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The ARES E-Letter

February 15, 2017
Editor: Rick Palm, K1CE

In This Issue:

 *  2016 ARES Annual Report
 *  Orlando Hamcation(R) ARRL/ARES Forum
 *  Hurricane Matthew Follow-Up with Volusia County (Florida) Emergency
    Coordinator
 *  Excellence in Training: Seventh Annual New Hampshire ARES Academy To Be
    Held April 1
 *  ARES and RACES in New Hampshire: Seamless Integration and Cooperation
 *  DIY : Packet in a Bucket
 *  Dynamic New ARES Group Forms with New Hams to Support It; Elmer Day in
    Nebraska


ARES(R) Briefs, Links

The ARRL Board of Directors, the League's policymakers, adopted five
legislative objectives for the US Congress, at its Annual Meeting last month.
Some are of special interest to the ARES community. The first objective is to
seek early congressional passage of the Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2017, H.R.
555 and of any Senate companion bill that might be introduced. H.R. 555 cleared
the House on January 23. The implications for emergency and disaster response
operators, especially in neighborhood and community-based organizations such as
CERT and ARES, are profound in terms of being able to enhance their programs
and better serving their constituencies.

Also, the League will seek recognition of the unique resources, capabilities,
and expertise of the Amateur Radio Service in any legislation addressing
communication issues related to emergencies, disasters, or national security.
More on ARRL legislative objectives here.

FEMA Region X Reports Another Successful HF Interoperability Exercise
(1/20/17); Ohio ARES Adds 6 Meters to its VHF Simplex Contest (1/13/17)



2016 ARES Annual Report

Recently ARRL Field Services staff have made a concerted effort to improve
reporting within the ARES program. The main objective was to use information,
submitted from ARRL Section Emergency Coordinators (which is derived from
monthly reports by Emergency Coordinators and District Emergency Coordinators)
to generate a basic report showing the value that ARES provides to our
communities, states and the nation through collaboration with partners at all
levels. In early 2016, the first basic report on the status of ARES was
released (see ARES in 2015, in the January, 2016, ARES E-Letter). The 2016 ARES
Annual Report is now available. The report features basic data drawn from SEC
reports, a breakdown of ARES figures by state and FEMA region, and a special
challenge for 2017.

In addition to the annual ARES report, ARRL Field Services staff will also be
producing their own monthly report, to be published in the ARES E-Letter,
showing monthly data for ARES, as well as information about ARRL HQ emergency
preparedness and field service staff activities. Sharing information about what
ARES provides at all levels is critical to our work overall, as hard numbers
provide better detail about our work. We all need to pitch-in to ensure that
our contributions are counted, and here at HQ we will be sure to do our part.

The annual report and monthly reports may be found online.

Mike Corey, KI1U, ARRL Emergency Preparedness Manager



Orlando Hamcation(R) ARRL/ARES Forum

The Orlando Hamcation was packed this past weekend, reflecting the overall
growth and health of the amateur service community in the country. The weather
was perfect for the mammoth outdoor flea market, and the big tents were crowded
with exhibitors and enthusiastic hams toting bulging plastic bags of goodies.
There were many luminaries in attendance: ARRL CEO Tom Gallagher, NY2RF, and
QCWA President Ken Oelke, VE6AFO, other notables such as Bob Heil, K9EID,
Carole Perry, WB2MGP, and Gordon West, WB6NOA, and ARRL legends including
longtime Southeastern Division Director Frank Butler, W4RH, who at 92, drove
all the way from the western end of the Florida panhandle to enjoy the show.

The forums were also standing room only. The ARRL Section/Division Forum was
held on Saturday morning, with audience members overflowing to the outside of
the tent entrance. ARRL Southeastern Division Director Greg Sarratt, W4OZK, and
ARRL Northern Florida Section Manager Steve Szabo, WB4OMM, summarized Division
and Section activity respectively, with ARRL CEO Tom Gallagher, NY2RF,
discussing ARRL HQ plans and goals. Szabo introduced other League officials
including Southeastern Division Vice Director Joe Tiritilli, N4ZUW; Southern
Florida Section Manager Jeff Beals, WA4AW; West Central Florida Section Manager
Darrell Davis, KT4WX; and Alabama Section Manager Jvann Martin, W4JVM. Many
ARES members, SECs, DECs and ECs were also present and introduced, preceding
the lively discourse.

