Emergency Communications

ARRL Eastern MA Section Emergency Coordinator Rob Macedo, KD1CY has announced a number of organizational changes within EMA ARES effective immediately. [Full story]

 

 

 

 

For continued growth in an organization, changes are needed to create depth and further growth and to establish leadership succession and support for existing leadership when unavailable. Several individuals within the Eastern Massachusetts ARES program have provided robust support of the program and have been doing work above and beyond their responsibility. In addition, other individuals within the program are doing an excellent job within their role and we recognize their contributions within the Eastern Massachusetts ARES program and the fact that they will continue in their roles working together with others within the Eastern Massachusetts ARES program that will have an increased role within the program. We also realize that none of this would be possible without the ARES members, Assistant Emergency Coordinators, Emergency Coordinators and Assistant District Emergency Coordinators who work hard to support the program. To support the organization going forward, the following organizational changes will be made effective immediately.

 

Carl Aveni-N1FY will be moved into the role of Eastern Massachusetts ARES Assistant Section Emergency Coordinator. Through his working relationship with the Bridgewater EMA Director, Herb Lemon-KC1ZW, Eastern Massachusetts ARES has had full access to the town of Bridgewater EOC to be utilized as a net control center for drills, ARES/storm activations, and other events such as the Democratic National Convention in 2004 and the Operation Atlas Drill in 2005. Carl has been working on projects involving area hospitals and has also been a tremendous supporter of operations at the National Weather Service in Taunton and has been a main alternate contact for NWS Taunton operations. He has also built a solid South Shore ARES program with the assistance of several ARES Emergency Coordinators and assistants. Carl has recently retired after over 30 years with the Brockton VA Hospital and has devoted much of his spare time to projects within Eastern Massachusetts ARES as well as the Eastern Massachusetts section staff. We are very appreciative to Carl for accepting this new role.

 

Jim Palmer-KB1KQW will also be moved into the role of Eastern Massachusetts ARES Assistant Section Emergency Coordinator. Jim Palmer is a younger Amateur who has done a superb job in his role assisting Eric Horwitz-KA1NCF with North Shore ARES and assisting the NWS Taunton and Gray Maine SKYWARN programs. In addition, Jim served as the ARESMAT Coordinator for the Gardner ARESMAT during the major ice storm of December 11^th-12^th 2008 and supported operations from the Massachusetts State EOC during the recovery phase of the ice storm. Jim brings youth and enthusiasm to the program and has assisted me in many ways and both the ARES and SKYWARN programs would not be where they are without his assistance not only to Eric-KA1NCF but to myself as well and we are glad that Jim has accepted this position.

 

Eric Horwitz-KA1NCF will continue in his role as North Shore ARES District Emergency Coordinator (DEC). As many folks across the section and in particular the North Shore are aware, Eric and Jim have had a very good working relationship over the years. This organizational move reflects the strength of this working relationship in that Eric was willing to have Jim accept this role when I asked and Jim will act much in the way some managers do in professional circles where he will continue to work under Eric on North Shore ARES matters but assist the section when the SEC is unavailable and at my direction when needed and Eric will support Jim in that capacity when needed. This is no way a bad reflection on Eric and his leadership but an understanding of what Eric has to balance from a personal/family/career versus volunteer work perspective. In addition, this is much in the way Mike Neilsen and I have operated with Mike as Section Manager and myself as SEC. Many times Mike has acted in a capacity where I was in the lead and the opposite has been true in other matters. The plan is for a similar relationship to exist with Jim in his Assistant SEC role and Eric continuing in his North Shore ARES DEC role and I am thankful to both of them for their support and allowing this arrangement to take place as it is very much needed to grow the organization and to allow us to sustain the momentum of our program.

 

Phil McNamara-N1XTB has accepted the role of South Shore ARES DEC covering much of Southeast Massachusetts. Phil has been working very hard with Carl to build the South Shore ARES program and to also be a liaison to the various military branches of the Military Affiliated Radio System (MARS). Phil has also been the key provider and technologist of our Eastern Massachusetts ARES database that was used significantly during the Ice Storm ARESMAT and to track the growth and sustainability of our program and the resources that Eastern Massachusetts ARES has as a section and we are working to expand this to be a complete EMCOMM database that involves all interested parties and programs. Phil has also been working with several towns and groups in Southeast Massachusetts including Plymouth, Duxbury, Carver and Middleboro to establish Amateur Radio support in these areas. Clearly, Phil has stepped up to perform a role that is more like an ARES DEC versus his current EC role and Phil has graciously accepted to step up and perform this duty for our section.

 

Frank O’Laughlin-WQ1O is continuing in his role as Cape Cod and Islands ARES District Emergency Coordinator and remains a critical part of our organization. Frank has seen a significant expansion to his program with several Amateur Radio classes done resulting in many new Amateurs on Cape Cod and right after those Amateur Radio classes have taken place, Frank has led Amateur Radio EMCOMM classes for those new Amateurs. Frank recently conducted a Cape Cod ARES cold weather drill in January and continues the weekly Cape Cod ARES Net on the 146.955 MHz Barnstable Repeater. Frank O’Laughlin and Dan Howard-K1DYO also assisted the Massachusetts State EOC operations in the recovery phase of the December Ice Storm. We will continue to work closely with Frank in his role in the Eastern Massachusetts ARES program.

