….Whittenton Pond Dam Amateur Radio Shelter and EOC Operations Suspended at approximately 2 PM Friday Afternoon. Operations on the dam continues….
….Taunton Emergency Management Continues to Monitor the Situation and pumping and stabilizing operations on the dam continue….
….More rain is forecast for the Taunton area and its unclear if this will severely impact dam stablization operations….
At 2 PM Friday afternoon, the Whittenton Pond Dam Amateur Radio Shelter and EOC operations were suspended. Pumping and stablization operations on the dam continues and Taunton Emergency Management is monitoring those operations. At this time, more rain of 1-2″ with isolated 3″ amounts are forecasted for the Taunton area. Its not clear what these rains will do to operations on the dam and Taunton Emergency Management is monitoring the situation.
At this time, no further assistance is required for this event. A HUGE thank you goes out to Eastern Masaschusetts ARES operators, Brad Anselmo-N1VUF from SEMARA ARES, Steve Schwarm-W3EVE from Norfolk County ARES and Dan Howard-Cape Cod ARES for participating in operations with the Taunton Emergency Management Amateur Radio team of 12 Amateurs. Also, special thanks to Joe Serrilla-W1JOE from the Bridgewater ARES/RACES team, who provided a mattress to a needed evacuee in the shelter on Monday Evening. Also, special thanks to Taunton Emergency Management for their recognition of the importance in Amateur Radio in this operation and their coordination with Eastern Massachusetts ARES during this event.
Carl Aveni-N1FY, South Shore ARES District Emergency Coordinator, Bob Mims-WA1OEZ, Region II RACES Radio Officer and I will continue to monitor the incoming rain and any impact on the dam and the city of Taunton EOC and shelter operations.Respectfully Submitted,
….Situation on the Whittenton Pond Dam Improving As Large Pumps from Hurricane Katrina are installed and running and pumping water out from the Mill River, relieving pressure on the Dam to allow for critical repairs before the next significant rain event….
….Amateurs Continue to be involved in shelter and EOC Operations in the city of Taunton with two relief operators sent from ARES this morning. The shelter maybe closed in the midday to early afternoon timeframe thus ending ARES/RACES Operations in the city of Taunton….
….ARES Operators and ARES SKYWARN Spotters Urged to Monitor Future Forecasts for significant rainfall late Saturday through Monday and possibly more rainfall in the Tuesday to Wednesday timeframe with moisture associated with Hurricane Wilma or its remnants….
The situation on the Whittenton Pond Dam is improving as large amounts of water are being pumped out of the Mill River with pumps used to pump out New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. Some areas, specifically the downtown area of Taunton have been reopened, however, there are still about 18 streets closed in the city of Taunton. It is hoped that the remaining streets will be opened around the midday timeframe after coordination last night with Peter Ferreira-KB1LXG, Assistant Emergency Management Director for the city of Taunton.
Two relief operators have been sent in to the city of Taunton to assist with operations. Dan Howard-K1DYO from Cape Cod ARES and W3EVE-Steve Schwarm, Norfolk County ARES District Emergency Coordinator are deploying for 7 AM this morning. They understand the scope of the mission may change and that operations maybe shut down early or they could go through the afternoon. They are prepared to be flexible and adapt to the changing situation. They will be relieving Amateurs from the city of Taunton Emergency Management team who have been active for much of the week. Brad Anselmo-N1VUF from SEMARA (Southeast Massachusetts Amateur Radio Association) ARES provided relief operations during the midnight shift for both Wednesday and Thursday Mornings. The Taunton Emergency Management team has had 12 Hams active from their team and Amateurs from the Mansfield EOC/Sturdy Memorial team have been active as well as reported by Allan Cox-K1VQ through Carl Aveni-N1FY, South Shore ARES District Emergency Coordinator.
ARES Operators and ARES SKYWARN Spotters are preparing for another round of heavy rainfall late Saturday into Monday. Another 1-3″ of rain is possible in the region. If amounts do not get to the 4″ area, extensive renewed flooding is not expected but if rainfall reaches or exceeds 4″ of rain, more flooding problems will develop. We are also keeping an eye on Hurricane Wilma as remnants or moisture from Wilma could affect the region Tuesday into Wednesday and if it is significant, it could result in significant renewed flooding and that threat is being monitored as well.
The situation in Taunton continues to be monitored by Rob Macedo, KD1CY, Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator, Carl Aveni, South Shore ARES District Emergency Coordinator, and Bob Mims, WA1OEZ, MEMA Region II RACES Radio Officer. Further updates will be posted as needed and as time allows.Respectfully Submitted,
….Amateur Radio Operators Continue to be Active in the city of Taunton due to the potential collapse of Whittenton Pond Dam on the Mill River in Taunton Massachusetts….
….SEMARA ARES To Send One Amateur To Support Overnight Operations. There is Potential for Further Requests for ARES/RACES Amateurs within the Eastern Massachusetts Section to Deploy in small numbers….
….Deployment is solely dependent on the Taunton Emergency Management and Taunton ARES/RACES leadership. Do NOT Self-Deploy. Await instructions from your ARES DEC, EC, or myself for any deployments that may be needed….
During the day today, the dam situation has stabilized to some extent but there remains a significant threat for the dam to breach and flood portions of the city of Taunton. After conditions on the dam got worse overnight, there has been no further degradation of the dam but there remains significant vibration of the dam and damage to wooden stanchion at the bottom is suspected with the wood structure totally rotted away providing a lack of support for the dam to hold up. It remains unclear whether the dam will collapse but a significant risk of the dam collapsing remains.
Amateur Radio Operators continue to support operations at the city of Taunton EOC and at the Taunton High School shelter. There are approximately 90-95 evacuees in the shelter. There are a total of 12 Amateurs assisting in the operation including the EMA Director and Assistant EMA Director who are both Amateurs. This was reported by Bruce Hayden, NI1X, Taunton RACES Radio Officer through Carl Aveni, N1FY, ARES District Emergency Coordinator for South Shore ARES. In addition, 5 Amateurs from the Bridgewater ARES Team have been monitoring the situation. As reported earlier, W1JOE-Joe Serilla donated a mattress to the effort on Monday Night and offered his skills as a communicator as well as a certified cook for the operation. SEMARA ARES monitored through the club station at W1AEC through the efforts of Chris Washburn-W1EAV who was requested to go to the club and monitor the situation for as long as possible.
Taunton Emergency Management requested a relief Ham to man the Taunton EOC for the Midnight shift. That request was funneled by Bruce Hayden-NI1X to Carl Aveni-N1FY. After conferring with Carl, Brad Anselmo-N1VUF from SEMARA ARES will be manning the EOC during the 3rd shift timeframe. This also means that there maybe a need for additional deployment of Hams from the various ARES teams in Eastern Massachusetts in small numbers. Remember the rules that Eastern Massachusetts ARES has regarding deployments, do NOT self-deploy and wait for instructions from your ARES, EC, DEC or myself for any deployments. Checks on availability may get sent to various ARES teams by ARES leadership over the next day or so pending the threat from the dam and future operations in the city of Taunton.
ARES and RACES leadership continue to monitor the situation through the efforts of Bob Mims-WA1OEZ, MEMA Region II RACES Radio Officer, Carl Aveni-N1FY, South Shore ARES District Emergency Coordinator and myself. Continued updates through these sitreps will be posted to keep everyone informed with ongoing operations as changes develop and time allows.
Respectfully Submitted,
….Amateur Radio Operators Continue to be Active in the city of Taunton due to the potential collapse of Whittenton Pond Dam on the Mill River in Taunton Massachusetts….
….Eastern Massachusetts ARES and Region II RACES Continues to monitor the situation….
