seeking this information.

Race info may be found at http://baystatemarathon.com. Course map is found at https://www.baystatemarathon.com/course-map-description-spectator-info

Please contact me if you are able to assist or would like more information.

Please share with others that may be interested. This is a pretty laid back event and suitable for first time public event participation.

Terry-KA8SCP

Terry M. Stader – KA8SCP
MEMA Region 1 RACES Officer
EMA District Emergency Coordinator

Hello to all…

The October Eastern Massachusetts ARES section net will be Monday October 4th, 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:
https://mmra.org/repeaters/repeater_linking.html (Click the ARES box to see the repeaters and other systems linked)

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, we will be doing a “last call” for Metro Boston ARES District Emergency Coordinator, Boston Amateur Radio Club member, town of Hull RACES/Communications Officer, friend and Amateur Radio Operator, K1BTH-Blake Haskell who became a silent key Thursday 9/30/21. We will also announce our plan to conduct our Eastern Massachusetts ARES SET (Simulated Emergency Test) drill for Saturday 11/13/21 from 1000 AM-1200 PM along with several other announcements.

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
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
http://www.wx1box.org
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Good afternoon Everyone,

Tomorrow October 2, 2021 we WILL NOT be holding an Eastern MA Hospital Net. The members of the SSHARG will be providing communications support for the annual Set the Pace Road Race.

https://www.southshorehealth.org/give/friends-south-shore-health/set-pace-road-race

We will resume our monthly net in November on the 6th , the first Saturday in November at 10am.

73s,
South Shore Hospital Amateur Radio Group

Hello to all…

This will be the first in a series of monthly Eastern Massachusetts ARES reports that we will begin publishing on the Eastern Massachusetts ARES web site and will redistribute via the ARRL Section News provided we can meet the Section News deadline with our report. In the future, we plan to include additional statistical information on number of SKYWARN and ARES activations, total number of ARES members in the section as well as a narrative report in key happenings in Eastern Massachusetts ARES. We hope everyone finds these reports informative.

It has been a very active month of August from an ARES-SKYWARN perspective. A total of 7 SKYWARN activations have occurred between early August through early September. The largest activations were for Tropical Storm Henri and its impacts to mostly Southeast, South-Central and Southwest Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut and the remnants of Ida which occurred last Wednesday Night into Thursday. During Henri, Eastern Massachusetts ARES was placed on standby and over 120,000 lost power in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut with the most power outages in Rhode Island where over 80,000 lost power which is around 15-20% of the state of Rhode Island. The WX1BOX Amateur Radio team was active with self-activation gathering reports from ARES-SKYWARN teams all across the NWS Boston/Norton coverage area with numerous reports sent to WX4NHC, the Amateur Radio Station at the National Hurricane Center, where reports from our network made the 11 AM August 22^nd, 201 National Hurricane Center advisory. Some of this activity was covered by ARRL HQ and here are links to those articles:

http://www.arrl.org/news/grace-and-henri-keep-amateur-radio-weather-spotters-busy

http://www.arrl.org/news/hurricane-watch-net-turns-attention-to-henri-as-storm-hits-new-england

The remnants of Ida slammed the region with a widespread 3-8” of rain with isolated amounts approaching 9” causing widespread significant pockets of flash flooding. The remnants of Ida also caused severe weather in the from of straightline wind damage from wind gusts between 40-55 MPH with isolated higher winds of 60-80 MPH in thunderstorms in Dartmouth, Rochester and Yarmouthport, Massachusetts with an EF0 Tornado in Dennis Massachusetts. Cape Cod ARES-SKYWARN was active overnight and provided critical damage reports during the overnight hours through the efforts of KB1QCQ-Tom Wruk. Later in the morning based on some reports of storm damage received in Yarmouthport Massachusetts, KB1TLR-Barry Hutchinson, was able to provide excellent photos of the damage area and Tom and Barry’s information were part of the NWS Boston/Norton storm survey to determine that a EF0 Tornado occurred in Dennis Massachusetts with max winds of 75 MPH and straightline wind damage of 80 MPH occurred in Yarmouthport Massachusetts.

More information on these activations with post storm reports and photos will be posted on wx1box.org over the course of the next week.

