Emergency Communications

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

All / Emergency Communications

No Monthly ARES Net

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***** No Monthly ARES Net this Month *****
*** Please guard SKYWARN Frequencies during FD Weekend ***

Hello to all….

Due to unavailability of moderator K1BTH and the Quincy Repeater (which he needs to use anyway), I have decided to cancel the monthly ARES net scheduled for this Sunday.

Please check into the many weekly nets that are available on Sundays as a substitute. Please also check our website http://ares.ema.arrl.org often for details about the upcoming DNC mobilization, and the section site http://ema.arrl.org/fd for the latest on Field Day arrangements.

SKYWARN will be active on Field Day weekend to help you watch for thunderstorms, so please guard your nearest SKYWARN repeater during the FD weekend.

Good luck and enjoy yourselves!

73,

Michael P. Neilsen, W1MPN
Eastern Massachusetts
Section Emergency Coordinator
w1mpn@ema.arrl.org
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
978.562.5662 Office
978.389.0558 FAX

All / Emergency Communications

ARES/NTS Cooperative Meeting 4/24

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[From the EMa ARRL Website, K9HI Webmaster]

New EMA ARES ARRL members active in the ARES and NTS programs in Eastern Massachusetts met Saturday, April 24 in Bridgewater to achieve greater cooperation between their respective programs. Section Manager Phil Temples, K9HI called for the workshop in light of recent reports and recommendations by the League’s Volunteer Resources Committee, and the ad-hoc ARES Committee.

KD1CY at ARES-NTS Meeting “It was a great day where much was accomplished,” concluded Assistant Section Emergency Coordinator Rob Macedo, KD1CY. Macedo coordinated and chaired the workshop.

“I’m very pleased with the progress we made this past weekend,” commented K9HI. “Folks from the NTS voice nets, digital nets and ARES leadership sat down and discussed their mutual needs and problems. There was no animosity between the different camps. I want to especially thank Carl, N1FY and members of the Massasoit Amateur Radio Association for hosting the meeting at the Bridgewater EOC,” Temples added.

Minutes from the ARES-NTS Seminar have been posted on the EMA ARES web site, [please press ARES-NTS button to the left]. Photos are also posted at this site under “Photo Gallery”. Additionally, K9HI has created a mailing list called “ares-nts-coop” to provide for follow up discussion to the points of interest.

[KD1CY Photo courtesy of K9HI]
Emergency Communications

ARES, NTS Move Toward Greater Cooperation in EMA

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EMA NTS logoEMA ARES logoARRL members active in the ARES and NTS programs in Eastern Massachusetts met Saturday, April 24 in Bridgewater to achieve greater cooperation between their respective programs. Section Manager Phil Temples, K9HI called for the workshop in light of recent reports and recommendations by the League’s Volunteer Resources Committee, and the ad-hoc ARES Committee.

“It was a great day where much was accomplished,” concluded Assistant Section Emergency Coordinator Rob Macedo, KD1CY. Macedo coordinated and chaired the workshop.

“I’m very pleased with the progress we made this past weekend,” commented K9HI. “Folks from the NTS voice nets, digital nets and ARES leadership sat down and discussed their mutual needs and problems. There was no animosity between the different camps. I want to especially thank Carl, N1FY and members of the Massasoit Amateur Radio Association for hosting the meeting at the Bridgewater EOC,” Temples added.

Seminar group photoMinutes from the ARES-NTS Seminar have been posted. Photos are also posted at this site under “Photo Gallery” below. Additionally, K9HI has created a mailing list called “ares-nts-coop” to provide for follow up discussion to the points of interest.

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[Show slideshow]
Emergency Communications / NTS

ARES-NTS Forum, April 24, 2004

- by k9hi

There were 12 attendees at the seminar and they were as follows:

KB1EKN-Mark Duff Metro Boston ARES District Emergency Coordinator
WQ1O-Frank Olaughlin Cape Cod ARES District Emergency Coordinator
N1XTB-Philip McNamara Bridgewater ARES Team Member
K9HI-Phil Temples Eastern Massachusetts ARRL Section Manager
WA1IDA-Bob Salow Eastern Massachusetts Assistant Section Manager
N1LKJ-Jim Ward Eastern Massachusetts Section NTS Traffic Manager
N1BDA-Steve Telsey Middlesex County ARES District Emergency Coordinator
KW1U-Marcia Forde NTS EAS Chairperson
W1GMF-Gil Follett NTS Traffic Handler
W3EVE-Steve Schwarm Norfolk County ARES District Emergency Coordinator
N1FY-Carl Aveni Bridgewater ARES Emergency Coordinator
KD1CY-Rob Macedo ARES SKYWARN Coordinator for NWS Taunton

The first topic of the meeting was an ARES Program Overview. During the program overview, introductions were made and each person was asked about what they would like to get out of the meeting. The overview described how the ARES program has progressed over the last several years and how ARES has expanded relationships with different served agencies. It also talked about existing working relationships with MEMA and the National Weather Service. The presentation was well received and some suggestions on enhancements for the NWS Taunton station and for an additional project involving receiving AM Radio Stations was discussed and will be reviewed with NWS.

Following the ARES Overview, numerous items were discussed. Gil Follett-W1GMF requested what Clients/Served Agencies might need NTSD (National Traffic System Digital) or Packet support. This included the following agencies:

  1. Red Cross
  2.  Salvation Army
  3. National Weather Service
  4. Cities/Towns ARES/RACES operations
  5. VOAD non-profit (Southern Baptist, Adventists, REACT and other smaller groups) (Mass. VOAD currently defunct due to internal issues.)
  6. MARS-Is there some way to try and plug into their digital system

It was noted in these discussions that any agency could need support in an emergency but the various agencies listed above would be some of the main agencies to service for potential ARES activations. Several additional ideas were also noted:

Instruct all NTS traffic that is going to a different ARES team either within district but especially outside of the district to pass their traffic via an active NTS traffic net using voice for all future ARES exercises.

  • Utilize Packet more heavily across all parts of the Eastern Massachusetts section during exercises and actual activations.
  • Add Health and Welfare traffic as part of the exercise and utilize active NTS voice traffic nets as well as Packet to pass this traffic.
  • Add NTS Net and Net Control Operations to the Advanced Emergency Communications Workshop as follow-on to the Basic NTS Course offering in the Basic Emergency Communications Workshop.
  • Assist NTS with utilization of a Laptop and LCD Projector capable of putting together Power Point slides to assist with getting more people involved with NTS.
  • NTS Traffic Overview

Jim Ward-N1LKJ gave an overview of the voice and CW network. He explained what nets are run at run times and how the local nets interface with the region and area nets.
All these nets are available and need to be utilized further.