The city of Taunton EOC and the Taunton High School shelter continue to be active in support of evacuees who have left their homes in the area near the Mill River in Taunton, Massachusetts. Amateur Radio Operators at the Taunton High School shelter and the Taunton EOC continued to be active throughout the night supporting shelter needs. The dam has continued to show signs of deterioration but has not failed as of yet. School has been cancelled in the city of Taunton and businesses in the downtown district have been closed. Road closures in Downtown Taunton have also occurred. A breach of the dam has not occurred as of yet. Operations continue on the 147.135-Taunton Repeater. N1UMJ-John, Bruce-NI1X, Carlos-WP4US, Don-KB1LXI along with other Amateurs of the city of Taunton continue to support operations. A complete list of Amateurs supporting the operation will be listed when a list is available. W1JOE-Joe from the Bridgewater ARES/RACES team left a mattress for an evacuee who needed it at the Taunton High School Shelter. Joe is also a certified cook and offered his services for the shelter in that capacity. The Bridgewater ARES/RACES team is preparing to back up the Taunton team as needed.
The latest information on this dam is contained in the NWS Taunton Massachusetts Flash Flood Warning statement. See the link below for the latest information:
http://kamala.cod.edu/ma/latest.wgus51.KBOX.html
Region II RACES Radio Officer, Bob Mims, WA1OEZ, South Shore ARES District Emergency Coordinator, Carl Aveni, N1FY, and Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator, Rob Macedo, KD1CY are closely monitoring the situation in case additional support is needed. At this time, the Amateur Radio resources of the city of Taunton continue to handle the situation within their own resources. The situation will continue to be monitored and updates will be posted as needed.
Respectfully Submitted,
….Amateur Radio Operators have been activated in the City of Taunton due to the potential collapse of the Whittenton Pond Dam on the Mill River in Taunton Massachusetts….
….Eastern Massachusetts ARES and Region II RACES is monitoring the situation….
The city of Taunton EOC is activated along with one shelter to support evacuees who are being asked to leave an area that would be susceptible to flooding in the event of a potential collapse of the Whittenton Pond Dam on the Mill River in the city of Taunton. Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator, Rob Macedo, KD1CY and Region II RACES Radio Offier, Bob Mims, WA1OEZ are monitoring the 147.135-Taunton Repeater. A Status Report has been sent by NI1X-Bruce Hayden to ARES District Emergency Coordinator, Carl Aveni-N1FY, who is also monitoring the situation.
Local officials have stated that the dam could potentially fail at anytime. For further information, please see the NWS Taunton Flash Flood Warning Statement at this link:
http://kamala.cod.edu/ma/latest.wgus51.KBOX.html
Right now, the local Amateur Radio resources in the city of Taunton have the situation under control. We will continue to monitor the situation in case further Amateur Radio resources are required.
Updates will be posted as required. Please monitor the web site and various email lists for these updates.
Respectfully Submitted,
The Tropical Storm Warnings for Southeast Massachusetts have been cancelled. Tropical Storm force winds were shunted to the east of Cape Cod and the Islands and Southeast Massachusetts. The highest measured wind gust was 27 MPH on Nantucket Island per a trained SKYWARN spotter on the island. SKYWARN criteria rainfall (2″ or more) was received in the following areas:
Eastham, Massachusetts: 2.30″
South Hyannis, Massachusetts: 2.38″
Nantucket, Massachusetts: 2.33″
West Tisbury, Massachusetts: 2.75″
Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts: 2.66″
Tony-VK3JED forwarded the criteria rainfall reports to the National Hurricane Center in Miami Florida via the webform. Special thanks to Tony for his efforts in forwarding the reports and monitoring the situation. Also, special thanks to Danny-KD4RAA and Kevin-KD5WX for the use of the IRLP reflector 9219 and the EchoLink *WX_TALK* Conference Server.
I also want to thank Cape Cod ARES and SKYWARN for their tremendous efforts. We had almost 3 dozen stations check into a prep net on their local repeater last night and about a dozen stations check in on the ARES/SKYWARN Net throughout the morning. I’d also like to thank George-N1NBQ and Nick-K1NGJ for the observations from Nantucket and their support from the Nantucket EOC.
While this was ultimately a miss from a damaging perspective in Souteastern New England, it served as a good exercise of the system and our local VHF/UHF operations as well as HF operations. Special thanks to the HF Net Controls who monitored this morning and for taking check-ins this morning and thanks to all SKYWARN Spotters and ARES/RACES/SKYWARN/MARS operators for their tremendous support and understanding on this tricky forecast that resulted in the storm’s worst impact missing Southeastern New England.
73,Rob-KD1CY.
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator for NWS Taunton Massachusetts
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
Net Manager for VoIP Hurricane Net Activations 1
….Plan for Evacuees to be moved to Otis Air Force Base in Cape Cod, Massachusetts turned back on but with less evacuees….
….Approximately 100 evacuees arrived Thursday Afternoon while another 100 evacuees arrived late Thursday Night/early Friday Morning….
….Cape Cod Red Cross fully activated once again with Cape Cod ARES in stand-by mode. Does not appear messaging services are required for this operation at this time….
….SATERN send a request nationally for 10 2-Ham Operator teams for deployment to the US Gulf Coast for Health & Welfare traffic services and Eastern Massachusetts ARES offers support for deployment along with remote support if needed….
The plan for evacuees at Otis Air Force Base has been turned back on and over 100 evacuees arrived at Otis Air Force Base Thursday Afternoon. Cape Cod Red Cross went into full activation mode and Cape Cod ARES went into stand-by mode with Cape Cod ARES District Emergency Coordinator and Red Cross Communications Officer, Frank O’Laughlin-WQ1O, manning the Cape Cod Red Cross chapter. Dan Howard-K1DYO also went to the chapter and visited the air base to see if any Amateur Radio support from a Health & Welfare traffic perspective or other communications perspective was needed but no need existed. Frank Murphy-N1DHW was there representing the Salvation Army and had their communications vehicle and contact was made by Cape Cod ARES with Frank as they were prepared to support any of his needs as well. Another 100 evacuees arrived late Thursday Night into early Friday Morning for a total of slightly over 200 evacuees present at the Otis Air Force Base. A maximum total of 500 evacuees are now expected at the facility. Eastern Massachusetts ARES will continue to monitor to see if there is a need for Amateur Radio support at the air base but current indications are that no support is needed. An article concerning the operations can be seen at the following link:
SATERN, the Salvation Army Team Emergency Response Network, put out a request seen on the ARRL National Web Site for the need of 10, 2-Ham teams of Amateurs to deploy to the Northern Gulf Coast for Health & Welfare traffic handling. The request can be seen at the following link at the national ARRL web site:
http://www.arrl.org/
Eastern Massachusetts ARES made contact via email with Jerry Schneller-N2HPO to offer the possibility of assisting with deploying teams at their request and offer remote traffic handling support to SATERN. Jerry sent a reply in capital letters with “THANK YOU” and that they were assessing their needs and would get back to us. My contact information was sent to Jerry and will await further feedback. Concerning an email sent to NN1N-David Patton, special assistant to the ARRL CEO, and W4OZK-Gregg Saratt, Alabama Section Manager on any assistance required for the affected area, no response has been received.
