Emergency Communications

An Eastern MA amateur has won the November QST Cover Plaque Award. Bruce Walker, W1BW of Concord shares the prize with Joe Taylor, K1JT, for their article “WSPRing Around the World.” Congratulations, Joe and Bruce.The QST Cover Plaque award, given to the author or authors of the best article in each issue, is determined by a vote of ARRL members on the QST Cover Plaque Poll Web page.

Thanks, ARRL Letter, Dec. 2, 2010

Hello to all..

Cape Cod ARES will be hosting a mini-ARES Exercise on Saturday November 13th from 130-300 PM. Other districts within Eastern Massachusetts ARES that are interested in participating can monitor 3935 KHz 75 Meter HF or 146.955 MHz. In addition, the New England reflector Echolink conference *NEW-ENG* node: 9123/IRLP 9123 system will be monitored as well. Amateurs from other districts that participate in the mini-exercise are asked to give their 72-hour availability for ARESMAT to Cape Cod if this was an actual incident requring ARES support to their district. Further details and the Cape Cod ARES document for this mini-exercise as written by Cape Cod ARES DEC, WQ1O-Frank O’Laughlin are listed below:

http://ares.ema.arrl.org/local/CCARESdrill_41Doc11-12-10.pdf

Mini ARES exercise “Operation Hybrid storm” Saturday Nov 13 at 1:30pm- 300 pm

CCARES will hold its Mini-exercise #41 this Saturday at 1:30-3pm. This will be primarily an EOC type exercise. We will also have home stations participating to back up our primary stations. This is a follow up to the Earl activation in September. We will be starting our normal net on the RACES repeater at 146.955Mhz PL 88.5 as we normally would for an activation. Check-ins will be called for after the start of the net. At some point the repeater will likely fail requiring a move to the output of the repeater as standard RACES policy (146.955 Mhz simplex, NO shift or tone). Net control station (NCS) ARES HQ Hyannis will direct a move to one of our simplex frequencies after that time. The ARES backup EOC station WA1KCC will also be operational. This station will also have HF capability on 75m SSB on 3935khz and will be guarding that frequency for contacts. Since HF is a wider area system, all station having the capability may contact other stations as the MACC does NOT have HF capability. Winlink messaging protocol is a different animal. It is important that the primary stations be aware of important messages passed on winlink to avoid redundant confusion and key stations being left in the dark. When winlink messages are sent, the other key stations (NCS, MACC, other EOC stations) should be CCd on the message. This insures that all the stations have the same info.

Example:

Harwich EOC needs to make a request to the MACC. Harwich would also CC the message to NCS and the other EOC stations.

Station contact protocol:

In an actual operation, protocol would be for shelters to contact the local EOC for requests. Since we are not having the shelter layer active for this exercise, we start at the EOC level. EOCs would contact the MACC station (K1DYO).  EOCs could also contact the ARES HQ station in Hyannis for any ARES related needs or info that has to go to NCS.

We will have the ARES southern sub-regional command station (WA1EMA Acushnet EOC) active for this operation as well. Normal protocol would be for the MACC station to communicate with the southern sub-regional command station. Other EOCs could contact southern command if the MACC was unavailable. 

Home stations:

Home stations are the extended resource to the operation. They can be relay points, net control stations, and backup stations. They will check in just as the EOC stations do during the operation. They are free to use any mode necessary to accomplish the path ( provided the ultimate receiving station can communicate there.)

Messaging:

Messaging will include NTS type messages and tactical messages. Due to time constraints, stations should only send one or two messages per half hour time block. Most messages should not require a reply as this will also increase the time issue. Each EOC should designate someone to create/send the messages and receive messages.

Unannounced problems:

All stations should be prepared for an unexpected event and act quickly react.

73’ Frank WQ1O

Cape Cod and Islands ARES DEC

Darrel Mallory, K1EJ writes:

Now that [PART] members have a chance to read about ARES® and its 75 years in QST [see ARES Anniversary], a word is needed about the local organization of ARES which has been in existence for about 8 years. The original motivation was brought about by a visit to the Trade Center on Labor Day of 2001. A week later it became apparent that help was needed in this locality for someone to step up and be counted. The group was formed to bring together hams of like mind to do what hams do in emergencies.