Gil Follett-W1GMF gave an overview of the digital system of NTS traffic. He put up a diagram using post it signs on the whiteboard to describe the Packet network. Learned that KW1U-Marcia is a Winlink PMBO node that can be utilized as part of the NTSD network. MMRA is attempting to put this together and we need to refer MMRA to Marcia for technical/logistical support.

Gil then walked through how to format a NTS message via Packet. With Digital, messages can be handled at any length within Gil’s system. Outside of Gil’s system, you have to follow normal NTS traffic rules. Keep in mind, that you can send regular messages at any length in and/or out of the Mass. system.

Gil-W1GMF discussed the NTS program. He discouraged the use of WinRC Packet because it’s only compatible with systems in Colorado. Gil discussed the NTS system being developed by KA1VGM and Beta tested by Gil. The system has most if not all of the bugs worked out. The system should be compatible with any BBS system and include the Winlink systems. The program should now be up on the KA1VGM web site. It is meant for anyone writing NTS traffic. It has several views for NWS messages, NTS traffic and other types of messages and will be passed to the various stations on the Packet network.

Several suggestions have come out of discussion:

1.) Have Jim-N1LKJ and Gil-W1GMF involved in ARES Meetings/exercise discussions. (Add them to all ARES Meeting invitations)
2.) For regular NTS nets, get listeners and anyone else to check into the net and encourage them to get out there and check-in and try to slow down on traffic for new people that are interested. Make sure that NTS people slow down to pass traffic to newcomers.
3.) Need to encourage Amateurs to utilize NTS traffic messaging via the Packet/Digital network even if its for routine traffic as its good practice for activations.
4.) Ask Jim to contact the local Net Managers, one night a month or one night a week to conduct a very basic training net to pass traffic. Jim to put together the scenario to run the basic NTS training across all the traffic nets.
5.) Jim asked that all ARES/RACES personnel encourage their members to check into the NTS Traffic Nets and generate and pick up traffic whenever possible and check into the local, and region traffic nets.
6.) Make sure NTS personnel are invited to the MRAS Meetings.
7.) Put together an all day NTS workshop that would encompass the existing slide sets from the basic and advanced Emergency Communication Workshops and include running a NTS Traffic Net on simplex or a repeater with everyone checking in using HT’s.
8.) Recommend NTS utilize Echolink/IRLP capabilities for in addition to their Region and Area nets and be part of the NTS national infrastructure.
9.) Supplying creative NTS traffic throughout the network via voice or digital nets. Use the key NTS traffic handlers to get this accomplished.
10.) Look into a formal DEC appointment for NTS.

After lunch, continued brainstorming continued and the first part of the afternoon focused on the ARESCOM proposals and the NTSD system. Marcia discussed the NTSD (National Traffic System Digital) System in reasonable detail. Marcia is able to get bulk traffic (2500 messages plus per month) sent across the national digital network using her WinLink node.

Marcia knows several members that are on the ARESCOM, which is a committee setup by Board of Directors concerning nationwide emergency communications and how to improve it. There are two NTS people are on this committee. ARESCOM is working closely with the Winlink Classic and the Winlink 2000 programs. The Winlink Classic program allows single user text messages using conventional forms of Packet. Winlink 2000 is an enhancement to Winlink Classic that would allow traffic from ARES clients including attachments, email and more. The protocol being utilized is called B2, which can handle attachments and has much higher compression rates and makes the message relatively secure.

The idea is to improve ARES capability to expand beyond the local area and to handle anything the client wants to send out. They want a flat “invisible” network with traffic coming in and out of Internet/Digital without knowing where the source is. The National Connection is through the Internet backed up with HF. It was noted that Doc-W1EO might be an excellent resource in the NTSD discussions going forward. The goal is to have regular messages and email with or without attachments to be able to be accepted through the NTSD system utilizing PMBO’s (Participating Mail Box Operators) when needed with the Winlink Classic program via Internet backbone or HF backbone whenever needed.

The EMCON proposal was proposed by W3YVQ-Jim from the Baltimore, Maryland area. Marcia stated that in direct discussions with Jim, they do not consider what they are proposing to be an ARES-NTS merger although at times the document comes across like it should be an ARES-NTS merger. Marcia stated that there is a Message and Procedure Guide on the League web site concerning Winlink and the EMCON proposal and you can click on topics of interest to gather information.

Marcia-KW1U highlighted the following items from the proposal documentation and in direct discussions with W3YVQ-Jim, which is one of the NTSD/EMCON proposal writers:

  • STM and SEC as separate organizations doing what they are doing.
  • ARES will work with the agencies and that’s their primary responsibility.
  • NTS responsible for the message handling network and meet certain criteria.
  • SEC and STM should work together to establish the Emergency Communications Plan for the section.

Based on this discussion, the ARES-NTS Workshop participants drew the following conclusions:

  • The ARESCOM Report/Proposal is very misunderstood by ARES and NTS leadership on what the changes would mean for ARES and NTS.
  • The report needs to be streamlined, reorganized and reworded and should separate the ARES-NTS network alignment from the Winlink-Digital system technical documentation.
  • Volunteer Resource Committee had very negative feedback on NTS. ARESCOM is far less negative on NTS. ARRL Board of Directors needs to decide what committee’s report is more relevant. Based on the fact that ARESCOM does not recommend NTS merge with a ARES, we recommend that ARESCOM apply pressure to the ARRL Board of Directors on preventing any merger of ARES and NTS.
  • Recommend Board of Directors to clear-up miscommunication of ARES-NTS network realignment/further cooperation. State to all SMs that NTS IS a requirement and having a STM IS a requirement that must be upheld.
  • Recommend that the Part 97 rule changes that would dissolve RACES be dropped. While this may happen at some point in the future by attrition, the ARRL should not advocate it as it could promote ill will from RACES groups that already feel threatened by ARES.
  • After the NTSD/ARESCOM discussion, the participants discussed Gil’s recent issues with passing traffic to certain states that are blocking it as “SPAM” traffic. Phil-K9HI plans to confront some of the ARRL Section Managers that are allowing this behavior at the
  • Dayton Hamfest in late May. Phil has recommended that all who attended the meeting be prepared to write complaints to Tom-K1KI, New England Division Director if necessary, to try and resolve these NTS problems as ARRL HQ and the Board have not responded on the issues that Gil is having. Phil also recommended to Marcia that ARESCOM apply pressure to the ARRL Board of Directors and HQ on this issue as well. Phil-K9HI plans on providing status reports on this issue.