The ARRL has put out further articles on the disaster relief effort including asking for employers to assist employees who want to deploy their skills to the affected area. Those articles can be seen at the following links:
The ARRL has also put together a Public Service Announcement which can be heard at the following link:
This is suitable to send to Radio and TV stations concerning the efforts of Amateur Radio in the disaster relief effort. The ARRL has also setup a section on Hurricane Katrina disaster relief at the following link:
http://www.arrl.org/katrina.html
The above are the latest updates on Hurricane Katrina disaster relief. Below is suitable information on Hurricane Katrina disaster relief from the previous coordination message issued on this effort:
On Sunday and Monday 9/4-9/5, N1XRS-Tony Duarte and I spent several hours monitoring the SATERN (Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network) Net on 14.265 MHz and the Health & Welfare Net on 7.290 MHz on 40 Meters when propagation allowed it via the SEMARA Club Station, W1AEC. The SATERN Net was successful in facilitating several rescues over the past couple of days and had liaisons to MARS contacts. That net has been dealing solely with emergency and priority traffic. Its not clear when the net will shift to Health & Welfare if at all. SATERN has setup a web site concerning health and welfare traffic at http://www.satern.org/ where you can search by name or fill out a Health and Welfare form. The Red Cross has provided a family links registry on their web site at http://www.redcross.org to try and reunite families. Special thanks to Jim Ward-N1LKJ, Section Traffic Manager, for providing this information.
Jim Ward also reports that 16 NTS traffic messages have been handled and sent into the affected area as a Health & Welfare traffic. It is not clear if those messages reached their intended destinations. On Monday September 5th, Fox-25 in Boston was looking for a Ham involved in such operations and Jim Ward-N1LKJ was interviewed and featured on Fox-25 News at 10 for his efforts. Special thanks to Jim for agreeing to doing the interview given that he was involved in efforts that attempt to reunite loved ones.
Eastern Massachusetts ARES made contact with Erin Sarris, Associate Director of Disaster Services Preparedness and Response, Sunday Evening September 4th. Thus far, only a small number of Red Cross personnel from Mass. Bay has been deployed. With the sheltering of evacuees taking place on Cape Cod, there is little direct involvement from Mass. Bay in that process. Mass. Bay Red Cross is not directly looking for communications deployments currently and recommended to continue following the ARRL/ARES path for deployments.
If you look at the national web site, at the following link:
http://www.arrl.org
You will see that they have made an update on how to sign-up for possible deployment to the affected area. They are now asking anyone who is interested to sign up via the following database link:
http://katrina.ab2m.net/
Those that have already signed up via the email address of katrina@arrl.org have already been forwarded to the appropriate personnel per what is stated on the national web site so you do not need to sign up again using the database link provided above if you’ve already sent an email to the ARRL address.
The database link http://katrina.ab2m.net/ will ask for similar information as what was asked for via the arrl.org email address. They will ask for name, call sign, contact information, equipment you can bring down and I’d also recommend providing training and previous experience in emergency communications for the mission in such a note. I would strongly recommend working through your ARES EC/DEC or myself before sending an email to that address. There are many things to consider including the fact that lodging and other conditions may be extremely poor and there will most likely be a lot of coordination issues given the fact that this is such a large disaster relief effort for served agencies to manage and our leadership wants to make certain you are aware of the risks and are fully prepared to be involved if you consider deployment. As Steve Schwarm, W3EVE, quoted from Westchester County Red Cross, “Blessed are the flexible, for they will not get bent out of shape” and this very true for this major relief effort. Once that is complete and if you decide to accept such a mission and have signed up on the database link provided above, please copy your ARES DEC and myself to such an email so that we know you are being considered for going to the region and keep us posted on whether you are accepted for deployment. That way our leadership can assist in communication to your family and friends if required. It will also help to make sure that we do not displace too many resources to the region. As I’ve stated previously, hurricane season is far from over and there remains an ever present threat through at least the first week of October of a hurricane striking our region. We also need to keep in the back of our minds that ever present threat of terrorism to our region and having resources available to tend to that unexpected threat if it occurs.
Once again, there should be absolutely, positively, no self-deployments to the region. The situation down there is extremely tense and anyone who is down there without proper authorization despite their best intentions is likely to receive a very bad reception. Please work through our ARES leadership as we will continue to work very hard to keep you informed of changes in a situation that is changing by the hour and minute as the situation slowly becomes more stable and proper assistance can be provided.
Massachusetts Bay Red Cross has posted a status report via their web site that provides a good status on their response to this catastrophic disaster. The link appears below:
http://www.bostonredcross.org/Hurricane
The Salvation Army also has status information and headlines via their web site. That link also appears below:
http://www.use.salvationarmy.org/mas
There are many other agencies providing support for this effort. The links above are intended to provide response information from 2 of the main agencies we deal with but there are dozens of others that are also providing support.
I would also like to thank one Amateur who has sent information to ARRL via the email address for possible acceptance of deployment and notified me that he had sent a note concerning possible deployment. I would also like to thank another Amateur who cannot deploy himself but has offered equipment to help someone deploy who may not have the equipment required to deploy down to the region. These Amateurs are showing the spirit of Eastern Massachusetts ARES by offering to help and also providing the ARES leadership with appropriate information on the help that they are offering. That teamwork and support is very much appreciated!
The ARRL has started an ARES E-letter that people can sign up for that gives updates on ARES happenings across the country. The ARES E-Letter is typically issued monthly but for Hurricane Katrina, a special e-letter was posted this morning and contains fantastic information on frequencies in the affected area and updates from each state affected by Katrina. It also features the response efforts of neighboring sections. The link to the ARES E-Letter is listed below:
http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/ares-el/index.html?issue=2005-09-03
For those interested in signing up for the ARES E-letter, please see the link below:
http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/ares-el/about.html#get
Please contact myself or your ARES DEC with any questions, comments or offers for support during this time period both here at home for any assistance that we can provide from here in the relief effort or for actual deployment to the affected area. On behalf of the entire Eastern Massachusetts ARES staff, we look forward to working with everyone to properly make a difference in this trying time for the United States caused by one of the worst natural disasters in the country’s history.
Respectfully Submitted,
The following was posted to the MRAS_General email list by Terry Stader-KA8SCP, Region I RACES Radio Officer concerning the MATE’2005 Exercise in Northern Middlesex County on Friday September 23rd and Saturday September 24th, 2005:
There will be a multi-agency, multi-community exercise involving Lowell, Dracut and Billerica on Friday, 9/23 and Saturday, 9/24. Amateur Radio support has been requested for this drill.
The major portion of the exercise will be conducted during the day time on Friday with additional events occurring on Saturday.
Here is an opportunity for Amateur Radio to team up with police, fire, EMS, ambulance companies, hospitals as well as our common support roles working with the American Red Cross and community emergency management agencies.
If you would like to part of this event, please let me know ASAP. Our role will depend entirely on how many of us are available.
Terry M. Stader – KA8SCP
MEMA Region 1 Communications Coordinator/RACES Officer
ARRL EMA DEC for Region 1 RACES
President, The Police Amateur Radio Team of Westford – WB1GOF
1
….Plan to hold up to 3,000 Evacuees at Otis Air Force Base on Cape Cod Massachusetts now on hold. Cape Cod Red Cross Securing Activation for the moment and Cape Cod ARES No Longer On Stand-By….
….Email Sent to ARRL National Headquarters Concerning Possible ARESMAT Deployment Plans….
Late last night, Frank O’Laughlin-WQ1O, Cape Cod ARES District Emergency Coordnator and Red Cross Communications Offier and Ron Trainor-KC8CEV reported that the plan to house 3,000 Evacuees at the Otis Air Force Base in Cape Cod, Massachusetts is now on hold. Cape Cod Red Cross has currently secured their activation for the moment and Cape Cod ARES is no longer on stand-by. Frank-WQ1O has delivered the following message to his Cape Cod ARES group, the Falmouth Amateur Radio Association, who offered support in this operation and the Eastern Massachusetts section:
By the time you read this, you will know that the plan to relocate evacuees has likely been suspended. It appears that the evacuees would like to stay closer to their home in the South. I was impressed by the outpouring of support from the local amateur community for this endeavor. I want to take this time to publicly thank the Falmouth Amateur Radio Association and its good members for the offers of logistical and human resources to support for the operation. It was great to see the swiftness of the response for the standby activation. I also wish to thank the Eastern MA Section Staff and the Cape&Islands ARES personnel for their continuing mission of emergency communications response. It was great to hear from Bob Courtemanche and Ralph Swenson for their “heads up” on the situation with offers of assistance. We came together as we would for any emergency that may face our area. My thanks to all of you!