The original thought behind the plan was to form an Umbrella Group in which members could come together for resources and for motivation. Out of this group came at least 3 RACES officers, a RACES operator and many others interested in public safety such as CERT and Medical Reserve Corps.

The members have provided coverage for the Chelmsford July parade with one exception for 5 years working with the Chelmsford emergency manager to keep a safe and orderly environment and to keep the reviewing stand appraised of the parade order announcements.

They are fortunate that they can perform at any time during ice storms, or other events without waiting for the local government to call for volunteers as does RACES. They can work together with RACES as a unit when the need arises.

There are 33 signed members with registered qualifications, but are looking for help from anyone when needed.

The group has a regular meeting each month at the Adams Library in Chelmsford center on the (usually) fourth Monday.

—Darrel Mallory, K1EJ – North Middlesex ARES Emergency Coordinator – Assistant Middlesex District Emergency Coordinator via Police Amateur Radio Team PARTicles, September 2010

Hello to all…

A reminder that the monthly ARES Net for September is rapidly approaching. The monthly ARES Net for September is Monday September 13th, 2010, at 8:30 PM on the MMRA Repeater system. This is after the RACES Nets earlier in the evening. For frequencies that will be linked into the ARES Net on the MMRA Network, please see the following link from the MMRA web site and the repeaters that will be linked in will be through Hub 1:

http://www.mmra.org/repeaters/map.html

In addition, if the Echo-IRLP node on the MMRA hub is available, we will likely link that to the New England Reflector system on IRLP 9123/Echolink Conference *NEW-ENG* Node: 9123.

Due to the holiday, the ARES/RACES Nets were pushed up to the second Monday of the month so for this month, make the second 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   
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)
Work Phone #: 508-346-2929 (8 AM-5 PM)
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
http://www.wx1box.org

Hello to all…

Earl weakened considerably over the past 36 hours resulting in far less impact to Southeastern Massachusetts. Therefore, no further communications needs were required and the Eastern Massachusetts ARES Stand-by Activation is recinded at 1030 AM ET. Complete reports on the events that occurred during Earl are listed below:

NWS Taunton Local Storm Report:
http://kamala.cod.edu/ma/latest.nwus51.KBOX.html

NWS Taunton Public Information Statement:
http://kamala.cod.edu/ma/latest.nous41.KBOX.html

Special thanks to Amateur Radio Operators across the section who supported operations from various local/city town EOC’s, shelters, gave SKYWARN Criteria Reports and to the RACES folks who staffed the State EOC and Regional Offices. A special thank you to Cape Cod and Nantucket ARES folks who were deployed for much of the night at Red Cross Hyannis, various EOC’s and shelters. This turned into an operational exercise and where the 2010 Atlantic Hurricane Season isn’t over and we have another 4-5 weeks to experience another tropical system before ocean temperatures turn cooler, all are encouraged to continue to monitor events in the Atlantic as they unfold.

Have a great Labor Day Holiday Weekend!!

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator   
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)
Work Phone #: 508-346-2929 (8 AM-5 PM)
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
http://www.wx1box.org

Hello to all..

**UPDATED FOR SKYWARN ACTIVATION TIMEFRAME AND WEATHER RELATED UPDATES INCLUDING UPDATED COORDINATION MESSAGE. ALSO, GOVERNOR DEVAL PATRICK HAS DECLARED A STATE OF EMERGENCY TO MOBILIZE NATIONAL GUARD FOR SUPPORT IF REQUIRED FOR THE HURRICANE WARNING AREA**

***EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS ARES TO GO ON STAND-BY FOR ALL AREAS BEGINNING AT 7 AM EDT FRIDAY MORNING SEPTEMBER 3RD THROUGH SATURDAY EVENING SEPTEMBER 4TH 2010 DUE TO THE POSSIBILITY OF MOBILIZATION DUE TO THE EFFECTS OF HURRICANE EARL. GREATEST IMPACT TO BE FELT IN SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS, PARTICULARLY CAPE COD AND THE ISLANDS***
***SKYWARN ACTIVATION WITH OPS AT NWS TAUNTON WILL COMMENCE AT 1 PM FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND LAST THROUGH THE OVERNIGHT HOURS AND INTO SATURDAY MORNING**
***MASSACHUSETTS STATE EOC AND REGIONAL OFFICE RACES TO ACTIVATE AT 7 AM EDT FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 3RD, 2010 FOR HURRICANE EARL**