Additional discussions surrounded increasing NTS participation. A suggestion was made to take a NTS net, record it and put it on the NTS web site and the ARES web site as well. There should be recordings of one voice net and one CW Net. After putting these recordings, commentary to explain the various portions of the NTS Net, voice or CW could be done as well. Jim and Gil will attempt to put together the recording via .wav or other audio type file that can be put on the web-site, put in workshops and bring to club meetings etc. Gil-W1GMF, Phil-N1XTB and Phil-K9HI will check with Elliot Mayer-W1MJ as he may be an expert in utilizing audio files and could help with breaking up the audio files to allow commentary to be put into the audio files to help describe what various items that happen in the net are so that Hams can learn about NTS Nets quicker.

The next item discussed was a recommendation on a potential name change from ARES to a more generic “Emergency Communicator, Emergency Communications team” type of name. The recommendation was taken under advisement for a future meeting.

Phil-N1XTB brought up a generic point about technical considerations of what MARS is running into for their digital system and how NTS may run into some of the same issues. Some corroboration between MARS and NTS in this area maybe very helpful for both Digital networks to work well and potentially have a path to connect to each other if needed.

The next meeting will be scheduled in the late Summer/Fall of 2004 to review actions generated from this meeting and assure that the plan for expanding the cooperation of ARES and NTS goes to the plans laid out during the meeting. The next meeting will also assure that the recommendations to the ARRL Board of Directors and HQ on ARES and NTS are heard and taken into account on the future of ARES and NTS going forward.

All / Emergency Communications

ARES/Skywarn/Emergency Communications Talk Set

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W1ACT logoRob Macedo will be the speaker at the Bristol County Repeater Association April meeting, set for April 5th at 7 PM. Rob will be covering topics including emergency communications, ARES and Skywarn.

Anyone who is interested is welcome to attend. The meeting will be at the Third Baptist Church, corner of Stafford Rd. and Brayton Ave. in Fall River. Talk-in will be on the BCRA 145.15 repeater, neg. offset, PL 123.0.

Directions:

From 195 in Fall River, take Rte. 24 SOUTH, get off at the first exit (very close to Rte 195), Brayton Ave./Eastern Ave. At the end of the ramp, take a left. Go up the hill to the end of the road at the lights, the church will be on the right, kiddie corner from Swidey’s Corner Store. Parking is across the street from the front of the church.

All / Emergency Communications

NHARES to hold 2m/6m SSB net

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Hello to all. At the last NHARES leadership meeting, it was decided to run an initial test of using 2m SSB and /or 6m SSB as an alternative to 75m and the K1JY system. The test will be on Feb. 22 (Sunday) from 0930 to 1200. All NHARES members with 2m SSB or 6m SSB with any type of antennas (fixed or mobile or portable) are requested to participate. Vertical polarization is preferred, but we want to test all types…yagis, omnis…whatever we have. Those of you who know how bad 75m phone has been, know how important it is that we come up with an alternative.

Please put this on your schedule and try to participate. Further details are to follow.

[Although this is a great training opportunity for our members in the northern part of the EMa Section, this net is a directed net held for NH ARES members. To that end, please check in only after NCS asks for “any other stations”. Please allow NH players to check in first – W1MPN]

Thanks to all of you for your help and dedication in this time of need!

73,
Rex G. Carr, M.D.
AA1KL
NHARES EC Southern Grafton
VTARES AEC Windsor County
rexgcarr@sover.net
aa1kl@arrl.net
W 603-643-5254
H 603-643-4329
C 603-252-7152
All / Emergency Communications

CCARES Weekend Exercise

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Frozen Canal

Operation Artic Chill

[Frozen Cape Cod Canal photo courtesy of W1MPN
Click on photo to enlarge in your browser window.]

Happy WQ1O A happy WQ1O, CCARES DEC, presided over his “Operation Arctic Chill” exercise on Sat 1/31. Based at the Sandwich EOC, team members established comms around the entire Cape Cod district (including Martha’s Vinyard and Nantucket Islands) using pre-planned 2m, 6m, and HF frequencies. NVIS quick deploy antenna systems were used for HF comms.

Please press “Read More” button to read the after action report and view some pictures. [Work on this piece is in progress – W1MPN] [WQ1O photo courtesy of W1MPN
Click on photo to enlarge in your browser window.] CCARES Exercise #18 “Operation Arctic Chill” After Action Report

The exercise began at 10am will the following EOC stations:

1. CCARES EOC Hyannis

2. Sandwich EOC

3. Falmouth EOC

4. Martha’s Vineyard EOC

5. Nantucket EOC

The CCARES primary operations Net was established on the RACES repeater 146.955. A resource Net was established on the Falmouth Repeater 146.655. An NVIS callup was started on 7232khz. NTS mesages were initialized just after 10am. Many messages were passed between EOC stations. Several home stations were used for relay and liaison purposes. 6m FM was established for backup long range district wide operations. Operations ended about 12:15pm as stated goals were met.

Sandwich EOC Evacuation and Field Operations

At just after 11am, a simulated evacuation was begun at the Sandwich EOC. Vehicles were designated for 30 minute intervals to be used for cold weather rehab. Temperatures were in the low to mid 20s. A trailer was used for field NVIS operations and 2m operations. Another vehicle was used to support 6m operations. Both vehicles had expedient vertical antennas for vhf usage.

NVIS Operations

NVIS contact was established with Hyannis and with Nantucket. Band conditions were very poor, but signal from Nantucket was good. Contact with Hyannis was in close proximity and was somewhat weak.

VHF and 6m Operations

VHF repeater communications were nominal as expected. Our control operator simulated repeater failure of the RACES 146.955 Dennis machine by shutting the repeater on and off without notice. Operator did not know the repeater status from one moment to the other. Simplex emergency communications on the output of the repeater were successfully implemented. Signals were excellent. 6m FM continued to prove a star performer. Its range and clarity have made it a continued favorite for district wide usage.

Messaging

NTS messaging continues to improve with each exercise. This is especially true of “message fills” and corrections. Operators are moving messages with increased efficiency.

What Worked/or Not/Lessons Learned

1. Appropriate cold weather clothing cannot be over emphasized It can never be too much!

2. Adequate spacing for RF interference is a must if vehicles are operating simultaneously on VHF

3. A rehab vehicle can significantly ease the burden of the Operators in cold conditions

4. All metallic masts and accessories must be handled with gloves (re-emphisized from last year)

5. A simplex 2m or 440 local field operations frequency is a must if using seperate vehicles

We wish to thank Dick Farrar W1RBF and the Town of Sandwich for hosting the field operations team. We also wish to thank the Nantucket, CCARES and Martha’s Vineyard ARES groups for their participation. The following operators participated in the exercise.