We will keep everyone posted if this plan changes again. An article concerning this suspension of evacuees coming to Otis is available at the link below:
Concerning actual ARES deployment to the affected area, an email has been sent to NN1N-David Patton, special assistant to the ARRL CEO and Greg Sarratt-W4OZK to see if an ARESMAT from the Eastern Massachusetts ARES section is required and will follow the ARESMAT concept. An update will be posted once we receive a response from either Greg or David. Below are some links on the ARRL web site updating the national response to this incident:
Those are the latest updates concerning Hurricane the Hurricane Katrina disaster relief effort. Below is pertinent information from past coordination messages for the sake of completeness, another update will be posted as new information becomes available:
On Sunday and Monday 9/4-9/5, N1XRS-Tony Duarte and I spent several hours monitoring the SATERN (Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network) Net on 14.265 MHz and the Health & Welfare Net on 7.290 MHz on 40 Meters when propagation allowed it via the SEMARA Club Station, W1AEC. The SATERN Net was successful in facilitating several rescues over the past couple of days and had liaisons to MARS contacts. That net has been dealing solely with emergency and priority traffic. Its not clear when the net will shift to Health & Welfare if at all. SATERN has setup a web site concerning health and welfare traffic at http://www.satern.org/ where you can search by name or fill out a Health and Welfare form. The Red Cross has provided a family links registry on their web site at http://www.redcross.org to try and reunite families. Special thanks to Jim Ward-N1LKJ, Section Traffic Manager, for providing this information.
Jim Ward also reports that 16 NTS traffic messages have been handled and sent into the affected area as a Health & Welfare traffic. It is not clear if those messages reached their intended destinations. On Monday September 5th, Fox-25 in Boston was looking for a Ham involved in such operations and Jim Ward-N1LKJ was interviewed and featured on Fox-25 News at 10 for his efforts. Special thanks to Jim for agreeing to doing the interview given that he was involved in efforts that attempt to reunite loved ones.
Eastern Massachusetts ARES made contact with Erin Sarris, Associate Director of Disaster Services Preparedness and Response, Sunday Evening September 4th. Thus far, only a small number of Red Cross personnel from Mass. Bay has been deployed. With the sheltering of evacuees taking place on Cape Cod, there is little direct involvement from Mass. Bay in that process. Mass. Bay Red Cross is not directly looking for communications deployments currently and recommended to continue following the ARRL/ARES path for deployments.
If you look at the national web site, at the following link:
http://www.arrl.org
You will see that they have made an update on how to sign-up for possible deployment to the affected area. They are now asking anyone who is interested to sign up via the following database link:
http://katrina.ab2m.net/
Those that have already signed up via the email address of katrina@arrl.org have already been forwarded to the appropriate personnel per what is stated on the national web site so you do not need to sign up again using the database link provided above if you’ve already sent an email to the ARRL address.
The database link http://katrina.ab2m.net/ will ask for similar information as what was asked for via the arrl.org email address. They will ask for name, call sign, contact information, equipment you can bring down and I’d also recommend providing training and previous experience in emergency communications for the mission in such a note. I would strongly recommend working through your ARES EC/DEC or myself before sending an email to that address. There are many things to consider including the fact that lodging and other conditions may be extremely poor and there will most likely be a lot of coordination issues given the fact that this is such a large disaster relief effort for served agencies to manage and our leadership wants to make certain you are aware of the risks and are fully prepared to be involved if you consider deployment. As Steve Schwarm, W3EVE, quoted from Westchester County Red Cross, “Blessed are the flexible, for they will not get bent out of shape” and this very true for this major relief effort. Once that is complete and if you decide to accept such a mission and have signed up on the database link provided above, please copy your ARES DEC and myself to such an email so that we know you are being considered for going to the region and keep us posted on whether you are accepted for deployment. That way our leadership can assist in communication to your family and friends if required. It will also help to make sure that we do not displace too many resources to the region. As I’ve stated previously, hurricane season is far from over and there remains an ever present threat through at least the first week of October of a hurricane striking our region. We also need to keep in the back of our minds that ever present threat of terrorism to our region and having resources available to tend to that unexpected threat if it occurs.
Once again, there should be absolutely, positively, no self-deployments to the region. The situation down there is extremely tense and anyone who is down there without proper authorization despite their best intentions is likely to receive a very bad reception. Please work through our ARES leadership as we will continue to work very hard to keep you informed of changes in a situation that is changing by the hour and minute as the situation slowly becomes more stable and proper assistance can be provided.
Massachusetts Bay Red Cross has posted a status report via their web site that provides a good status on their response to this catastrophic disaster. The link appears below:
http://www.bostonredcross.org/Hurricane
The Salvation Army also has status information and headlines via their web site. That link also appears below:
http://www.use.salvationarmy.org/mas
There are many other agencies providing support for this effort. The links above are intended to provide response information from 2 of the main agencies we deal with but there are dozens of others that are also providing support.
I would also like to thank one Amateur who has sent information to ARRL via the email address for possible acceptance of deployment and notified me that he had sent a note concerning possible deployment. I would also like to thank another Amateur who cannot deploy himself but has offered equipment to help someone deploy who may not have the equipment required to deploy down to the region. These Amateurs are showing the spirit of Eastern Massachusetts ARES by offering to help and also providing the ARES leadership with appropriate information on the help that they are offering. That teamwork and support is very much appreciated!
The ARRL has started an ARES E-letter that people can sign up for that gives updates on ARES happenings across the country. The ARES E-Letter is typically issued monthly but for Hurricane Katrina, a special e-letter was posted this morning and contains fantastic information on frequencies in the affected area and updates from each state affected by Katrina. It also features the response efforts of neighboring sections. The link to the ARES E-Letter is listed below:
http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/ares-el/index.html?issue=2005-09-03
For those interested in signing up for the ARES E-letter, please see the link below:
http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/ares-el/about.html#get
Please contact myself or your ARES DEC with any questions, comments or offers for support during this time period both here at home for any assistance that we can provide from here in the relief effort or for actual deployment to the affected area. On behalf of the entire Eastern Massachusetts ARES staff, we look forward to working with everyone to properly make a difference in this trying time for the United States caused by one of the worst natural disasters in the country’s history.
Respectfully Submitted,
….3,000 Evacuees headed to Otis Air Force Base on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Cape Cod Red Cross now Activated with Cape Cod ARES on stand-by….
….No significant changes on deploying to the affected area….
As the media has reported, Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has announced that 3,000 evacuees are being sent to Otis Air Force Base. Given this development, Cape Cod ARES District Emergency Coordinator, Frank O’Laughlin-WQ1O, has reported that the Cape Cod Red Cross is now fully activated with Cape Cod ARES now on stand-by to support communications needs as required. The air base has very strict security provisions so only a handful of Cape Cod ARES personnel will be allowed on the base only. Beyond tactical communications between the Cape Cod Red Cross chapter and Otis Air Force Base, there will be little need for Amateurs to actually deploy to Cape Cod, however, depending on the needs of the evacuees, there is the potential for Amateurs in ARES and NTS to get involved with health and welfare traffic for the evacuees to loved ones that they may have lost contact with during the move. Again, this will largely depend on the need of the evacuees. This is being worked by the ARES leadership and Massachusetts State RACES Radio Officer, Tom Kinahan, N1CPE. If this need develops, updates will be posted as required. Again, It is not clear at this time if this need even exists. Given that phones and other forms of technology work here, this may not be needed but there certainly could be limitations on the amount of phones etc. available at the facility so Amateur Radio may provide a parallel path to get messages back to loved ones. Frank-WQ1O will keep the ARES staff informed of any needs and Tom-N1CPE will keep us informed working with the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency if there is a need for such messaging.