While discussion focused on how to gain more interest and attention of younger
people and hams, there was also discussion of Hurricane Matthew responses,
fresh from the monster storm that attacked the region last Fall. After action
stories and lessons learned were discussed. Comments from the audience ran the
gamut of interests, but the one comment that struck me the most came from a
member of the Lakeland Amateur Radio Club who said that the club had faced
declining attendance at club meetings and membership until they eliminated the
business portions of the meetings in favor of more hands-on, show and tell
demonstrations of equipment, modes and antennas, which turned into big hits.
Membership and attendance soared from a modest 33 members to over one hundred.
That seemed to me a magic bullet that could spur memberships and meetings
attendance for all clubs and ARES groups.

The forum was all positive; there was no negative discussion, nor politics. I
enjoyed the forum very much, hosted by the always animated, enthusiastic Steve
Szabo, WB4OMM, who did a masterful job as MC. Put the 2018 Orlando Hamcation on
your agenda for next year. -- K1CE



Hurricane Matthew Follow-Up with Volusia County (Florida) Emergency Coordinator

I recently sat down for coffee with Karl Martin, KG4HBN, Volusia county,
Florida, ARES Emergency Coordinator to follow-up on issues identified in the
after-action report he filed on his ARES group's response to the massive
Hurricane Matthew hit on the county last Fall. Martin did an excellent job of
identifying lessons learned and action items to work on for future incident
responses. A few issues were of universal interest to ARES groups across the
country and struck me as especially salient: First, he indicated "there needs
to be more advance consultation, cooperation and coordination with other
volunteer organizations such as area Amateur Radio clubs, CERT organizations,
and active church groups for parsing of the limited number of volunteer
operators. Martin noted that many ARES volunteers are also members of these
other groups who ended up working for them instead of ARES with the consequence
that demand for operators outstripped supply for ARES.

Secondly, badging/identification must be provided to volunteer communicators
for access to sensitive locations such as shelters, and recognition by
officials there. Some ARES operators had difficulty getting access to some
shelters and in one case, volunteers were asked to leave.

Thirdly, there were no coax nor antennas found or marked at some facilities.
Having antennas and coax runs pre-placed, working and marked would have made
getting communication systems up and running more quickly and reliably.

In our chat, Martin said he had already followed up on the first issue by
editing the Volusia ARES (VARES) registration page to include fields to
identify the registrant's availability for ARES deployment as follows: "Will
VARES be the only group you will volunteer for during an emergency? Do you have
any other obligations? (This includes work obligations). Can you deploy?
Example: Shelters or field location."

On the second issue, Martin told me that it had been a struggle to gain
appropriate credentials from the county Sheriff's office, as the Sheriff's
policy is to limit such badging to the absolute minimum necessary. The office
has been tight-fisted to this point. Accordingly, it was at times difficult to
gain entry to area shelters (schools are used as shelters in the county)
without official badges. This problem carries over into the next issue
discussed, that is, the absence of, or presence of unmarked or non-working coax
and antennas in shelters.The county's schools serve as shelters during disaster
situations, and are turned over to the Red Cross for management during such
times. Normally, the schools are under the jurisdiction of the county school
board. It has been difficult to gain access to the schools during times of
peace, as budget limitations result in no school staff available to supervise
the ARES operators after school hours for antenna and coax work. And like the
Red Cross sometimes, it's difficult to gain access to facilities and officials
without official credentials from the Sheriff's office. More work will need to
be done to resolve these issues.

And lastly, ambient and RF noise in the EOC made for a challenging
communications environment at times. I chatted briefly with Martin about these
issues. A reader of Martin's after action report wrote a letter on these
issues, which was published in last month's ARES E-Letter.

I found Karl Martin, KG4HBN, to be an enthusiastic, realistic, intelligent, and
articulate Emergency Coordinator and I came away from our chat feeling that our
county ARES program was in good hands and had a bright future. That's
important, considering that Volusia County is more than a potential ground zero
for major disaster situations, as evidenced by last Fall's visit from Hurricane
Matthew. - K1CE



Excellence in Training: Seventh Annual New Hampshire ARES Academy To Be Held
April 1

The ARRL New Hampshire Section has long been one of the most active in the
country, and has served as a model for public service communication protocols
and development. The section's annual NH-ARES Academy is no exception,
continuing that tradition of excellence; it's been effective in recruiting and
training new as well as veteran public event, emergency and disaster
communications operators for many years. This year, the training program will
be held at the New Hampshire State Fire Academy in the state's capitol of
Concord, on April 1. The program is divided into blocks of
training subjects critical to the development of ARES operators' skill sets.

