Emergency Communications

Emergency communications and the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES®)

All / Emergency Communications

Cape Cod ARES Exercise: Operation Cyclone Saturday 9/29/07 10 AM-Noon

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Hello to all….

Cape Cod ARES will be holding an exercise called Operation Cyclone on Saturday September 29th, 2007 from 10 AM-Noon. The exercise simulates a Category-3 hurricane affecting Cape Cod and the Islands and is an “advanced” exercise testing out the skills of Cape Cod ARES with 3 field station setups along with EOC’s and several regional hospitals staffed for support.

Details on the exercise can be seen at the following link: Cape Cod ARES Operation Cyclone Exercise Document

Those with home stations that wish to participate with Cape Cod ARES can certainly do so and the frequency information including digital frequencies as well as primary and secondary voice frequencies are in the exercise document.

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section 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://www.wx1box.org
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
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All / Emergency Communications

BARC ARES Participates in Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) Exercise

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Hello to all….

Boston Amateur Radio Club (BARC) members who are also a part of Eastern Massachusetts ARES participated in an exercise on the Strategic National Stockpile which is a stockpile of medications in the event of a bioterror or pandemic flu type of incident. Below is a write-up from BARC Club member and Metro Boston ARES DEC, Blake Haskell-K1BTH on that exercise:

On Sunday September 23, 2007 members of the Boston Amateur Radio Club participated in a joint Boston Public Health Commission and US Postal Service test of medicine delivery. The exercise, which teamed USPS mail carriers and Boston Police Department Officers to insure security, delivered over 20,000 sample boxes of medicines. It is the City’s goal to provide medical services to residents as quickly as possible in the event of an emergency.

BARC members participating included Blake T. Haskell, K1BTH, who also serves as EMa ARES Metro Boston DEC; Jim Clogher, N1ICN; Mark Duff, KB1EKN; Eric Falkof, K1NUN; and Paul Olivieri, N1ZKR. The USPS Emergency Operating Center was staffed along with the Boston Police Department Unified Command Center and the areas around the West Roxbury and South End Post Offices. Communications were facilitated by the W1KRU repeater system operated by the Boston EMS Amateur Radio Group. There were no problems with communications and all amateur radio operations were carried out on UHF frequencies.

Other agencies participating included the Massachusetts State Police, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, US Postal Inspectors and various other city, state and federal agencies.

The exercise was deemed a success and was completed ahead of time. Some operational difficulties were identified and are already being addressed by BARC and the City of Boston. It is expected that other joint operations will be planned and BARC looks forward to working with our emergency management partners again.

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section 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://www.wx1box.org
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
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All / Emergency Communications

Ham Assistance For Hospital EOCs Explored

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hospital emergency room signSteve Telsey, N1BDA writes on PART-L:

Have you been interested in emergency communications but been put off by elaborate go-kits, working in rain and snow, and eating MREs? Would you prefer to work in a controlled environment where food was available and a minimal “kit” was required?

Several hospitals are looking for small groups (4-6) of hams to provide auxiliary communications in their EOCs. Yes, hospitals are putting together EOCs and adding communications like satellite phones and statewide medical network radios. However, they may need to contact other hospitals or MEMA. And they may need reports from people in the field about possible incoming patients.

Initial discussions are underway with hospitals. We are looking to establish pilot programs with a small number of hospitals. Interested parties should contact me rather than hospital personnel. One requirement the hospitals have is that the volunteers be committed to supporting the hospital and not have primary responsibilities to RACES, ARES, town emergency management, and the like. They can certainly work with other groups, but must be willing to support the hospital when needed. Another is that the hams participate in initial hospital training on basic procedures, undergo a background check (probably CORI), and take part in periodic drills.

Does working at a community hospital during disasters appeal to you? If so, please let me know at n1bda@arrl.net. I’d like to hold a meeting in mid-October or thereabouts to go into more details and answer questions you may have.

73,

Steve, N1BDA

All / Emergency Communications

Reminder: Monthly Eastern Massachusetts ARES Net for September

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Hello to all….

A reminder that the monthly ARES Net for September is rapidly approaching. It was delayed one week due to the Labor Holiday last Monday to conincide with the RACES Nets which was also delayed one week for Labor Day.

The monthly ARES Net for September is Monday September 10th, 2007, at 8:30 PM on the MMRA Repeater system. This is after the RACES Nets earlier in the evening.

Make the 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.

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!

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section 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
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All / Emergency Communications

North Shore ARES To Provide Limited Support to Peabody International Festival

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Hello to all….