Over the past 2 days, N1XRS-Tony Duarte and I spent several hours monitoring the SATERN (Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network) Net on 14.265 MHz and the Health & Welfare Net on 7.290 MHz on 40 Meters when propagation allowed it. The SATERN Net was successful in facilitating several rescues over the past couple of days and had liaisons to MARS contacts. That net has been dealing solely with emergency and priority traffic. Its not clear when the net will shift to Health & Welfare if at all. SATERN has setup a web site concerning health and welfare traffic at http://www.satern.org/ where you can search by name or fill out a Health and Welfare form. The Red Cross has provided a family links registry on their web site at http://www.redcross.org to try and reunite families. Special thanks to Jim Ward-N1LKJ, Section Traffic Manager, for providing this information.
Jim Ward also reports that 16 NTS traffic messages have been handled and sent into the affected area as a Health & Welfare traffic. It is not clear if those messages reached their intended destinations. Yesterday, Fox-25 was looking for a Ham involved in such operations and Jim Ward-N1LKJ was interviewed and featured on Fox-25 News at 10 for his efforts. Special thanks to Jim for agreeing to doing the interview given that he was involved in efforts that attempt to reunite loved ones.
Eastern Massachusetts ARES made contact with Erin Sarris, Associate Director of Disaster Services Preparedness and Response, Sunday Evening. Thus far, only a small number of Red Cross personnel from Mass. Bay has been deployed. With the sheltering of evacuees taking place on Cape Cod, there is little direct involvement from Mass. Bay in that process. Mass. Bay Red Cross is not directly looking for communications deployments currently and recommended to continue following the ARRL/ARES path for deployments.
Concerning actual deployment to the affected area, we have received little information other than what has been provided from the ARRL National Web Site. An attempt will be made to contact ARRL/ARES leadership in Alabama, where it appears they are staging personnel currently. If further information becomes available, it will be passed on via this coordination message.
Below is the applicable text of Coordination Message #4 for coordination purposes:
If you look at the national web site, at the following link:
http://www.arrl.org
You will see that they have made an update on how to sign-up for possible deployment to the affected area. They are now asking anyone who is interested to sign up via the following database link:
http://katrina.ab2m.net/
Those that have already signed up via the email address of katrina@arrl.org have already been forwarded to the appropriate personnel per what is stated on the national web site so you do not need to sign up again using the database link provided above if you’ve already sent an email to the ARRL address.
The database link http://katrina.ab2m.net/ will ask for similar information as what was asked for via the arrl.org email address. They will ask for name, call sign, contact information, equipment you can bring down and I’d also recommend providing training and previous experience in emergency communications for the mission in such a note. I would strongly recommend working through your ARES EC/DEC or myself before sending an email to that address. There are many things to consider including the fact that lodging and other conditions may be extremely poor and there will most likely be a lot of coordination issues given the fact that this is such a large disaster relief effort for served agencies to manage and our leadership wants to make certain you are aware of the risks and are fully prepared to be involved if you consider deployment. As Steve Schwarm, W3EVE, quoted from Westchester County Red Cross, “Blessed are the flexible, for they will not get bent out of shape” and this very true for this major relief effort. Once that is complete and if you decide to accept such a mission and have signed up on the database link provided above, please copy your ARES DEC and myself to such an email so that we know you are being considered for going to the region and keep us posted on whether you are accepted for deployment. That way our leadership can assist in communication to your family and friends if required. It will also help to make sure that we do not displace too many resources to the region. As I’ve stated previously, hurricane season is far from over and there remains an ever present threat through at least the first week of October of a hurricane striking our region. We also need to keep in the back of our minds that ever present threat of terrorism to our region and having resources available to tend to that unexpected threat if it occurs.
Once again, there should be absolutely, positively, no self-deployments to the region. The situation down there is extremely tense and anyone who is down there without proper authorization despite their best intentions is likely to receive a very bad reception. Please work through our ARES leadership as we will continue to work very hard to keep you informed of changes in a situation that is changing by the hour and minute as the situation slowly becomes more stable and proper assistance can be provided.
Massachusetts Bay Red Cross has posted a status report via their web site that provides a good status on their response to this catastrophic disaster. The link appears below:
http://www.bostonredcross.org/Hurricane
The Salvation Army also has status information and headlines via their web site. That link also appears below:
http://www.use.salvationarmy.org/mas
There are many other agencies providing support for this effort. The links above are intended to provide response information from 2 of the main agencies we deal with but there are dozens of others that are also providing support.
I would also like to thank one Amateur who has sent information to ARRL via the email address for possible acceptance of deployment and notified me that he had sent a note concerning possible deployment. I would also like to thank another Amateur who cannot deploy himself but has offered equipment to help someone deploy who may not have the equipment required to deploy down to the region. These Amateurs are showing the spirit of Eastern Massachusetts ARES by offering to help and also providing the ARES leadership with appropriate information on the help that they are offering. That teamwork and support is very much appreciated!
Please contact myself or your ARES DEC with any questions, comments or offers for support during this time period both here at home for any assistance that we can provide from here in the relief effort or for actual deployment to the affected area. On behalf of the entire Eastern Massachusetts ARES staff, we look forward to working with everyone to properly make a difference in this trying time for the United States caused by one of the worst natural disasters in the country’s history.
Respectfully Submitted,
The following is another update on Hurricane Katrina Disaster Relief based on updates received from various sources within the past 24 hours. There have been some slight changes in the sign-up for deployment based on an update posted to the ARRL web site some time yesterday afternoon and there has been further information provided on the Massachusetts Bay Red Cross web site. These updates are being incorporated into this note with some of the text and information in the previous coordination message. We will begin this coordination message to discuss the updates on the ARRL web site.
If you look at the national web site, at the following link:
http://www.arrl.org
You will see that they have made an update on how to sign-up for possible deployment to the affected area. They are now asking anyone who is interested to sign up via the following database link:
http://katrina.ab2m.net/
Those that have already signed up via the email address of katrina@arrl.org have already been forwarded to the appropriate personnel per what is stated on the national web site so you do not need to sign up again using the database link provided above if you’ve already sent an email to the ARRL address.
The database link http://katrina.ab2m.net/ will ask for similar information as what was asked for via the arrl.org email address. They will ask for name, call sign, contact information, equipment you can bring down and I’d also recommend providing training and previous experience in emergency communications for the mission in such a note. I would strongly recommend working through your ARES EC/DEC or myself before sending an email to that address. There are many things to consider including the fact that lodging and other conditions may be extremely poor and there will most likely be a lot of coordination issues given the fact that this is such a large disaster relief effort for served agencies to manage and our leadership wants to make certain you are aware of the risks and are fully prepared to be involved if you consider deployment. As Steve Schwarm, W3EVE, quoted from Westchester County Red Cross, “Blessed are the flexible, for they will not get bent out of shape” and this very true for this major relief effort. Once that is complete and if you decide to accept such a mission and have signed up on the database link provided above, please copy your ARES DEC and myself to such an email so that we know you are being considered for going to the region and keep us posted on whether you are accepted for deployment. That way our leadership can assist in communication to your family and friends if required. It will also help to make sure that we do not displace too many resources to the region. As I’ve stated previously, hurricane season is far from over and there remains an ever present threat through at least the first week of October of a hurricane striking our region. We also need to keep in the back of our minds that ever present threat of terrorism to our region and having resources available to tend to that unexpected threat if it occurs.