Frank Olaughlin WQ1O
George Allen N1NBQ
Brad Fligor KB1QL
Jim Bradbury WA1KCC
Bob Courtemanche N1WAT
Henry Brown K1WCC
Ben Carnevale W1VZT
Dan Howard K1DYO
Kent Bradshaw KB1ESG
Ritchey Guild KB1EAJ
Jim Leavitt KC1KM
Ron Trainor KC8CEV
Ross LLoyd KB1IMO
Paul Finnegan WA1JSE
Trenor Goodell N1PIV
Nick Norton K1NGJ
Ken Blackshaw W1NQT
Andy Bullington W1AWB
Jon Thayer KB1ILC
Phil Raneri W1PJR

Our special thanks to SEC Mike Neilsen for taking the time out of his busy schedule to visit us. Other visitors included Laura Neilsen, Rob Macedo KD1CY, Tony Duarte N1XRS. good to see everyone.

Preparations are already underway for the Section execise on 02/21/04

Respectfully submitted,
Frank Olaughlin WQ1O
Cape&Islands ARES District DEC

All / Emergency Communications / Public Information / Public Service

N1VUX’s SKYWARN Interview

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One of our own, N1VUX interview appears in Metro Sunday Globe today 2/1, and is written up at our section website. If this link has expired, please find under “SKYWARN” in column to the left.

N1VUX [Bill, N1VUX, is Primary NCS for Northeastern SKYWARN operating primarily on the Waltham repeater. He is also a regular contributor of information on VHF/UHF ducting, using his predictive model. He will also occasionally comment on other unusual atmospheric phenomena affecting communications – W1MPN]

N1VUX Photo courtesy K9HI
All / Emergency Communications

CCARES Drill

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EMa ARES Logo CCARES will hold its “Operation Big Chill” exercise this Saturday, 31 Jan at 1000 throughout the Cape and Islands District.

[The following article contributed by K9HI at http://ema.arrl.org/article.php?sid=319 , -W1MPN]

Grab your boots and mittens—oh, and your Go-kit for the Cape Cod Amateur Radio Emergency Service’s (CCARES) winter cold weather exercise on January 31, 2004 beginning at 9:00 a.m. Dubbed “Operation Arctic Chill” the exercise will test the ability of Emergency Operation Centers, zone-based relay stations, and field operations teams under freeezing, weather conditions.

WQ1O “This will be a drill to test our primary stations and other ARES member home stations,” explained District Emergency Coordinator Frank O’Laughlin, WQ1O. “We will attempt to utilize HF NVIS, VHF/UHF simplex FM. We’ll also utilize VHF/UHF SSB and digital modes. And we will attempt communications with other ARES districts and their EOCs.”

WQ1O Photo courtesy of K9HI

All / Emergency Communications

CCARES “Operation Arctic Chill” January 31, 2004

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EMA ARES logoGrab your boots and mittens—oh, and your Go-kit for the Cape Cod Amateur Radio Emergency Service’s (CCARES) winter cold weather exercise on January 31, 2004 beginning at 9:00 a.m. Dubbed “Operation Arctic Chill” the exercise will test the ability of Emergency Operation Centers, zone-based relay stations, and field operations teams under freeezing, weather conditions.

“This will be a drill to test our primary stations and other ARES member home stations,” explained District Emergency Coordinator Frank O’Laughlin, WQ1O. “We will attempt to utilize HF NVIS, VHF/UHF simplex FM. We’ll also utilize VHF/UHF SSB and digital modes. And we will attempt communications with other ARES districts and their EOCs.”

For additional information, please check the EMA ARES web site at http://ares.ema.arrl.org.

All / Emergency Communications

The Future of NTS/ARES

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Hello everyone:

There are some comments in Gil’s letter below that I find very disturbing.
In particular, the comment about “handing the whole show to ARES.” Having
served as an EC, NM, STM, and SEC, as well as having dealt with ARES and
RACES organizations from the other side of the fence (as a Professional
Emergency Manager), I feel I have a fairly unique perspective.

On one hand, I agree that there is no harm integrating the Internet and
automated digital protocols into ARES and NTS. This is simply evolution and
progress. It needs to be done. However, it should be noted that these are
simply additional communications tools, whereas NTS is a methodology.
Please bear with me while I illustrate with an example:

During a recent bioterrorism response exercise in Central Michigan, the ARES
group repeatedly entered the Emergency Operations Center requesting
etiological information and other data from State and Federal public health
officials. In each case, the served agency representative asked some very
simple questions:

* “How’s requesting this information”
* “What time did he request it?”
* “What facility is he located at”
……..and on and on.

Finally, the local Emergency Manager walked into the ARES room, handed them
a book of radiogram blanks, and demanded they use them. He’s not a radio
amateur. As an exercise evaluator, I asked him what his reasons were for
doing so. The response was straightforward: “NTS format will insure we get
all of the necessary information in a consistent manner.”

As one who has had to rely on ARES and RACES groups to send messages at
HAZMAT scenes, during major disasters, and so forth, I can say without
equivocation that Amateur Radio has serious deficiencies. These may be
summarized as follows:

1. Most ARES groups are equipped (trained) only to handle informal tactical
communications in which they are the direct recipient of the information or
instructions. Many such organizations “fall apart” in net configuration
because the majority of members haven’t the least familiarity with proper
radiotelephone net procedures.

2. Most ARES groups are incapable of utilizing a standard message format for
accurately transmitting third party traffic. As such, important service
data is often lacking. A message recipient needs to know from whom and
where a message was originated. He needs to know when it was drafted. This
information is almost never available through ARES.

For over 30 years, I have seen numerous ARES groups and ARRL Sections bypass
NTS by creating ad-hoc “ARES Nets” to facilitate cross jurisdictional
message flow. Sometimes this is necessary to serve a unique, specialized
purpose, such as linking a number of Skywarn Nets. However, in most cases,
these nets serve only to avoid the use of a standard message format, which
many ECs and AECs are simply afraid to admit they don’t know.

If NTS were entirely supplanted by WINLINK and Internet message delivery
tomorrow, I am willing to bet my retirement income that the very same
problems will exist with message accuracy and content. Furthermore, new
problems will arise in that specific arrangements will not be made for
addressees to regularly check e-mail to accept messages in a timely fashion.
Isolated failures to the local telephone systems and ISPs would also result
in messages “disappearing” in time of emergency.