The program will lead off with a presentation on Net Control functioning and
how to work efficiently in a net environment, taught by Assistant Section
Traffic Manager John Gotthartd, K1UAF, followed by ARES 101, an introduction to
the New Hampshire ARES program for new members, taught by Section Emergency
Coordinator Wayne Santos, N1CKM. Next, a new section for this year entitled
Signals Intelligence (SIGINT), taught by Dave Colter, WA1ZCN, the section's
Assistant EC for Training, introduces the concept and protocols for gathering
disaster field intelligence for the state's department of Homeland Security and
Emergency Management (HSEM) by monitoring other radio services.

Message formatting, seemingly always in a state of flux within the ICS
framework, is a function that is at the core of the ARES mission, and will be
another topic presented, by ARRL New Hampshire Section Manager and veteran
traffic handler Pete Stohrer, K1PJS.

Hospital Support is another topic to be presented; New Hampshire's ARES program
provides support to all of the state's hospitals. Operating plans and new
protocols will be discussed by Merle Weber, KB1RJD, and the Hospital Amateur
Radio Program (HARP) team. From the HARP operating manual, "the purpose of the
[manual] is to provide guidelines, specific instructions, and reference
information necessary to connect, configure, and operate a HARP Amateur Radio
station in support of backup emergency communications at New Hampshire
hospitals during readiness practice drills and actual emergencies, using analog
and digital hardware and software for message exchange."

A discussion of Go Kit Basics will be led by Alan Bradford, AE1H, from Southern
Grafton County ARES, for new members and those needing to take a fresh look at
their go kit.

The critical importance of the ARES Mutual Assistance Team (ARESMAT)
protocol/concept was brought to the floor once again during Hurricane Matthew
when demand for disaster response communicators outstripped the supply of ARES
operators in many states. The academy's Introduction to ARESMAT will describe
how the program works to supply operators from outside the affected areas in a
system of mutual aid agreements, how to best use ARESMAT resources, and for the
individual ARESMAT-deployed operator: what to expect, and how to prepare for
deployment. This course will be presented by Colter.

For newcomers to HF operation in the context of emergency and disaster response
communications, a course entitled HF for Emcomm, will discuss HF antennas and
equipment, temporary station setups, and operating in the field, taught by
Stohrer. An all new workshop course for students getting started with the NBEMS
digital messaging system will be presented by George Blakeslee, N1GB.

A special course on WebEOC Training will be restricted to ARES members who are
regularly assigned to a municipal EOC, and recommended by their Emergency
Coordinators. The course will be taught by a member of the state's HSEM staff.
Presentations/courses on Winlink Express and the Winlink 2000 world-wide radio
email system and an APRS technical workshop will wind up the academy's
curriculum. For more information and registration, contact Dave Colter, WA1ZCN,
Assistant SEC for Training, ARRL New Hampshire Section.



ARES and RACES in New Hampshire: Seamless Integration and Cooperation

At the state level in New Hampshire, ARES and RACES are basically the same
thing. The state's Homeland Security and Emergency Management (NH HSEM) does
not maintain a standing RACES program, and uses NH-ARES to meet its backup
communication needs. In the event that circumstances require operation under
RACES rules, the plan is to mass-enroll as many NH-ARES operators as are needed
and volunteer at that time.

The reason for this approach is that under state law, the state must provide
Worker's Compensation Insurance coverage for all official volunteers. While
this was enacted to cover mountain search and rescue volunteers, it includes
all volunteers, regardless of role or agency. NH HSEM has no budget for this at
present.

Local municipal emergency management agencies may choose to enroll local hams
to be their RACES operators, and in these cases, NH ARES leaders strongly
recommend that these volunteers be drawn from the local ARES organizations and
that dual ARES/RACES membership be maintained. The goal of this arrangement is
to help head off any divisiveness between ARES and the municipal emergency
management agencies' RACES programs, thus ensuring full interoperability. --
ARRL New Hampshire Section News


RACES -- What is It?