Once again, there should be absolutely, positively, no self-deployments to the region. The situation down there is extremely tense and anyone who is down there without proper authorization despite their best intentions is likely to receive a very bad reception. Please work through our ARES leadership as we will continue to work very hard to keep you informed of changes in a situation that is changing by the hour and minute as the situation slowly becomes more stable and proper assistance can be provided.
As of this morning, I’ve not heard from Erin Sarris, Associate Director of Preparedness and Response concerning support from Eastern Massachusetts ARES for Massachusetts Bay Red Cross. If I hear anything, an update will be provided via these coordination messages. There remains the potential that we may be doing remote support for this catastrophic disaster and that support could come in several forms along with the potential of deployment to in or near the affected area. Given that the situation is fluid, I’d ask all ARES personnel to continue monitoring these coordination messages for further details.
Massachusetts Bay Red Cross has posted a status report via their web site that provides a good status on their response to this catastrophic disaster. The link appears below:
http://bostonredcross.org/Hurricane%20Katrina.htm
The Salvation Army also has status information and headlines via their web site. That link also appears below:
http://www.use.salvationarmy.org/mas
There are many other agencies providing support for this effort. The links above are intended to provide response information from 2 of the main agencies we deal with but there are dozens of others that are also providing support.
I will be checking in with our NTS leadership on the status of health and welfare traffic into and out of the affected area and update the next coordination message with that information.
From the last coordination message, the ARES E-letter can provide some excellent information on this situation:
The ARRL has started an ARES E-letter that people can sign up for that gives updates on ARES happenings across the country. The ARES E-Letter is typically issued monthly but for Hurricane Katrina, a special e-letter was posted this morning and contains fantastic information on frequencies in the affected area and updates from each state affected by Katrina. It also features the response efforts of neighboring sections. The link to the ARES E-Letter is listed below:
http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/ares-el/index.html?issue=2005-09-03
For those interested in signing up for the ARES E-letter, please see the link below:
http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/ares-el/about.html#get
I would also like to thank one Amateur who has sent information to ARRL via the email address for possible acceptance of deployment and notified me that he had sent a note concerning possible deployment. I would also like to thank another Amateur who cannot deploy himself but has offered equipment to help someone deploy who may not have the equipment required to deploy down to the region. These Amateurs are showing the spirit of Eastern Massachusetts ARES by offering to help and also providing the ARES leadership with appropriate information on the help that they are offering. That teamwork and support is very much appreciated!
Please contact myself or your ARES DEC with any questions, comments or offers for support during this time period both here at home for any assistance that we can provide from here in the relief effort or for actual deployment to the affected area. On behalf of the entire Eastern Massachusetts ARES staff, we look forward to working with everyone to properly make a difference in this trying time for the United States causedby one of the worst natural disasters in the country’s history.
Respectfully Submitted,
From the ARRL web site, new information has been received concerning the potential for deployment for Hurricane Katrina disaster relief. We’ve also received some information from Mass. Bay Red Cross on possible plans for activation of their Rapid Action Team. Given these developments, it is time to update everyone once again on the current Hurricane Katrina Disaster Relief effort.
Friday showed some rays of hope in a sea of despair in the affected areas. The first significant convoy of US National Guard troops arrived in the area passing out food and water along with a fleet of buses to move affected people out of the area and getting supplies to those people until they are moved out of the area. National Guard troops are also gradually bringing back a sense of order to New Orleans as well. While this is occurring, there is still a tremendous amount of work to be done and thousands people remain in New Orleans to be rescued. The media continues extensive coverage of the situation to keep the nation informed.
Over the past 24 hours, we’ve seen some developments of significance that I wanted everyone to be aware of and also provide important instructions and reiterate some of the thoughts in my last coordination message. Let’s start off with a posting on the ARRL web site.
If you look at the national web site, at the following link: http://www.arrl.org
You will now see that there is a call for Amateur Radio Emergency Communication volunteers for the affected area and the ARRL is asking for emails to be sent to Katrina@arrl.org so that you can be considered for deployment. You are asked to provide your name, call sign, contact information, equipment you can bring down and I’d also recommend providing training and previous experience in emergency communications for the mission in such a note. I would strongly recommend working through your ARES EC/DEC or myself before sending an email to that address. There are many things to consider including the fact that lodging and other conditions may be extremely poor and there will most likely be a lot of coordination issues given the fact that this is such a large disaster relief effort for served agencies to manage and our leadership wants to make certain you are aware of the risks and are fully prepared to be involved if you consider deployment. As Steve Schwarm, W3EVE, quoted from Westchester County Red Cross, “Blessed are the flexible, for they will not get bent out of shape” and this very true for this major relief effort. Once that is complete and if you decide to accept such a mission, if you decide to send an email to that address the ARRL provided, please copy your ARES DEC and myself to such an email so that we know you are being considered for going to the region and keep us posted on whether you are accepted for deployment. That way our leadership can assist in communication to your family and friends if required. It will also
help to make sure that we do not displace too many resources to the region. As I’ve stated previously, hurricane season is far from over and there remains an ever present threat through at least the first week of October of a hurricane striking our region. We also need to keep in the back of our minds that ever present threat of terrorism to our region and having resources available to tend to that unexpected threat if it occurs.
Once again, there should be absolutely, positively, no self-deployments to the region. The situation down there is extremely tense and anyone who is down there without proper authorization despite their best intentions is likely to receive a very bad reception. Please work through our ARES leadership as we will continue to work very hard to keep you informed of changes in a situation that is changing by the hour and minute as the situation slowly becomes more stable and proper assistance can be provided.
The second update that I wanted to provide is that the Massachusetts Bay Red Cross Rapid Action Team (RAT) is considering becoming active this weekend for supporting relief operations. There are no further details available at this time. While it is unclear where and how Eastern Massachusetts ARES can help at present, I’ve sent a note to the Associate Director of Preparedness and Response for Disaster Services, Erin Sarris, who posted the note on RAT team availability, to see if Eastern Massachusetts ARES can assist in anyway. Updates will be posted via email and given to your ARES DEC’s when they become available. This maybe an excellent way for our section to contribute to the effort remotely. I will also be contacting our NTS leadership to get an update on the status of health and welfare traffic out of the affected area and how ARES can support that effort from here as required and if there are updates on that situation, I will pass that along to everyone.
The ARRL has started an ARES E-letter that people can sign up for that gives updates on ARES happenings across the country. The ARES E-Letter is typically issued monthly but for Hurricane Katrina, a special e-letter was posted this morning and contains fantastic information on frequencies in the affected area and updates from each state affected by Katrina. It also features the response efforts of neighboring sections. The link to the ARES E-Letter is listed below:
http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/ares-el/index.html?issue=2005-09-03
For those interested in signing up for the ARES E-letter, please see the link below:
http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/ares-el/about.html#get
I plan on leaving coordination message #1 posted on the ARES web site along with this message so that people can follow the history of communication on this effort and pick up on any previous information that will be useful to them in this effort. I will be away from the PC for much of this afternoon and evening. I will be monitoring emails for much of this morning through early afternoon closely and can have limited access to email later this afternoon and evening. Please contact myself or your ARES DEC with any questions, comments or offers for support during this time period both here at home for any assistance that we can provide from here in the relief effort or for actual deployment to the affected area. On behalf of the entire Eastern Massachusetts ARES staff, we look forward to working with everyone to properly make a difference in this trying time for the United States caused by one of the worst natural disasters in the country’s history.