Hurricane Earl is projected to track over or just southeast of Nantucket Island. Hurricane Earl is a large hurricane and Earl will likely bring hurricane force conditions to Nantucket Island in particular but also Outer Cape Cod potentially. Sustained tropical storm force winds with hurricane force gusts are possible over the remainder of Cape Cod and Souteast Coastal Massachusetts from Plymouth to Westport. The potential also exists for a further west track bringing stronger winds further inland and along the coast and will need to be monitored closely. 2-4″ of rainfall with isolated higher amounts are expected in Southeast New England with 1-3″ with isolated higher amounts are possible north and west of a Boston/Providence line. Complete details can be seen in the Hurricane Earl Coordination Message link listed below:

http://www.wx1box.org/node/332

We’d like to have ARES personnel assist with SKYWARN reporting of any river, stream, urban flooding, wind damage and measured rainfall/wind/barometric pressure data and by providing damage/flood pictures where possible.   Keep your situational awareness level high for any updates from ARES leadership by checking your email for updates and our ARES web site at http://ares.ema.arrl.org, monitoring local SKYWARN/ARES/RACES frequencies and reporting into the nets and monitor local media on this potentially significant storm.

If you have not already done so, please advise your local EC/DEC/ADEC of your availability to support a potential deployment anytime from now through Monday September 6th. We are creating a list of availability for ARESMAT deployment if needed. The greatest area for potential activation is Cape Cod and the Islands in the form of an ARESMAT for that area.

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 or could be 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. 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 after the impact of this major storm to the region.

Thanks for your 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

Hello to all,

Eastern Mass. ARES has been approached by Good Samaritan Hospital in Brockton to develop a hospital/ham radio relationship for emergency communications. Mike Neilsen, W1MPN, Eastern Mass. Section Manager and I met with staff from Good Samaritan hospital and came to a preliminary agreement. We will be persuing a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with them in the very near future.

In the meantime, we would like to start recruiting for folks who might be interested in being a regular part of Good Samaritan’s Emergency Communications Response Team. As such, each participant will be registered with the hospital’s Volunteer Department and issued an appropriate Volunteer ID that will allow access to the Good Samaritan Campus. Arrangements will be developed for regular training exercises so that participants can get to know the hospital and its equipment.

Good Samaritan is working on developing a three hospital (i.e. Good Samaritan, Norwood, & St. Anne’s) grant program to obtain the necessary equipment.

If you are interested in becoming part of this program, please contact me at my email address listed below. Also, please forward along this request to all those hams who are not part of this list, who might be interested in participating in this endeavor.

Thanks,

Carl, N1FY – Assistant Section Manager/SEC for Eastern Mass. ARRL/ARES

caave at peoplepc.com

Hello to all..

The following announcement is about the Search Dogs of Northeast Non-Profit organization seeking Amateur Radio/ARES support for communications in search and rescue exercises and real events. See announcement below:

A non-profit search dog organization in MA and RI is looking for communication
support.  They may need to conduct large area searches beyond the
capabilities of their existing radio’s.

Volunteers would work directly with the search dog teams – and would be
on short notice call- which is the current practice with the dog
handlers now.

Volunteers must be in good health – able to handle lengthy walks in
rough terrain in all weather conditions.

The teams have standards for support personnel that need to be met:
-CPR, and First responder first aid, or EMT, or higher EMS.
(Arrangements will be made to provide the first responder training
through fire department volunteers)
-You will have to pass each states courses for Navigation and Search.
-You will have to pass Massachusetts and Rhodes Island State police
criminal records checks

Volunteers will need to provide their own go-kit with food, water, or
other items.