RACES, the radio amateur civil emergency service, is expressed in Part 97 of
the FCC rules, and is defined as "a radio service using amateur stations for
civil defense communications during periods of local, regional or national
civil emergencies." RACES is a government program, and ARES is an ARRL program.
From an ARRL website ARES/RACES FAQ: "ARES is activated before, during and
after an emergency. Generally, ARES handles all emergency messages, including
those between government emergency management officials. RACES, on the other
hand, almost never starts before an emergency and is active only during the
emergency and during the immediate aftermath if government emergency management
offices need communications support. RACES is normally shut down shortly after
the emergency has cleared." Check out the FAQ for more on the distinction
between ARES and RACES, and the importance of maintaining membership,
cooperation and coordination in and between these entities.



DIY: Packet in a Bucket

As an ARES operator I frequently set up in the field taking along my trusted
to-go box. Most recently it was put to use for the Trump/Clinton debate in Las
Vegas, Nevada, and the Vigilant Guard Communications Exercise, in the County
Mobile Communications unit. There, the mission was to provide voice and packet
relay should the MACC (Multi-Agency Command Center) be unable to make contact
with distant stations. After the Vigilant Guard Exercise, the local ARES
District EC requested we bring our to-go boxes to an ARES training session as a
show-and-tell for newer members to see what was possible. I needed a new one to
show, after my box was broken. I headed to the nearest home supply store to see
what was available for a replacement. Our ARES members have boxes that range
from the higher-priced 19 inch rack models, to tackle boxes and ammo boxes.
After checking out the plastic toolboxes as options, some with wheels, some
having pull-handles and stackable accessories, I decided to go with the utmost
in simple: The bucket!

I bought a food grade 5 gallon bucket, along with a screw-on top, purchased
separately. The top is purchased with the screw-on rim that must be pushed onto
the top of the bucket where it is held on by friction. Total cost for the three
items: $12.00.

Inside there are 2 shelves. The top shelf is wood. The bottom is steel. Prior
to cutting the wood and metal it was necessary to create cardboard templates.
These templates were placed inside the bucket at the same time to check for
measurements to ensure the packet radio modem/TNC (Kantronics KPC-3+) would fit
in the space on top of the wooden shelf while the radio was hung under it. The
metal shelf was sized to allow an on/off switch box to be placed under it while
allowing room for the power supply, radio and power distribution box on top.
The Powerpole distribution box is placed between the power supply and the
radio. The radio and TNC remain plugged into the distribution box. The red and
black Powerpole connectors between the radio and power supply were set so that
either the power supply or an alternate power source could be easily plugged
in. This provides the input to the power pole distribution box.

The components are held in place with 1 inch Velcro strips cut to each unit's
width. I placed the thin metal shelf under the power supply to mount it using
the original screws that hold the feet onto the supply. Measuring and accurate
drilling of 4 holes for the mounting screws made it an easy installation.
Quarter round wooden stock was used to conform the shelves to the shape of the
bucket. Shelves are screwed to the quarter round then inserted into the bucket
and secured to the bucket with screws from the outside. I used a flashlight
inside the bucket when screwing from the outside to create a shadow, so I
didn't miss the quarter round. The bucket will be complete once I add the
soundcard interface and weather proof the 6 screws on the outside.

The on/off lighted switch box under the power supply is connected between the
alternate power source and the powerpole distribution box. I used the lighted
switch to indicate power was coming into the switch. This allows me to know
when I've lost external power without having to dig my multi-meter out of my
toolbox.

Also inside the bucket I store a magnetic mount antenna, dual band handheld,
and the power cord to connect to an external source. I will be adding the West
Mountain NOMIC sound card interface in the bucket to use with an HF system for
sound card modes. It will mount on the side between the shelves.

The USB cable shown in the photo coming from the top shelf connects to the
computer. There is also an adapter cable to connect between the radio and the
antenna coax in the box, not shown.


Show Time

Upon arriving at the ARES training meeting and setting up my bucket packet
station at the operating position, it was pointed out that the bucket rim can
also serve as a place to hang microphones or handheld radios by their belt clip
around the lip of the bucket or on the wire portion of the handle.

Parts list: 5 gallon bucket; lid with screw in rim; quarter round stock (enough
to be able to cut 2 pieces for each shelf); quarter inch wood screws (enough do
to the job, I used 20); shelving material (wood, metal or something else you
find that works); water proofing for screws outside the bucket (I'll use
sneaker Goop); and, of course, the equipment you wish to use.