Respectfully Submitted,
With the impact of Hurricane Katrina becoming one of the most horrific natural disaster’s in United States history, it is evident that the recovery effort will become one of potentially national significance lasting months and not weeks. Given that is the case, I will begin posting coordination messages similar to ones that I post for SKYWARN but detailing the disaster relief effort and what Eastern Massachusetts ARES is doing to be prepared to support the affected area if called upon by the appropriate leadership in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and now South Texas given that thousands of people are now being sheltered in Texas.
Contact was made with Louisiana ARES Section Emergency Coordinator Gary Stratton-K5GLS this morning via email. At this time, they are in a “hold mode” concerning any outside support. They are awaiting word from Louisiana Homeland Security on when they can begin their deployments. Until that time, we have been asked to stand-by and await any further instructions. In that same note, I offered a “remote support” component from our ARES organization to support their operations. This support included net controls on HF, net controls utilizing VoIP and any relay stations to take traffic that is out of the affected area and destined for our region in the form of health and welfare traffic. At this time, they are so busy with emergency and priority traffic, that they are focused on that piece of their work at this time. Health and Welfare traffic has been halted into the region at this time. It is not yet known when Health & Welfare traffic will be facilitated from the affected area to the areas where loved ones are located across the United States.
As we watch the visions of despair, violence and in parallel the hope the disaster relief efforts provide, I’d like to remind all in the ARES community of the following:
1.) Please do not self-deploy to this area. It is a significantly dangerous and life-threatening situation. As much as we all want to help, the best thing to do right now is to wait until the situation stabilizes enough so that help can be properly provided. We all want to be heroes as we as Amateur Radio Operators have a knack for wanting to help our communities. The best help we can provide right now is to remain calm and patient. When the section’s affected is ready for our support, whether it be remote support or the support of a team to deploy to the area, they responsible leaders of the affected ARRL sections will call for us.
2.) Some Amateurs may have seen the database for Hams to sign up for message handling and deployment. Please do not sign up through that database. If you are interested in supporting the operation whether it be through remote message handling or deployment to the affected area, please let your DEC or myself know and we will be prepared to utilize you in the event of remote support or actual deployment.
3.) We must be careful not to overextend ourselves to support these ARRL sections affected by Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Season continues and the peak is not till mid-September. It is still conceivable that we could be affected by a hurricane in our section and we will need to be ready to protect and support our communities. Also, let us not forget the continuous threat that Al Qaeda imposes on our homeland as well. There remains threats to our area so we need to balance supporting this horrific disaster with making sure our region is properly covered if a weather related, terrorist related or other such incident occurs in our region.
The President of the ARRL, Jim Haynie, W5JBP, sent out a powerful and excellent message to the Amateur Radio Community concerning being ready to help the region. A link to this article is provided below:
http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2005/09/01/2/?nc=1
There are several frequencies active handling emergency and priority traffic. Those that would like to monitor the nets are welcome to do so but please do not interrupt traffic on the nets. Stand-by and monitor the nets and you will get a sense of what our Amateurs in the affected area are going through. The HF frequencies are listed below and were mentioned in the ARRL article on the web site:
West Gulf ARES Emergency Net:
7.285 MHz Days and 3.873 MHz nights LSB on
both frequencies.
SATERN Net: 14.265 USB
The next step from an Eastern Massachusetts ARES perspective will be to offer support to Mass. Bay Red Cross and Salvation Army to see if there is anything that can be done from a communications perspective working through our local relief agencies. As things develop, I will pass the information along to everyone.
Donations for people in the affected area can be made through the Red Cross and Salvation Army. Various work places may have also set up fundraising finds through their companies.
Please contact me or your ARES DEC with any questions or if you want to volunteer for any type of remote support or actual deployment if actual deployment becomes necessary in the coming weeks. Thanks to all of you for your continued support of ARES!
Respectfully Submitted,
A reminder that the monthly ARES Net for February is rapidly approaching. The monthly ARES Net for March is Monday March 7th, 2005, at 8:30 PM on the MMRA Repeater system. This is after the RACES Nets earlier in the evening.
Based on last month’s net, we have made some revisions to the net process. Net Control will be advising folks that on the first round, you should check-in with your Call-Sign ONLY and then on the 2nd round, you’ll be asked for your name, location, whether you are fixed, mobile or portable, what MMRA repeater you are checked into and give any traffic, announcmenets or
comments to the net. We’re hoping this will improve the process of getting people checked into the net and make the net flow more smoothly. Please follow net control’s lead with the revised preamble.
Make the first Monday of the month, “Emergency Communications Night” and check into your local RACES Net and then check into the ARES Net on the MMRA
Repeater System. We look forward to your participation and remember, we are always looking for Net Controls to run the ARES Net. Thanks to all for your
continued participation!
We will have several interesting announcements for the net this 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
….CAPE COD ARES STANDS DOWN AFTER THE BLIZZARD OF 2005….
At approximately 6 PM Monday, Cape Cod ARES stood down after participating in shelter and field operations for the Cape Cod Red Cross Chapter. Operations lasted for roughly a 48 hour period with support at the Red Cross Chapter EOC and with shelters around Cape Cod. The support Cape Cod ARES provided was tremendous and lasted for a long continuous period. Since that support was given and the Hams of Cape Cod ARES need time to dig out and be watchful of yet another storm for the middle of the week, Frank O’Laughlin, WQ1O, Cape Cod ARES District Emergency Coordinator has postponed his exericse for January 29th and has rescheduled it for Saturday February 12th, 2005 at 10 AM. Further details on the drill will be posted as we get closer to the exercise.The Blizzard of 2005 is the first blizzard that Southern New England has experienced since the April Fools Day Blizzard of April 1st, 1997. It brought sustained winds of 30-50 MPH with wind gusts of of 75-84 MPH over the Southern New England coast line. Moderate Coastal Flooding occurred along portions of the Northeast Massachusetts coast line with numerous shore roads flooded in Scituate and Hull and splashover reported in other parts of the East Coastal Massachusetts area. In addition, the extreme cold has made it very difficult to dig out from the storm.
Conditions this week will remain extremely cold. A moderate snow storm is expected at mid-week and there is a low probability of yet another coastal storm in the Sunday-Monday timeframe of next week. These threats will need to be monitored.
A HUGE THANK YOU to the tremendous support given by ARES and SKYWARN for this event. The National Weather Service had a tremendous response with all the reporting of severe winter weather and ARES personnel that manned EOC’s and shelters in parts of the section did a tremendous job. It is an honor and a privilege to lead such a profesional volunteer organization.
The following is an ARES Drill Report from Saturday October 30th, 2004. The purpose of the drill was to be able to relay messages and make contact into and out of the main affected area for this drill, which was Cape Cod as Cape Cod ARES had devised a specific scenario for the drill. The main bands utilized in the drill were 6 Meters, 40 Meters HF and Packet, though local 2 Meter informal nets were held outside of the district with full formal nets run on the 146.955-Barnstable Repeater on Cape Cod.Along with our drill, New Hampshire ARES was also having their statewide SET drill on the same day. They used some voice but concentrated on a special blend of PSK technology that they’ve adapted for emergency traffic. Attempts were made by Carl-K1KID, who is a PSK guru, to contact New Hampshire via PSK but the attempt failed. Numerous NH ARES and SKYWARN Contacts made contact with Eastern Massachusetts via the 146.64-Waltham Repeater and via HF. Out of state contacts between Eastern Massachusetts and New Hampshire went very well.