Job will include tasks to relieve the dog-handler of distractions i.e.
Navigation support (personal GPS and skill using it desirable), map
reading,  and radio communication via ham radio and other frequencies
allocated to the dog teams.

You will also be used as a subject for training searches, asked to hide
in remote places during training sessions.

Support may also include operating the search dog team base station.

Volunteers are expected to attend 9 training exercises with the dog
teams to get familiar with typical operations and the teams.

Interested hams please contact:
Phil McNamara N1XTB N1XTB at powersrvcs.com
Carl Aveni N1FY caave at peoplepc.com
Joe Krisnosky N1IXC joek54 at comcast.net
—
Phil McNamara (N1XTB) – South Shore ARES District Emergency Coordinator

Hello to all..

The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority reported a major water pipe leak in the town of Weston, Massachusetts at approximately 130 PM Saturday May 1st. A boil-water order had been placed into effect for numerous communities in the MWRA coverage area and Governor Deval Patrick has declared a state of emergency to enable National Guard troop use for this situation.

At 345 AM Tuesday May 4th, the boil water order was lifted for all 30 affected communities. Repairs were made to the water main pipe coupling that failed and the repair is working well with water now flowing from the main water supply once again. Water tests from all communities have come back positive and that is why the boil water order has been lifted. The MWRA, MEMA and the Governor’s Office has issued post-boil water order instructions for the communities affected by the water main break. Complete details and updates can be seen via the following links:

MWRA Press Release Information:
http://www.mwra.com

MWRA Water Testing Update:
http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=alert_landingpage&ID=225&sid=Eeops

Governor Patrick’s Press Release on Boil Water Order Being Lifted:
http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=gov3pressrelease&L=1&L0=Home&sid=Agov3&b=pressrelease&f=050410_boil_order_lifted&csid=Agov3

MEMA Main Page:
http://www.mass.gov/mema

The Massachusetts State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) will remain at full activation for today. The operation will now switch to recovering all water in staging and establish storage sites at two locations. RACES has not been activated at the region/state level and activation of Eastern Massachusetts ARES is not anticipated as operations begin to wind down.

We will continue to montior this situation but barring an unforeseen escalation of this incident, this will be the last situation report issued as the MWRA Water Emergency has ended. Thanks to all for their support and monitoring of this incident and we hope those that were affected can now get back to normal usage of their water supply!

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)
Work Phone #: 508-346-2929 (8 AM-5 PM)
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
http://www.wx1box.org

Hello to all..

The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority reported a major water pipe leak in the town of Weston, Massachusetts at approximately 130 PM today. Later today, it was determined that a 120″ diameter pipe that transports water to communities as far north as Wilmington and south to Stoughton was impacted. The leak has been stopped at this pipe in Weston as of an update at 847 PM Saturday Evening May 1st. A boil-water order has been placed into effect for numerous communities in the MWRA coverage area and Governor Deval Patrick has declared a state of emergency to enable National Guard troop use for this situation. Complete details and updates on this rapidly developing situation can be seen via the following links:

MWRA Update Page:
http://www.mwra.com/updates/leak.html

MWRA Water Main Break Requires Boil Water Order:
http://www.mwra.com/01news/2010/boilwaterorder1.htm

MWRA Main Page:
http://www.mwra.com/

MEMA Main Page:
http://www.mass.gov/mema

State of Emergency: MWRA Water Main Break Requires Boil Water Order
http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=alert_landingpage&ID=226&sid=Eeops

The Massachusetts State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) is at full activation at this time. At the moment, RACES has not been activated at the region/state level. Local communities may activate their local RACES at their local Emergency Management Director’s discretion. At this time, Eastern Massachusetts ARES leadership is monitoring the situation. A stand-by for ARES has not been issued yet but we’ll continue to closely monitor this rapidly changing situation in case Amateur Radio utilization for supplemental communication is needed in any capacity by Non-Governmental Organizations such as the Red Cross and Salvation Army or if requested by RACES personnel to support any operations that may require.

We will continue to montior this situation. Sitreps will be posted as needed on the Eastern Massachusetts ARES web site and various email lists. Please monitor your email and the Eastern Massachusetts ARES web site as required over the next several days for updates. Thanks to all for their support!

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