Postscript

Readers may wonder: why packet and not a sound card mode for our primary and/or
secondary digital mode? Answer: Three years ago, the ARES DEC for Clark County,
Nevada, W7HMV, asked me what I thought about packet for local digital message
handling. We tried it, and operators liked it. The packet system was so
successful a communication plan was created to cut down on the interference
caused by/to many stations on the air at the same time during communications
exercises.

The system was expanded: Through node hopping we can now link from Clark County
to Arizona, southern Utah, California, and northern Nevada. We currently only
have to use one digipeater for the Nevada-only system, which we hope to replace
in the future. (Nodes rather than digipeaters are used to increase throughput
speeds).

Packet is the digital mode used in the majority of hospitals in the county. The
hospital administrations have embraced this system and have their own ham
operators. If needed, we can supply ARES operators to supplement them.

Is packet slower than other modes? Yes, in some cases. Does it cover areas not
covered by faster digital modes? Yes. Is there a learning curve? Yes, however,
the mode is fairly easy to learn. Does it provide nearly error free transfer of
information? Yes.

Why VHF? First, VHF radios are already available with most hams. Secondly, the
cost of a TNC is lower than faster modems. Thirdly, the 2-meter band is a
universally common disaster response communications band.

The county emergency management agency has authorized our packet systems to be
co-located at public safety radio sites. The advantages are that these sites
have backup emergency power and are in secure locations. The sites are on
mountain tops (about 8000') allowing for more line of sight access to systems
in the surrounding states.

There are other packet messaging systems in the area. The Nevada Section
National Traffic System Digital Target station, KE7XO, provides a VHF packet
channel that creates an opportunity for local operators without HF capability
to enter messages into the NTS. Several Air Force MARS operators are set up
with amateur packet and are providing liaison services. All local ARES
exercises include Air Force MARS operators. Amateur and MARS operators working
together provide the only known digital messaging relay system that will work
in a disaster response scenario between Clark County and Carson City
departments of emergency management when the Internet and landline/cell systems
fail. Being flexible with various systems and modes makes operators more
valuable to ARES, RACES, NTS, NTS-Digital and served agencies. Nevada is
fortunate the different groups and agencies choose to work together. -- photos
and text by James A. Bassett, W1RO, Nevada Section Traffic Manager,
w1ro@arrl.net


Dynamic New ARES Group Forms with New Hams to Support It; Elmer Day in Nebraska

The Sioux City (Nebraska) area is unique--there are three states separated by
rivers just across from each other. There are three clubs in the area--two in
Iowa and one in South Dakota. Until last year, there has been little activity
on the Nebraska side.

All that changed when the Emergency Management Director of Dakota County,
Nebraska asked that the ARES program be rebuilt to support county emergency
communications needs. To fill the request, we needed more radio amateurs, so it
was decided to hold a Technician class as soon as possible. Several Emergency
Management and Health Department officials and others from as far as 75 miles
away registered for the class.

Thirty-one students started the classes, including the county sheriff and a
local police officer, held in the South Sioux City Law Enforcement Center
training room, with logistics support from the Emergency Management Director.
The net gain was 19 new Technician licensees with one passing both the
Technician and General class exams.


Elmer Day

Following up on the new hams' needs, an "Elmer Day" showcased a number of
stations set up by area hams to give our newbies and others the opportunity to
experience everything from kit building to HF to APRS to CW and much more. We
will also help them program their new radios, and otherwise get them on the air
and into our new ARES program.

Over the course of the past year, Dakota County ARES has become vitally active
and is receiving assistance in placing three repeaters in the county, with
plenty of hams to use them.

Most recently, 12 ARES members visited the National Weather Service office in
Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to learn NWS policies and procedures, especially
concerning SKYWARN, with our severe weather season looming. ARES will take
SKYWARN training soon.

Dakota County ARES held one classroom ARRL Emergency Communications Course last
fall, with 8 members who completed the program; we're planning another for
later this spring. We're also working on hosting the first in our region ARRL
(EC-016) Public Service and Emergency Communications Management classroom
course, as well. -- J.R. Reider, K0JWR, Dakota County, Nebraska District
Emergency Coordinator

________


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