In addition to the drills, the city of Boston had a parade for the Boston Red Sox winning the World Series with around 3 Million people in attendance. Metro Boston ARES utilized the drill to monitor events with the parade in case there were any issues and remained on stand-by 90 minutes after the drill ended until 1:30 PM to monitor the parade until its conclusion. Having an exercise on the day we selected helped to enhance the New Hampshire drill and to have Hams ready in case issues occurred in Boston due to the parade.
Several traffic messages were passed via the HF Net and on the Barnstable Repeater on Cape Cod. Contact was made with stations within the section over HF, 2 Meters and 6 Meters where appropriate. Contact was made with all stations by several means and the purpose of the drill was executed with few issues. Message traffic was also handled on a tactical and NTS basis between Eastern Massachusetts and New Hampshire and was deemed successful.
The following is the list of check-ins via HF and on 2-Meter Nets where we have received reports. This portion of the report maybe updated if more net reports are received:
The following is the net report from the 147.000-Dartmouth Repeater Informal ARES Net:
1. W1AEI-Arthur-Swansea
2. WA1ESO-John-Tiverton, RI
3. N1YCQ-Wheat-Swansea, Massachusetts
4. K1KVV-Bob-South Dartmouth at W1AEC assisting with NCO duties on this net and on HF.
The HF Net Operations were run on 40 Meters HF out of the Southeast Massachusetts Amateur Radio Association (SEMARA) building under call sign W1AEC. The following Hams checked in and passed traffic via this net.
.
1. KA1TUZ-Dick-Newton, Massachusetts
2. WC1MA-MEMA Framingham HQ
3. N1XTB-Phil-Middleboro, Massachusetts
4. W1MSA-Frank-Salvation Army HQ-Boston, Mass.
5. K1NGJ-Nick-Nantucket Island, Massachusetts
6. N1HY-Richard-Bedford, Massachusetts
7. KB1JJE-Ben-Mansfield, Massachusetts
8. K1PBO-Red Cross Hyannis, Massachusetts
9. N2JWW-Mike-Marstons, Mills, Massachusetts
10. N1FY-Carl-Bridgewater, Mass. EOC (Town EOC)
11. K1UI-Rob-Cape Cod ARES Field Site
12. KD4CLJ-David-Attleboro, Massachusetts
13. N1BDA-Steve-Concord, Massachusetts
14. K1EJ-Darrel-Chelmsford, Massachusetts
15. N1UMJ-John-Taunton, Massachusetts
16. WA1JSE-Paul-Osterville, Massachusetts
17. WA1WOK-Cal-New Hampshire State EOC, Concord, NH
18. K1KID-Carl-Wareham, Massachusetts
19. KB1EKN-Mark-Hingham, Massachusetts
20. AA2T-Jerry-Leominster, Massachusetts
21. KB1IZU-Bob-Western Coos County, New Hampshire
The Drill ran from 10 AM-Noon with all objectives met. A reminder was given to all Amateurs to closely monitor the situation and events in the run-up to the November election and to have a HT with them in case it’s needed due to a possible terrorist incident. Luckily, no issues were reported on Election Day.
Cape Cod ARES is supporting shelter operations in the wake of the nor’easter that dumped 10-20″ of snow and the weight of the snow coupled with winds of 40-60 MPH has resulted in many power outages, some of which, may last through the overnight hours. Cape Cod ARES District Emergency Coordinator and Cape Cod Red Cross Communications Officer, Frank O’Laughlin, WQ1O, has two Amateurs assisting him with shelter planning and limited communications support.Frank reports that a handful of shelters are open and a couple of those shelters are sheltering people. Its not clear when power will be restored to the hardest hit areas of Cape Cod but it is feared it could last through the overnight hours. Frank has placed Cape Cod ARES on stand-by and is using a small cadre of operators to help with shelter planning and limited communications assistance. Frank reports that the communications infrastructure remains in tact but had shelters needed to be opened during the storm, communications would have been a more significant issue.
SKYWARN was active much of the day Sunday starting in the North Shore of Massachusetts and then spreading across much of the rest of Eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island Sunday Night. Support was done from the SEMARA (Southeast Massachusetts Amateur Radio Association) Club in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts to obtain snowfall and wind/snow damage reports along with coastal flooding reports to Southern New England under call-sign W1AEC. SKYWARN remained active through the night to monitor the extent of infrastructure damage to the region. More damage was reported but luckily temperatures dropped and prevented an even more serious issue with power outages as the lower temperatures made the snow lighter versus the heavier wet snow that fell during Sunday Night. Some areas had power outages for a few hours while other areas, particularly on Cape Cod, have pockets of cities and towns that still do not have power.
At this time, Frank does not anticipate any assistance needed from ARES groups outside of Cape Cod and he will keep the ARES staff appraised the situation. Our thoughts and prayers are with the residents of Cape Cod and the small number of Hams supporting the Red Cross as we hope power gets restored as soon as possible.
My staff and I would like to deeply thank everyone again for your time and effort in support of the DNC limited mobilization operations last week. It was a spectacularly successful undertaking.
We would also like to extend a special thank you to your families for their support to you during the week.
We hope to publish the activity report this week, and the various after action reports later this month. Many of our leadership are taking well deserved and delayed vacations.
EMa ARES will begin a limited mobilization starting next Sunday, July 25th. Many of the germane parts of the Operations Plan (OpPlan) appear in the left column under the heading “DNC OPERATIONS”.
This is the daily update for Friday, July 23rd, on our plans to assist participating agencies with the DNC. News items will appear in this column, while permanent material or changes will be posted in the left hand column under the heading “DNC OPERATIONS”.
Please note that the frequency plan for our mobilization will not appear on this website, but will be passed to players under separate cover.
Amateur Radio Operators outside the ARRL Eastern Massachusetts section should first contact their ARES Section Emergency Coordinator for permission to mobilize, as no “self mobilized” hams will be accepted, and will be turned away. Their response to you will depend on whether we have asked for assistance from outside our section, based on how much support we receive from inside the Eastern Massachusetts section.
And now the news…..
1. The Red Cross Rapid Action Team (RAT) met last night to finalize plans before the DNC begins next week. Rob, KD1CY, presented the ARES brief. In attendance were SEC, Mike, W1MPN, and CCARES DEC, Frank, WQ1O. It was also announced that All personnel must have government picture ID’s (preferably two) each time they enter ANY client facility next week.
2. Jim, N1IV, ARRL Public Information Coordinator for the Eastern Mass Section, has appointed Bill, KA1MOM, to provide “PR” assistance with the DNC Activities next week. “With your Boston Media contacts and previous experience up there, we feel that you are the best person to handle this task,” Jim stated in an email overnight. He went on to add that “This is, on a grand scale, the best PR opportunity that we have had in the Eastern Mass Section, that I can remember.” SEC, Mike, W1MPN, said that Bill’s primary job will be to keep all ARES volunteers (and our entire community through the League) informed on a daily basis, of our activities supporting the DNC event.
3. SM, Phil, K9HI, and SEC, Mike, W1MPN, met yesterday at the ARRL Headquarters in Newington, CT, with Field and Educational Services Manager Rosalie White, K1STO, and ARRL Public Service Specialist Steve Ewald, WV1X, and briefed them on our preparations for the DNC.
4. Bill, N1VUX, will be providing ducting reports in support of our limited mobilization (please see latest report in this column)
5. Players can expect the final plan by tomorrow night. Starting Monday, the plan will be updated on a daily basis using the Incident Action Plan (IAP) format.
All ARES personnel must have government picture ID’s (preferably two) each time they enter ANY client facility next week. If you are turned away for any reason, COMPLY IMMEDIATELY, and contact Mark, KB1EKN directly or through the Bridgewater ICP on the BARC or Walpole Repeaters.
Hello to all…..