The simple fact is, ARES has repeatedly failed in a variety of message
handling tasks. Now, NTS is being blamed. We are told we aren’t keeping up
with the times. I say this is simple “bull.” If we want to get to the
bottom of this problem, I suggest the following, somewhat rhetorical
question: “Did the NTS fail the League, or did the League fail the NTS.”

Consider this:

———————-

For years the League has offered many recommendations for ARES
organizations, but has promulgated few, if any, minimum requirements for
member training and basic organizational capabilities. If your local
volunteer fire departments were run like many ARES groups, some would have
adequate hose, others wouldn’t. Some would have SCBA, others wouldn’t.
Some would have a few sets of turn-out gear, others would have too many.
This is why groups like the Red Cross, CAP, and even the Boy Scouts require
field units to meet certain basic requirements to maintain their Charter.
We do nothing of the kind, and the customer (served agencies) pays the price
in many cases.

——————-

For years, the League has done nothing to promote NTS or standard message
format. There are articles in QST on everything from collecting antique
radios and AM phone to the latest data modes, yet, rarely is NTS even
mentioned. When it is, it is usually about the nuts and bolts of layered
nets and how the various cycles work, as opposed to articles explaining how
NTS was applied to an actual ecom problem. One can’t help but ask how an
invisible organization can recruit or interest potential new members?

————————–

In Michigan, we have spent tens of thousands of dollars developing Packet
and PACTOR infrastructure. The result: Several Detroit area ECs told me,
“We don’t want anything to do with your g-d d–ned message handling
procedures.” They view any outside requirement as a threat to their power
and control. Nothing can be done to enforce standards because none exist.

So, this begs the question; Whether via WINLINK, packet, CW, or FM, how is a
message going to flow between a major Detroit Metropolitan Area hospital and
our State Public Health Department or State EMA in the abscence of
commercial/government infrastructure? My bet….it isn’t. If it does, it
will be incomplete, confusing, and perhaps even garbled.

In my opinion, the League failed NTS as opposed to the other way around.
The current NTS situation is simply a display of symptoms caused by an
underlying disease affecting the ARRL community. If the ARRL wants to do
something about the disease, they need to take some serious actions that
have little to do with NTS. Some steps may include:

1. Develop an ARES Certification Program. A local ARES group would have to
meet certain minimum standards to be “certified.” This might include:

* a specific percentage of individuals properly trained (ARRL CCE courses
or??).
* mandatory annual participation in SET on the standard date specified.
* daily NTS liaison.
* specific communications capabilities above and beyond two-meter FM.

The audit would be performed by an independent third party or someone
appointed by the SM or SEC.

2. Further implement the ARESMAT process so that “weak” ARES programs could
be supplemented with outside skills and capabilities. Require ARESMAT
capabilities be available throughout all Sections.

3. While integrating WINLINK and similar automated systems, recognize the
fact that messages may have to leave these systems to be transferred to a
manual method for ultimate delivery. Keep a framework for maintaining
“traditional” mode nets, such as NTS CW, SSB, and FM nets. In addition,
maintain a standard format for all official communications, regardless of
the mode utilized.

4. Recognize the fact that for digital methods to work reliably in time of
emergency, some things have to be standardized, such as mode and baud rate,
terminal software, and so forth. It will therefore be necessary to insist
that each ARES group develop a capability to utilize a standard digital mode
and deploy standardized software before developing additional capabilities.
This may be part of the certification process.

3. When the Field Organization Management Structure is revised, enforce it
for a change! More than likely, had NTS nets been utilized as intended and
defined in the Field Organization management chart (to facilitate message
flow between ARES groups), NTS would have likely grown and evolved to meet
current demands. Because the management structure was consistently
undermined, NTS was never pressured by demand into a state of natural
evolution.

As a side note….does anyone think that an employee of a business or
government agency of a size and budget similar to the ARRL has the same
discretion as an SM to violate and bypass the basic structure of the
business organization? Case in point: Look at the SMs currently
eliminating the STM position without the Board having yet approved the VRC
recommendations!

4. The continued existence of NTS is not incompatible with the development
of additional digital capabilities. It should be kept and encouraged to
function. However, it must work with ARES. Therefore, if the SEC or SM is
placed in charge of Section message handling capabilities, then he/she
better insure that the ARES programs and a cadre of members have minimal
familiarity with it.

In conclusion, and I’ve said it before: Some may think NTS is obsolete, but
the “shadow” is dead as well. The days of the radio amateur shadowing an
official at a disaster scene with a two-meter HT and shouting inaccurate,
unrecorded communications across a command post or an EOC is heading the way
of the passenger pigeon far more quickly than NTS.

Individuals can blame NTS all they want, but they should be forewarned; a
failure to deal with basic training and preparedness issues at the local
level will kill Amateur Radio emergency communications just as quickly as a
failure to address NTS issues.

73,
Jim Wades, WB8SIW

All / Emergency Communications

Limited ARES Mobilization (expired)

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***** Limited ARES Mobilization during Boston “First Night” Activities *****
**** Metro Boston District Only. All other Districts will be on Standby Status ****

Hello to all…

There will be a limited ARES Mobilization during Boston “First Night” Activities in the Metro Boston District Only. All other Districts will be on Standby Status to provide any needed support to the Metro District. SEMARA ARES and the SEMARA club emergency team have been mobilized for this event by South Shore/Bristol MA DEC, Rob, KD1CY.

Please consider yourself on 24 hour notice for activation. The scheduled time for the mobilization is from 1800, 31 Dec to 0100, 1 Jan. Please do not self mobilize to any location. Your DEC will contact you directly should your services be needed elsewhere. Please plan on providing relay services from your home during the “in-disaster” phase of an incident. Please review these procedures on our website, as well as helpful family preparedness info at http://www.ready.gov. Please guard the RACES repeater for your area at all times during the mobilization, including assuming net control until relieved. Please make liberal use of other frequencies/nets as established by your DEC. “Post-disaster” activities will be determined subsequent to this message.

Additionally, the mobilization in the Metro District will be in direct support of dedicated and contingency operations of our two of our major clients; the Red Cross (RC) and the Salvation Army (SA). The latter organization will also mobilize their Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN) at the Boston Headquarters. SATERN usually draws from selected ARES and Boston Amateur Radio Club (BARC) for manning.