 

Steve Telsey-N1BDA is continuing in his role as Middlesex County ARES District Emergency Coordinator. Steve also continues his role as managing the Eastern Massachusetts ARES Net that meets on the first Monday of each month (except for first Monday of the month holidays). Steve has assisted with activities for the Northern Middlesex County ARES group and has supported getting CERT members their Amateur Radio license across areas bordering the metro Boston area. Steve also supported Massachusetts State EOC operations during the recovery phase of the December Ice Storm as well.

 

Steve Schwarm-W3EVE is continuing in his role as Field Operations DEC and assisting with Norfolk County as required. Steve has also supported operations during the recovery phase of the December Ice Storm and also supported Hurricane Matt drill operations from NWS Taunton in August of 2008. Steve is still a resource that is available to support Eastern Massachusetts ARES as required.

 

Blake Haskell-K1BTH is continuing in his role as Metro Boston ARES DEC. Blake, who has recovered from some illnesses, continues to work with various agencies in the Boston area including Boston Emergency Management and the Strategic National Stockpile as well as a few hospitals in the Metro Boston area. Blake will be continuing to grow these relationships and will work to add more depth to the Metro Boston ARES organization now that he has recovered from his illnesses.

 

Mark Duff-KB1EKN is continuing in his role as Public Safety Liaison DEC. Mark has been assisting the Eastern Massachusetts ARES staff in this advisory role to give us a perspective on the public safety side of what is happening and how it could affect the Amateur Radio community given his role as Fire Chief of the town of Hingham. He also advises the staff of organizational changes on the public safety side and any impact on the Amateur Radio community and advises if any cities or towns are interested in support from the Amateur Radio community so we can involve appropriate folks from both RACES and ARES to support those areas.

 

We have a number of ARES Emergency Coordinators and Assistant District Emergency Coordinators who will continue in their roles as well. We would not be successful without these individuals and we appreciate all of their efforts as well. If additional individuals would like to step up in these roles, please contact the ARES DEC, our new Assistant Section Emergency Coordinators or myself for assistance. We also have a few folks that we’ve identified for some of these roles that we will be working with over the next few weeks.

 

We also have over 400 ARES members across our section. Without all of you, none of the leadership organizational changes that we have made would matter, as it’s all of you that help us be successful and make a difference. We appreciate all of your support of Eastern Massachusetts ARES and the NWS Taunton SKYWARN program and look forward to continue to work with you and support all of you in making Eastern Massachusetts ARES the best it can be.

 

Finally, I would like to encourage new folks that are interested in Eastern Massachusetts ARES to please fill out the ARES Registration Form off of our Eastern Massachusetts ARES web site and contact your local EC, DEC, ASEC or SEC with questions or assistance on the program. For existing ARES members that are in the database, I encourage you to login and make sure your contact information is updated and that you create a training record to track your training and list any equipment resources you have available. A link to both the Eastern Massachusetts ARES web site and the Eastern Massachusetts ARES registration form and database are listed below:

 

Eastern Massachusetts ARES Registration Form and Database: https://secure.ema.arrl.org/ares/ARES_about

 

Eastern Massachusetts ARES Web Site:

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

 

Thanks to all of you for your support of Eastern Massachusetts ARES. We hope these organizational changes will recruit more Amateurs to get involved with ARES and SKYWARN and provide the leadership growth, succession and depth required to continue to the strengthen the program.

 

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://ares.ema.arrl.org

http://www.wx1box.org

 

 

Members of Cape Cod ARES^® led by District Emergency Coordinator Frank O’Laughlin, WQ1O conducted a very successful winter emergency communications exercise on January 24, 2009. “Operation Ice House” involved efforts on the part of ARES members in several locations across the Cape and Islands, including two hospitals.

According to O’Laughlin, “the exercise was designed to practice net operations, NTS traffic handling, liaison operations, as well as tactical messaging techniques.” Voice modes as well as Winlink were utilized during the event.

The effort garnered great publicity, too: the Cape Wide News web site carried a feature article that included over a half-dozen photos of the staff and equipment.

 

Shown here: (left) Tom Wruk and Frank O’Laughlin at the Hyannis site setting up an antenna

Hello to all….

First of all, I would like to mention that our Eastern Massachusetts ARES Stand-by for the Ice Storm and subsequent winter storms has now ended. While the storm currently in progress, may cause strong winds and wind damage across portions of the Southeast part of the Eastern Massachusetts section, it is not expected to cause issues significant enough to require ARES support except to support SKYWARN reporting per the SKYWARN reporting criteria.

I would like to take a moment to wish everyone in RACES, ARES, SKYWARN, MARS and in EMCOMM in general a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Happy Holiday season. We had another year of successes in public service thanks to all of your efforts and I look forward to working with many of you again in 2009.