The following was posted to the North Shore ARES and North Shore Radio Assocation email lists by ARES Emergency Coordinator, Jim Palmer-KB1KQW:

Attention all North Shore Amateurs! We have been contacted by the City of Peabody Emergency Management department to provide limited support for the Annual International Festival to be held in Peabody Square on Sunday, September 9th from 11:30am until 6:00pm. This will be a relatively easy and informal event to support. All that is required is any amateur interested in attending the Festival is asked to bring their HT’s along with them and tune to the 146.88 (-) 118.8 PL NS1RA Salem Repeater. We will be looking for the following information…

– Check-in with us to tell us you are at the festival

– Check-out with us when you leave

– Watch out for Health and Safety…if you see something that requires attention…let us know!

Net Control will be operating at an undisclosed location. Due to the nature of the event, we are unable to discuss it over the air…so please do not ask, nor discuss it on air. However, if you would like to arrange to see our operation, please contact Jim or Eric IN ADVANCE (before the festival) so we can try to arrange that for you. Please note that we cannot guarantee these arrangements and may not be able to accommodate every request, depending on what is going on at the time.

If you have any questions about this event, please let either me or Eric know and we will do our best to answer them for you. I will update this e-mail next week if we get further information, and you can also visit www.nsradio.org for updates.

Thanks again to all for their continued help and support of North Shore ARES.

Jim Palmer – KB1KQW
North Shore ARES Emergency Coordinator
North Shore Assistant SKYWARN Coordinator

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All / Emergency Communications

Reminder: Monthly ARES Net for August

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Hello to all….

A reminder that the monthly ARES Net for August is rapidly approaching.

The monthly ARES Net for August is Monday August 6th, 2007, at 8:30 PM on the MMRA Repeater system. This is after the RACES Nets earlier in the evening.

Make the 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.

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!

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section 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
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All / Emergency Communications

Western Mass ARES Stands Down/Request for Support Done…Gardner Victim Found

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Hello to all….

FYI….the victim has been found and assistance is no longer required. Special thanks to all those who assisted in supporting this event. See email below:

73,Rob-KD1CY.
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator

Original Message:
—————–
From: wb1arz@aol.com
Date: Sat, 07 Jul 2007 15:40:12 -0400
To: Wect@wpi.edu, echatter@cmara.org, K1vsc@yahoo.com, K1KWP@amsat.org, w1plw@aol.com, kd1cy@comcast.net, n1sr@arrl.net, kd1xp@kd1xp.org, Lrizzo@gmail.com, Ae1dg@cmara.org
Subject: Stand Down of Search and Rescue mission

Folks,
I want to personally thank everyone for your efforts today and last night, particularly those that came out and braved difficult conditions in the woods?in and around?Gardner, MA.?plus the heat and humidity this afternoon, and all of your hard work to locate this missing person.

A short while ago, I?received a telephone call from ARES SEC, WMA, John Ruggiero, N2YHK (who also serves within the WECT ranks as an Assistant Team Leader,) that the individual who was missing has been located! However, I was further informed that it is a local police matter now, which suggests a negative outcome. Sometimes these things happen and we cannot ever know why. The person in question was despondent.

Officially all groups are asked at this time to stand down. The search is over. Thank you again for your efforts and your offers to assist. If anyone has comments regarding their involvement in this action, whether limited or full blown, please email both John, N2yhk (nwyhk@wpi.edu) and myself (wb1arz@aol.com) so that we can review our response overall and figure out where we excelled and we we did not. In this we can help improve our methods for the next time something like this happens.

73 all,

Mark, WB1ARZ
ARES EC, City of Worcester
Director, WECT
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All / Emergency Communications

Reminder: Monthly ARES Net for July

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Hello to all….

A reminder that the monthly ARES Net for July is rapidly approaching.

The monthly ARES Net for July is Monday July 2nd, 2007, at 8:30 PM on the MMRA Repeater system. This is after the RACES Nets earlier in the evening.

Make the 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.

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!

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section 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
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Emergency Communications / Licensing Education & Training

Latest SKYWARN Training Schedule

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SKYWARN logoSKYWARN Weather Spotter Training season is upon us. The training is free and open to the public. Hams and non-hams alike are welcome to attend the training and learn about identifying and reporting severe weather patterns to the National Weather Service. Additionally, those that have previously taken the class are advised that it is a good idea to retake the class every five years or so to ensure that your skills and abilities are up to date and cutting edge.