Mass Bay Chapter Red Cross will mobilize at the Waltham Chapter facility, and has specifically requested ARES support. Metro DEC, Mark, KB1EKN will lead our efforts there as an ICS leader. I will collocate with Mark to perform my section coordination duties, and to substitute for Mark should he be called away to deal with real world problems. As of this writing, it seems unlikely I will be taking up my duties at the SEOC.

[Please press “Read More” to view Mark’s OpPlan, the frequency plan, and VHF/UHF Repeater and 75m net activation preambles.]

s/Michael P. Neilsen
Michael P. Neilsen, W1MPN
Eastern Massachusetts
Section Emergency CoordinatorAMATEUR RADIO EMERGENCY SERVICE

METRO-BOSTON DISTRICT

FROM: Mark Duff/KB1EKN,
Metro-Boston DEC

TO: ARES Members

SUBJECT: ARES Activation UPDATE 1

DATE: 12-28-2003

Apparently my E-Mail about the ARES activation on the 31st was not as clear and understandable as it should have been and therefore I will attempt to do a better job of explaining what is going on.

Due to the Orange Terror Alert Status, the Salvation Army and the Red Cross will be staffing their EOC’s during New Years Eve. This is not a full-blown activation for these agencies but there will be a limited amount of people on duty. The Salvation Army will be operating from their Hqts. in downtown Boston. The Red Cross will be operating out of their field office in Waltham. ARES will be supporting both agencies. This is a limited ARES activation in Metro-Boston.

I am requesting assistance in three areas on New Years Eve between 1800 and 0100 hours. You do not need to commit to that entire time. I am just trying to get a handle on who is available and who is interested in helping. This E-mail is only being sent to a limited amount of ARES members, as I need people I can depend on and trust.

The three areas needing attention are the following:

Home Stations,
If you plan on being home during the evening and can get on the air IF NEEDED, please let me know. Home stations are a vital part of the ARES organization and I encourage all ARES members to be prepared to operate from home. You do not need to be on the air, I just need a commitment that can get on the air if needed.

Red Cross EOC, Waltham
If you are available to staff the Red Cross EOC in Waltham for any where between two and four hours please contact me. There is a duel band antenna at the facility. All that is required is a 2-meter mobile radio and power supply. I will supply a radio and PS if needed. I do not expect a lot of activity at this assignment but it is important that we have someone there.
If possible I would like to run this in shifts and have two hams on duty between 1800 and 0100. Two, four-hour shifts work best but other arraignments may be possible.

Field Assignments
No Field Assignments are anticipated at this time. In the event that a field assignment is required, it will depend on the specific incident and the needs of that incident. Needless to say safety will be the primary concern with any field assignment and no assignments will be given to any ham unless it is considered totally safe and has prior approval by the ARES leadership.
Again, I am just looking for availability.

If you plan on being in Boston as part of the First Night Festivities, I encourage you to carry your HT and enjoy the evening!

Please do not hesitate to contact me directly at 781-749-7664 or by E-Mail if you have any questions. This is an opportunity for Amateur Radio to shine and for us to practice our skills. I don’t want to let it pass us by.

Metro-Boston ARES Frequency Plan for Operations on 12/31/03-01/01/04

The following frequency plan is being established for operations during the evening of 12-31-03 into Jan 1st. The Metro-Boston ARES Activation will be primarily a 2 meter event. The additional frequencies listed are being established in the event that expansion of the plan or additional communications are need. If additional repeaters are required or simplex operations becomes necessary the plan allows it for it in an orderly and systematic manner.

We are requesting that all ARES stations operating in the Metro-Boston District operate on 145.23 or 146.64. The Boston 145.23 repeater is currently operating at reduced capacity. We will continue to plan to use it as the Boston Primary Repeater. It is expected that MMRA will be linking the 146.67/Quincy, 146.985 /Brookline, 447.875-Brookline (UHF) and 146.715/Stoneham repeaters during the evening of the 31st. The MMRA linked repeaters will serve as back-up for both Boston and Waltham, and may be used for any ARES communications.

Metro-Boston 2 Meter ARES Repeater Frequencies
Boston Primary 145.23/88.5 [Repeater located in Boston] Waltham Primary 146.64 [Repeater located in Waltham]

{Additional 2 Meter repeaters if required} [Expected to be linked] Boston North 146.715/146.2 [Repeater located in Stoneham] Boston West 146.985/88.5 [Repeater located in Brookline] Boston South 146.67/146.2 [Repeater located in Quincy]

2 Meter ARES Simplex Frequencies
147.42
146.415
146.430
146.445
146.460
146.475

2 Meter RACES Repeater Frequencies
RACES Primary 146.64 [Repeater located in Waltham] RACES Secondary

HF Frequencies
3.943+/- LSB (Primary)
7.245 (Secondary)

220 Frequencies
Primary 224.40/ [Repeater located in Quincy] Secondary 223.78/ [Repeater located in Belmont]

70CM Repeater Frequencies
Boston 447.175/110.9 Rep. Located in Boston
Boston 446.575 Rep. Location in Boston
Brookline 447.975/88.5 Rep. Located in Brookline
[Linked to Boston North and Boston West]

New England Network of Echolink and IRLP Nodes and Repeaters

The New England Network of IRLP and Echolink Nodes and Repeaters will be linked on New Year’s Eve Night providing coverage across portions of Eastern Massachusetts, Western Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. Echolink Node # 9123 or IRLP Reflector Node# 9055 will get you access into the network. With Echolink, you could get into the system from your PC with either dial-up or broadband Internet access. The following are repeaters in Eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island that will allow for connection into the New England Network:

145.390-Scituate, Mass.
443.800-South Dartmouth, Mass. PL: 88.5 Hz
447.025-Johnston, RI PL: 77.0 Hz

Additional HF Frequencies:

KB1DAV-Mario Bruno, CT Disaster Services State Lead Director provided the following additional HF Frequencies:

3.915 MHz. Statewide amateur (Tri-state frequency)
7.280 MHz. Backup.

SATERN RI Simplex Net:

Frank Murphy-N1DHW from Boston Salvation Army mentioned that RI SATERN would be having a net at 2330 on 146.58 Simplex. The SEMARA Club will attempt to make contact with them at that time. N2NCL-Dennis will be running the net.

75m Preamble

Calling the Boston First Night Limited ARES Activation Net….
Calling the Boston First Night Limited ARES Activation Net….

This is at the mic, my name is and I am located in . The purpose of this net is to have a brief call-up between all served agencies that are involved in monitoring Boston First Night activities. We will have two call-ups. The first call-up will be a roll-call of all served agencies and a call for ARES leadership who are monitoring to check-in and state whether they have traffic or announcements for the net. The second call-up will be for any licensed Amateurs to check into the net. We will then have a brief round of comments from all stations that have checked into the net.