We completed several EMCOMM Workshops over the area including an Advanced Workshop in April in Walpole, Massachusetts, a basic workshop in Concord, Massachusetts and another basic workshop in Peabody, Massachusetts. The workshops were very successful and have continued to promote an interest in EMCOMM across the region. The Cape Cod ARES group has conducted a workshop over a course of weeknights for several weeks for CERT Teams that have recently gotten their Ham Radio licenses.

We had a very successful hurricane exercise in early August where we had voice command and tactical nets on HF, Echolink/IRLP and 2 Meter/440 voice with traffic flow between the nets bolted together using Winlink. It went extremely well and a complete report was sent to ARRL Headquarters and various state emergency management teams. It will be posted on the web by the start of the new year.

Many in ARES, RACES and MARS supported SKYWARN in an unusually active year that featured the most active summer severe weather season in years. The Ice Storm also resulted in a significant level of support for SKYWARN and for local, regional and state Emergency Management. An Amateur Radio Emergency Services Mutual Aid Team (ARESMAT) was deployed for the first time since the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks and was the largest ARESMAT deployment since those terrorist attacks.

Thanks to all of you for your support and cooperation over the course of 2008 and I look forward to working with you in 2009. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Happy Holidays to all!!

73,Rob-KD1CY.
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator for NWS Taunton Massachusetts

Hello to all….

..Gardner Massachusetts Shelter, Hospital and EOC Operations Secured. Ice Storm Power Outage Impact Improving..

..Eastern Massachusetts ARES Stand-By Activation Continues due to Impact from Major Ice Storm Event that affected the northern part of Eastern Massachusetts North and West of Route 2 and much of Western and Central Massachusetts and concerns for additional winter storms and potential impact on weakened infrastructure have caused the stand-by activation to be extended..
..Stand-By ARES Activation has been extended through the Afternoon/Evening of Monday 12/22..

A major ice storm has caused significant damage to tree, power line and phone line infrastructure across Western and Central Massachusetts and communities in Northeast Massaschusetts along and north of Route 2. Icing of 1/2-1″ were common particularly in elevations above 500 feet with 1″ or greater icing noted in hardest hit areas. This resulted in widespread tree and power line damage. Conditions are now improving in the recovery phase of this major incident. Power Outages are now down to 45,000-50,000 among the 3 major utility companies of Massachusetts. Phone infrastructure is now largely back in place. Some shelters and states of emergency in cities and towns have been lifted but there is still a significant number of shelters open across Massachusetts as well as local states of emergency. The situation should continue to improve over the next few days though additional winter storms are expected on Friday and Sunday which could impact the situation and slow recovery or result in renewed issues. Given this potential, Eastern Massachusetts ARES stand-by activation has been extended through to the afternoon/evening of Monday 12/22.

Since the last coordination message posting, at 1232 PM Tuesday December 6th, operations from Gardner, Massachusetts have secured. On Monday 12/15, the hospital phone system was comprimsed and the only communication between the hospital and the police station was handled through Amateur Radio. This occurred for much of the day Monday but then on Monday Evening conditions rapidly improved with power restored to many areas and phone service restored to the hospital. After a Tuesday 10 AM planning meeting in the city of Gardner, shelter and EOC operations were secured and the Amateur Radio activity and ARESMAT team was secured from Gardner at 1232 PM Tuesday 12/16.

In addition to Gardner, Worcester Operations have secured with the closing of shelters and the signiificant improvement in power outages. That occurred late Monday Evening In Franklin County Massachusetts, the last check with Tom Foxwell-N1OTS from Franklin County ARES on Tuesday is that support was continuing for the town of Heath and a few other communities in the county. If a new update is obtained here, we will update this segment of the notice accordingly.

At this time, the Eastern Massachusetts ARES staff is not aware of any assistance required from an Amateur Radio perspective. New Hampshire was particularly hard hit but activations have been handled at the local level and conditions are now improving after contact with the New Hampshire ARRL/ARES leadership on Tuesday. The next update to this message will be done Thursday Evening when impact from the Friday Storm is more clear.

An article on the efforts of ARES and SKYWARN across New England has been posted on the ARRL National HQ web site. See link below:

http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2008/12/15/10506/?nc=1

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, 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.

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 #: 1-800-445-2588 Ext.: 72929 (8 AM-5 PM)
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
http://www.wx1box.org
http://ares.ema.arrl.org

 

Jason Janvrin, WA1NH writes on the North Shore ARES discussion group:

Greetings from north of the Border.

I would invite all stations to participate in a new ‘Regional’ net on 6M. The repeater is located in Goffstown, NH on Mt Uncanoonic. The input is in Derry, NH. 53.07 output with pl of 100.0. 52.07 input with pl of 151.4.

The net will convene on Saturday, Sept 20 at 7PM. This is an attempt to establish a regional resource for possible ARES use during a disaster. I am told that the SM from NH will try to make it onto the net.

Please post this to as many ARES reflectors that are in range of the repeater. This should include all of Eastern Mass, Western Mass, Southern NH, Southern Maine, and Southern Vermont.

73,
Jason Janvrin, WA1NH
EC, East Rockingham, NHARES