Cape Cod ARES conducted a district exercise on Saturday August 7^th. The drill went well with communications via NBEMS (Narrow Band Emergency Messaging System), Winlink, HF and 2m simplex all practiced during the exercise. The exercise also received excellent publicity from Cape Cod ARES via the following link:

https://www.barnstablecounty.org/2021/08/10/local-volunteer-ham-operators-integral-part-of-regions-emergency-response-complete-summer-field-exercise/

A reminder that the Eastern Massachusetts ARES Net for the month of September will be on the second Monday in September on Monday 9/13/21 at 830 PM on the MMRA Repeater Network due to the holiday on the first Monday of the month immediately following the RACES Nets which are also moved due to the Labor Day holiday. Hope to hear folks check into the net on Monday 9/13.

As we go through the month of September, we will be approaching the peak of hurricane season. Given the very wet weather pattern of the last few months, we must remain vigilant for any tropical systems that could impact our region as either a Tropical Storm/Hurricane or a remnant system for both SKYWARN and ARES activations.

Thanks to all for their continued support of Eastern Massachusetts 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
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
http://www.wx1box.org
Like us on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/wx1box
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Hello to all…

Cape Cod ARES will conduct a district exercise “Operation Big Blow” as an advanced level exercise. Given the significant push for Amateur Radio volunteers for the 2021 Boston Marathon, several ARES District Emergency Coordinators who are either out of area or dealing with significant professional/personal workload and the high level of SKYWARN Activations during the month of July, formal section participation from the exercise has been dropped but anyone wishing to participate from outside of the Cape Cod district is more than welcome to do so and can reach the Cape Cod ARES district via 2m simplex, HF and digital modes such as Winlink and NBEMS.  This is the exercise plan: Cape Cod ARES District “Operation Big Blow” Exercise.

In mid-November, we will plan another section wide exercise. This will allow for large events such as support for Northeast HamXposition and the Boston Marathon to complete as well as support for Amateur Radio hurricane nets for the upcoming Atlantic Hurricane Season which is expected to ramp up and become more active as we head into mid-August. Amateur Radio Operators in the Eastern Massachusetts section should think about and prepare for what they would do if a landfalling hurricane were to strike Southern New England. The last direct landfalling hurricane to affect Southern New England was Hurricane Bob in August 1991, 30 years ago. The last major hurricane strike (Cat-3 or higher) to affect the region was Hurricane Carol in 1954. Now is a great time to prepare for the “what if” of a landfalling hurricane by preparing your station and augmenting its capabilities participating in SKYWARN Net Activations for localized severe weather events and participating in public service events where available. If a hurricane landfall does not occur this season, you will be more prepared for a major incident, weather related or otherwise, that could require Amateur Radio and ARES support.

Thanks for your continued support of Eastern Massachusetts ARES and SKYWARN!

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
Like us on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/wx1box
Follow us on Twitter – http://twitter.com/wx1box

Hello to all…

The August Eastern Massachusetts ARES section net will be Monday August 2nd, 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:
https://mmra.org/repeaters/repeater_linking.html (Click the ARES box to see the repeaters and other systems linked)

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, we will have announcements around a final extension for anyone interested in volunteering at the 2021 Boston Marathon, Northeast HamXposition and an exercise on Saturday 8/7/21 being run by Cape Cod ARES. This exercise will not be section wide due to all of the SKYWARN activations over the month of July in the region but all in the section are welcome to participate.

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
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
http://www.wx1box.org
Like us on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/wx1box
Follow us on Twitter – http://twitter.com/wx1box

Hello to all…

The July Eastern Massachusetts ARES section net will be Monday July 12th, 2021 at 830 PM on the MMRA Repeater system. It is on the second Monday of the month due to Monday July 5th being the observed holiday for US Independence Day.

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:
https://mmra.org/repeaters/repeater_linking.html (Click the ARES box to see the repeaters and other systems linked)

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, we will have comments on an upcoming ARES exercise we are planning on Saturday August 7th, 2021, past SKYWARN activation information and the continued need for Amateur Radio volunteers for the 2021 Boston Marathon.

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
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
http://www.wx1box.org
Like us on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/wx1box
Follow us on Twitter – http://twitter.com/wx1box