The first call-up will be for stations participating in the activation. Please state whether you have traffic or announcements for the net:
-Calling Boston Salvation Army Headquarters….
-Calling Mass. Bay Red Cross in Waltham….
-Calling MEMA Framingham State EOC….
-Calling ARES SEC or DEC leadership….

The second call-up will be for any stations wishing to check into net. Any stations wishing to check into net please say, This is….pause and give your call-sign, name and location. Stations wishing to check into the net, please call now:

Hearing no other check-ins, this is wishing to thank all stations who stood-by while the net was conducted. Eastern Massachusetts ARES would like to thank all repeater trustees, Amateurs and Radio Clubs for their cooperation and use of the frequency. We will return the frequency back to normal Amateur Radio use but ask Amateurs to leave sufficient pauses to allow for emergency traffic. The next net call up will be at XX:XX Local time. This is saying 73 for now and signing clear.

VHF/UHF Repeater Preamble

Calling the Boston First Night Limited ARES Activation Net….
Calling the Boston First Night Limited ARES Activation Net….

This is at the mic, my name is and I am located in . The purpose of this net is to have a brief call-up between all served agencies that are involved in monitoring Boston First Night activities. We will have two call-ups. The first call-up will be a roll-call of all served agencies and a call for ARES leadership who are monitoring to check-in and state whether they have traffic or announcements for the net. The second call-up will be for any licensed Amateurs to check into the net. We will then have a brief round of comments from all stations that have checked into the net.

The first call-up will be for stations participating in the activation. Please state whether you have traffic or announcements for the net:
-Calling Boston Salvation Army Headquarters….
-Calling Mass. Bay Red Cross in Waltham….
-Calling MEMA Framingham State EOC….
-Calling ARES SEC or DEC leadership….

The second call-up will be for any stations wishing to check into net. Any stations wishing to check into net please say, This is….pause and give your call-sign, name and location. Stations wishing to check into the net, please call now:

Hearing no other check-ins, this is wishing to thank all stations who stood-by while the net was conducted. Eastern Massachusetts ARES would like to thank all repeater trustees, Amateurs and Radio Clubs for their cooperation and use of the frequency. We will return the frequency back to normal Amateur Radio use but ask Amateurs to leave sufficient pauses to allow for emergency traffic. The next net call up will be at XX:XX Local time. This is saying 73 for now and signing clear.

All / Emergency Communications

EMa ARES Update (expired but UHF info still needed)

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***** EMa ARES Update *****
***** ARES relay stations may be needed *****
***** Please test the UHF repeaters listed below during windstorm *****

As of 0045, most of the section is enduring a bruising from an early winter
storm, with only minor damage so far. This may change overnight or during
the day Sunday.

It is important that you stay in place until we request that you do
otherwise. SKYWARN will certainly need reports and ARES may need relay
stations during the day tomorrow. This request follows our shelter-in-place
doctrine which is detailed at
http://ares.ema.arrl.org/mod.php?mod=userpage&menu=2904&page_id=67 .

While you are assisting in the ways listed above, we request that you gather
signal reports from the list of repeaters listed below DURING the windstorm.
Please list:

Your location and time
List of repeaters worked
Whether home or mobile
Power on input
Antenna type
Other comments (i.e. unusually good or bad location, etc.)

Please send reports to me at w1mpn@ema.arrl.org

List of repeaters:443.450-Westport Repeater PL: 88.5 Hz

443.700-Gloucester Repeater No PL Listed

444.200-Bourne Repeater PL: 118.8 Hz

445.175-Newton Repeater PL: 141.3 Hz

446.575-Boston Repeater PL: 88.5 Hz

449.925-Marlborough Repeater PL: 88.5 Hz Part of
MMRA System

446.725-Stoneham Repeater PL: 88.5 Hz Part
of MMRA System

447.075-Kingston Repeater PL: 88.5 Hz

447.175-Boston Repeater PL: 110.9 Hz

447.325-Truro Repeater PL: 88.5 Hz

447.575-Concord Repeater PL: 110.9 Hz

447.975-North Attleboro Repeater PL: 88.5 Hz

448.125-Framingham Repeater PL: 88.5 Hz

448.975-Walpole Repeater PL: 141.3 Hz

449.075-Waltham Repeater PL: 88.5 Hz

The following repeaters were considered Good location, good local coverage,
may have extended coverage and has linking capability (to either other
repeaters, IRLP, Echolink or a combination of each):

442.450-Westford Repeater PL: 88.5 Hz

443.350-Pack Monadnock, NH PL: 110.9 Hz

443.500-Dennis Repeater PL: 141.3 Hz Part
of Cape Cod Link Sys.

443.800-Dartmouth Repeater PL: 88.5 Hz

444.200-North Truro Repeater PL: 141.3 Hz

444.250-Falmouth Repeater PL: 141.3 Hz Part
of Cape Cod Link Sys.

445.175-Barnstable Repeater PL: 141.3 Hz Part
of Cape Cod Link Sys.

447.875-Brookline Repeater PL: 88.5 Hz Part
of MMRA/Has Echolink

446.675-Marlborough Repeater PL: 88.5 Hz Part of
MMRA System

The following repeaters have good location but unknown or questionable
coverage. Some of these repeaters may have IRLP or Echolink coverage:

441.075-Chelmsford Repeater PL: 100.0 Hz

441.400-Assonet Repeater PL: 192.8 Hz

441.400-Plymouth Repeater PL: 100.0 Hz

441.500-Medfield Repeater PL: 88.5 Hz

441.750-Seekonk Repeater PL: 192.8 Hz

441.850-Bradford Repeater PL: 127.3 Hz

442.250-Marlborough Repeater PL: 88.5 Hz -Has Echolink
capability

442.500-Braintree Repeater PL: 118.8 Hz

442.800-Danvers Repeater PL: 136.5 Hz

442.900-Pepperell Repeater PL: 100 Hz

443.200-North Andover Repeater PL: 88.5 Hz

443.600-Norwell Repeater PL: 88.5 Hz -Has Echolink
capability

444.100-Wilmington Repeater PL: 123.0 Hz

444.300-Saugus Repeater PL: 123.0 Hz

443.350-Fall River Repeater PL: 88.5 Hz

444.550-Bridgewater Repeater PL: 88.5 Hz

444.600-Newton Repeater PL: 88.5 Hz

444.700-Boston Repeater PL: 88.5 Hz

446.525-Reading Repeater PL: 151.4 Hz

446.875-North Reading Repeater PL: 88.5 Hz

446.925-Medford Repeater PL: 88.5 Hz

447.025-Peabody Repeater PL: 110.9 Hz

447.275-Haverhill Repeater PL: 88.5 Hz

447.625-Lawrence Repeater PL: 88.5 Hz

447.675-Natick Repeater PL: 203.5 Hz -RACES?

