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Lee County ARES® Responds to Hurricane Milton |
| Local Fort Myers, Florida, amateur radio operators provided storm shelter communications, October 10, 2024 — Lee County Amateur Radio Emergency Service (LeeARES) was activated to assist with auxiliary emergency communications for the Hurricane Milton response. The group’s leader is Fort Myers resident Rich Schnieders, KR4PI, who serves as Emergency Coordinator. When asked about deploying amateur radio operators to shelters, Schnieders responded, “This is what we train for year-round, to serve the community in times of disaster.” Schnieders said that the group works closely with Lee County Emergency Management and has an amateur radio station within the Emergency Operations Center (EOC). Schnieders added that “(h)aving amateur radio operators in the shelters and at the EOC allowed for round-the-clock contact with county officials, even if there was a loss of power or cell phone service.”
In all, 15 ARES® members were deployed to 10 shelters. Amateur radio operators also coordinated constant communications from home stations during the storm. ARES® in Lee County is also known as LeeARES Inc., a voluntary organization committed to providing emergency communications and communications support for events when requested by the Lee County Office of Emergency Management. LeeARES Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and is a tax-exempt entity in the United States dedicated to activities that serve the public interest and the common good.
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Amateur Radio in Oregon Helps Complete Weather-Delayed Aviation Exercise |
| By Steve Aberle, WA7PTM, Assistant Director, ARRL Northwestern Division
The ARES Letter for July 17, 2024, contained an article about amateur radio support for a full-scale exercise conducted by the Oregon Disaster Airlift Response Team (ODART, https://www.odart.org) in June. However, all the relief supplies in that airlift couldn’t be delivered as “one of the destination airfields on the northern Oregon coast couldn’t be reached safely because of weather.” The final flights were completed on September 21, with (the now customary) support from amateur radio in sending landing area weather reports and tracking takeoffs and landings via Winlink on HF.
ODART dispatched seven relief delivery flights from the Aurora State Airport to Karpen’s Airport, a grass strip near Astoria, collectively carrying 1,300 pounds of food for the local food bank. However, only six of those flights arrived, as ODART had planned a surprise exercise inject in which one of the aircraft didn’t show up as planned. Instead, it performed a pre-planned diversion to Willapa Harbor Airport and delivered 200 lbs. of food to the CERT group from the Shoalwater Bay Tribe.
One of the reasons for doing the “missing plane” inject was to see how long it would take participants at each airport to figure out the plane was overdue, and subsequently notify the Airboss so further action could be taken. The ham radio operators from Clatsop County AuxComm picked up on the overdue flight and escalated the situation per protocol.
An add-on to that inject was the deployment of a practice ELT (emergency locator transmitter) plus an aircraft “target” (both borrowed from the Civil Air Patrol), thus simulating a downed aircraft. This part of the exercise involved a helicopter from the USCG Astoria Air Station to search for the radio signal. It is important to note that EmComm support by amateur radio volunteers may involve communications using non-amateur radios. In this exercise, that meant using an aviation band radio (licensed to and under the supervision of the airport owner) to talk directly to a USCG helicopter. Once the ELT was located, the helo conducted a flyover of Karpen’s Airport to the delight of the ODART, ham radio, and food bank volunteers.
As was recently seen in the Carolinas in the wake of Hurricane Helene (https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2024/october/09/volunteer-airlift-in-the-carolinas), general aviation may play a vital role in immediate disaster assistance. Amateur radio communications can provide value to aviation organizations in preparing for and responding to those events.
In both EmComm and aviation, response efforts can, of course, be figured out ad hoc in real time, and some element of improvisation will always be needed, but it is much easier to plan and regularly practice roles and responsibilities ahead of time in order to avoid chaos and delays in times of need.
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| ODART pilot Dave Waggoner helps future hams/pilots position his Cessna 172 at Karpen’s Airport near Astoria, Oregon on September 21, 2024. [Photo courtesy Steve Aberle, WA7PTM] |
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Amateur Radio Operators + Teamwork = Success |
| By David Thomas, KM4NYI, ARRL Tennessee Section Manager
Kevin Duplantis, W4KEV, of Knoxville, Tennessee, operates many repeaters in the eastern part of the state. Among these is the 145.410 MHz repeater, located on Viking Mountain (4572 feet AMSL) in Greene County, and covers much of the area in North Carolina and Tennessee that was decimated during the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. It is RF-linked to three other repeaters to make a network connecting major cities including Knoxville, Nashville and Chattanooga in Tennessee, Asheville in North Carolina, and dozens of rural towns and communities scattered across the Great Smoky Mountains.
Power lines to the Viking Mountain repeater went down as Helene blew through, leaving the repeater on battery power. Not knowing how long it would be before commercial power was restored, the RF link was disconnected in order keep the repeater itself operating as long as possible. As it became clear power was liable to be off for an extended time, additional batteries were going to become necessary.
A conversation with Tennessee Section Emergency Coordinator Jim Snyder, AJ4NO, resulted in a call for help. West Tennessee Assistant SEC Steve Kellett, KF4SJU, arranged a donation of an entire pallet of batteries courtesy of Dale Sanders, WD4IFR, of Alpine Power Systems in Memphis. The question then was “how do we get three quarters of a ton of batteries from Memphis to upper East Tennessee, 500 miles away?”