The schedule is available on the WX1BOX Taunton Skywarn website.

–Thanks, wma.arrl.org

All / Emergency Communications

Reminder: Monthly ARES Net for May

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Hello to all….

A reminder that the monthly ARES Net for May is rapidly approaching.

The monthly ARES Net for May is Monday May 7th, 2007, at 8:30 PM on the MMRA Repeater system. This is after the RACES Nets earlier in the evening.

Make the 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.

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!

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section 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
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Emergency Communications

Eastern Mass. ARES Stand-By Activation Sunday into Monday

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Hello to all….

….Eastern Massachusetts ARES Stand-By Activation Requested due to Major Nor’easter and some localized requests for Amateur Radio support for the Nor’easter and with large Amateur presence for the Boston Marathon for Monday…
….Stand-By ARES Activation to start Sunday Morning and last into Monday Afternoon/Evening with the time frame to be better defined Saturday Evening or Sunday Morning and updated through the ARES web site….

It is hard to believe as I write this request on Saturday 4/14 that we are expecting a powerful nor’easter. It is a beautiful Saturday with temperatures around 50 degrees and its one of the nicer days we have had in some time in our region.

Nonetheless, a major nor’easter is expected to bring a variety of weather threats to the region Sunday into Monday with the worst of the conditions Sunday and some level of residual impact on Monday. Please refer to Storm Coordination Messages that are posted on the NWS Taunton SKYWARN web site for the weather details at the following link:

http://www.wx1box.org/

While the worst of the storm seems centered around Sunday and we would typically wait a bit longer to go into stand-by mode, with many Amateurs preparing to support the Boston Marathon Monday and the fact that there have been a couple requests for support from served agencies for the nor’easter, now seems a good time to alert people to the storm and place ARES in stand-by mode in case a worst case scenario storm occurs and the storm causes a lot of problems while the Marathon is taking place.

What is ARES Stand-by mode?

ARES stand-by mode is to alert Amateurs within ARES that a mobilization is possible on a wide-scale and that some localized mobilizations are taking place in isolated areas. It means to take a look at your Go-Kit and have batteries and equipment ready to go and charged up and take care of any requirements at home in case a mobilization is required and you can participate. Do NOT self-deploy. Wait for guidance from leadership for any deployment. It is an honor to be ready even if you don’t deploy for the event, Given this is a weather situation, ARES folks are asked to support the SKYWARN program with reports per the reporting criteria and monitor SKYWARN frequencies. The wx1box.org web site has the reporting criteria and frequencies available for review.

Any general Amateurs assigned to volunteer for the Boston Marathon should fulfill their commitment unless their safety/health/physical condition will be affected by the rainy, raw conditions. Any ARES/RACES/SKYWARN Amateurs assigned to volunteer for the Boston Marathon should fulfill that assignment unless called back by their ARES EC or DEC, RACES Radio Officer or EMA Director or if you feel your safety/health/physical condition will be severely affected by the rainy and raw conditions that are expected.

Given the race is expected to go on and conditions will be less than ideal but not as bad as initially thought at this time, the role of Amateurs in the marathon is even more important to protect the runners and be ready to do ambulance requests. The ARES stand-by mode is to get Amateurs that will not be at the Marathon monitoring to support storm operations for SKYWARN and ARES mobilization with little impact to the Amateurs already assigned to the Boston Marathon.

Hopefully, this is just another exercise of our preparedness and capabilities. If not, the ARES leadership looks forward to working with you if any wide scale mobilization is required.

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section 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
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All / Emergency Communications

Reminder: Monthly Eastern Massachusetts ARES Net for April 2007

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Hello to all….

A reminder that the monthly ARES Net for April is rapidly approaching.

The monthly ARES Net for April is Monday April 2nd, 2007, at 8:30 PM on the MMRA Repeater system. This is after the RACES Nets earlier in the evening.

Make the 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.

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!

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section 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
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Emergency Communications / Licensing Education & Training

Boxboro ARES-SKYWARN Presentation On-line

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Richard Amirault, N1JDU writes on the warc64 mailing list:

The ARES-SKYWARN talk moderated by [Eastern MA Section Emergency Coordinator] Rob Macedo, KD1CY at the 2006 ARRL New England Division Convention in Boxboro is now on-line in streaming video. Real Player and a broadband connection is needed to view:

http://n1jdu.org/videos/Boxboro_06_Skywarn.ram

Richard Amirault
Boston, MA, USA
http://n1jdu.org
http://n1jdu.org/Fandom/science.htm