449.650-Belmont Repeater PL: 67.0 Hz

449.725-Cambridge Repeater PL: 114.8 Hz

449.825-Woburn Repeater PL: 136.5 Hz

Please also visit the website to vote in the poll about UHF usage. Thanks
in advance for your help.

Michael P. Neilsen, W1MPN, EMa SEC
978.562.5662 Voice
978.389.0558 FAX/Secondary Voice
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
w1mpn@ema.ares.org
All / Emergency Communications

SEMARA ARES Self-Activated

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New EMA ARES Hello to all…

SEMARA ARES was self-activated by ARES Assistant Emergency Coordinator, Tony Duarte-N1XRS, as a power outage gripped an area from the Plymouth area to Cape Cod and Islands and appeared to extended from roughly Dartmouth/Westport eastward across much of South Coastal Massachusetts.

The ARES Net was started at 6:30 PM and preempted a Swap Net that would typically be held at 7 PM that evening on the 147.000-Dartmouth Repeater. [Please read on by pressing link below – W1MPN]A total of 20 check-ins were recorded. Amateurs relayed information of where the power was out, any public safety issues and when power was restored to their specified areas. I was enroute home from work when the event occurred and when notified by Tony-N1XRS, I went to man the Southeast Massachusetts Amateur Radio Association (W1AEC) so that additional district coverage could be maintained from our affected area to other parts of the Eastern Massachusetts section. Southeastern Massachusetts district relay was done to the Metro Boston Area and the Cape Cod districts via the 146.685-Plymouth Repeater where contact was made with Metro Boston ARES District Emergency Coordinator, KB1EKN, Mark Duff and Cape Cod and the Islands District Emergency Coordinator, WQ1O, Frank O’Laughlin. Liaison was also maintained with ARES DEC’s and ARES Section Emergency Coordinator, Mike Neilsen, W1MPN via AOL Instant Messenger during the latter portions of the event.

Power started being restored across the area at approximately 7 PM and was fully restored to all areas by 8 PM with South Dartmouth, Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard being some of the last areas where power was restored. Amateur Operators checked in from the area as power was restored and also reported if they still did not have power. With Frank, WQ1O, tied up talking with Emergency Management directors, I established contact with Nantucket Island RACES Radio Officer, N1NBQ-George Allen and he told us when power was restored for the island via the main line power cable.

The ARES Net was secured at 8:30 PM. The following Amateurs checked in on the 147.000-Dartmouth Repeater.

1.) KB1FYF-Brian
2.) K1AHA-Dick
3.) W1RJC-Rick
4.) W1AEC/KD1CY-Rob
5.) K1KID-Carl
6.) KB1HJL-George
7.) W1VRP-Joe
8.) N1XKD-Peter
9.) WA1CRA-Dick
10.) W1EAV-Chris
11.) W1GYL-Henry
12.) N1EBW-Ray
13.) KB1EVX-Ray
14.) W1DBX-Larry
15.) WA1ZCB-Ed
16.) K1IBR-Bill
17.) N1NBQ-George
18.) N1VDM-Bob
19.) N1ZZN-Jeff
20.) N1XRS-Tony (NCS)

Mike Neilsen-W1MPN, when informed of the ARES Self-Activation and the response of the Amateurs from the SEMARA club, was tremendously pleased and thankful for the efforts of the SEMARA ARES team. He stated that he was pleased that the workshop and exercises were increasing awareness and resulting in such a strong response to a real event and was very impressed with the fact that SEMARA ARES responded quickly to an event that had no advanced warning.

Please let me know if any check-ins were missed during this event or if there are any additional major points that should be included in this report. Thanks!

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Southeast Massachusetts ARES District Emergency Coordinator
SEMARA ARES 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

Emergency Communications

Invitation to play in our annual SET

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On behalf of all the Eastern Massachusetts (EMa) DEC’s and EC’s, I would like to extend a cordial invitation to play in our annual Section Emergency Test (SET), scheduled for Saturday November 8th. As most of you know, it is our annual opportunity to formally evaluate our emergency communication skills, and readiness to respond to exigencies.

This year we will be emphasizing local response with a mandatory interdistrict communication element. Please contact your DEC to coordinate your efforts on this year’s exercise.

The ARES Leadership is reminded to keep a detailed roster and/or logs of those stations participating in the SET.

s/Michael P. Neilsen, W1MPN
Section Emergency Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts Section

Please check for more coordination details by pressing the link below.Cape Cod ARES Plan

Press this link CCARESsetOutline&Scenario.pdf to view specific planning material that your ARES leadership will use.

Middlesex District Plan

Press this link Middlesex District ARES SET.pdf to view specific planning material that your ARES leadership will use.

South Shore/Bristol Plan (SE Mass ARES)

Press this link South Shore/Bristol Plan.pdf to view specific planning material that your ARES leadership will use.

Metro Boston Plan, and from Mark, KB1EKN, Metro DEC

Press this link Metro Boston Plan.pdf to view specific planning material that your ARES leadership will use.

My plans for the Nov 8th SET are as follows.

1.) Send Bill Foley & the Army a formal written invitation to participate in the Nov 8th SET.

2.) I will be hosting a meeting at the Chelsea EOC on the Oct 21st. for all Metro-Boston ARES Members to discuss and plan our participation in Nov. A notice is going out in the SPARK on Thur. about the meeting. I would like the group to plan collectively for the SET.

View generic plan

Press this link ARESsetOutline&Scenario.pdf to view generic planning material that your ARES leadership will use. Please note that frequencies will probably be developed for this exercise using standing (existing) district frequency plans. Please consult with your EC/DEC for details.

All / Emergency Communications

Framingham ARES Members Plan for SET 10/28

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EMA ARRL ARESMarc Stern, WA1R wrote:

“For those folks interested in participating in the Simulated Emergency Test (SET) on Nov. 8, or in becoming more active in the Amateur Radio Emergency Service, please plan to meet with me at 7 p.m. Oct. 28 at the club shack.

The meeting is, more or less, a get-acquainted meeting with some discussion of plans for the SET and follow-on activities, as well as, possible organizational planning.

Thanks for reading,

73,

Marc, WA1R
ARES EC, Framingham