ARRL Tennessee Section Manager David Thomas, KM4NYI, put out a request for help on the evening session of the 75-meter Tennessee Phone Net (the daily section traffic net). Morning Net Manager Sky McCracken, KO4DKI, of Jackson, saw this as an opportunity to assist. He traveled to Memphis and brought the batteries to Dickson, where Alex Cochran, KB4LX, hauled them to the office of commercial broadcasters Midwest Communications in Nashville. Through the courtesy of Midwest’s General Manager, Michael Brody, and engineer Jason Cooper, the batteries got to Knoxville, where Duplantis and others could use them. The pallet of batteries will be shared among repeater owners including Duplantis; Bryan Smith, AA4BS; the Andrew Johnson ARC, and Middle Tennessee Emergency Amateur Repeater System (MTEARS, a statewide network of linked repeaters).
The whole process is proof-positive that good things happen when amateur radio operators come together as a team. We appreciate those in the western part of the section for coming through for us as we attempt to serve those who are hurting in the Carolinas and upper East Tennessee.
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| By Al Wasielewski, WA2VJL
The Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is one of three vital departments of any city or town, along with the police and fire departments. The EOC staff is there to work alongside first responders to provide emergency communications and other priority assistance. It is also there to collect and disseminate emergency, health and welfare, and routine traffic. To mitigate the burden on EOC personnel, amateur radio operators are found in many EOCs as a recognized, vital resource. Radio amateurs provide their own equipment if needed, and work alongside EOC personnel.
Larger municipal, state, and county government EOCs are often fully-equipped with amateur radio equipment. However, smaller towns and cities may not have the budget to provide for this resource, and there may be few, if any, hams there. Having equipment, radios, and antennas on site ready for the next emergency all the time may not be feasible. There also may not be a room to permanently house a station.
San Benito is a small town in deep South Texas. In one form or another, I have been involved in emergency management — from volunteer ham to Emergency Management Coordinator, for 25 years. I retired and returned to the city in 2018. Much has changed since 1982 with different buildings and EOCs. Since my office is now in a building that was previously occupied by American Electric Power (AEP) and built to withstand a greater than Cat 5 hurricane, it was decided to utilize this building as the EOC. It is built and hardened to the point where cell phones barely work!
I approached the city manager and asked him if I could set up a station in my office. He was all for it. He advised that the city would purchase the antennas I needed and supply the manpower to install them. I had extra equipment that was collecting dust, so I decided to bring it to my office. AEP left four 70-foot poles with microwave antennas still mounted on them, with half-inch hardline running from the top to their communications room, about 50 feet from my office. The antenna on one was removed and a Diamond X700 antenna was installed. From the comm room to my office, I ran 400 coax cable. Another building-mounted antenna mast was used for mounting a Cushcraft R9 vertical. Again, hardline was used, but after rerouting, it went all the way to my office. All this required N-to-UHF fittings, and a dedicated ground of #4 wire was run from my office to the outside to two 8-foot copper-clad ground rods. A commercial bonding post left behind by AEP was repurposed to my office and all equipment was bonded to it. An Icom IC-765 transceiver and Palstar AT2K comprise the main station. For HF VARA Winlink, a Signalink USB is utilized.
For VHF/UHF, a Yaesu FTM-6000 was procured. For digital Winlink and VHF Vara FM, a Kenwood TM-281 and Masters Communications Interface are employed. All equipment is permanently set up and ready for use. I regularly check in to various nets for propagation and signal strength reports.
I hope this will inspire other individuals to help your local EOC. Get together with your fellow hams and clubs to help supplement and prepare your city or town for emergency communications capabilty. Clean out the shack and see what you don’t need – repurpose it: talk to your local emergency manager.
As a final note, the building has a 150kw Holt-Cat diesel generator to keep us on the air in a power failure. Plans are to convert the old police department repeater to amateur applications, and utilize the other poles. Special thanks to Dr. Dave Woolweaver, K5RAV, for setting up and maintaining the Winlink and Vara stations.
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Letters: On Signal Reports on Nets for Check-Ins |
| [Editor’s note: Last month’s issue floated a suggestion on having the net control station include a short signal report for each check-in to a net, imparting a crucial piece of information for net integrity and performance. Here are a few comments received].
“Thanks for your opinion piece in last month’s (September) ARES Letter. I’ve shared it with two net control stations in my local community, and am posting it in the local club newsletter, but have proposed a slightly different version for FM repeater ops: “Instead of a Q%, let’s make it Q5 through Q1 in steps of 20% perceived decrease each (example, Q3 = 60% full quieting) since I’m thinking that any greater distinction is beyond my ears, at least. We can explain this Q system during the preamble on the air until operators are used to it, and for any new person checking in as needed.
“Kudos also to a local ham, John Burton, KG9DK, who reports what he hears from other stations, using S9 through S-zero-but-readable, when he participates in a local FM simplex net. I sent him a copy of your piece with the comment that he has one of those great minds who think alike. — Noel Taylor, N9CJT, Emergency Coordinator, Bartholomew County, Indiana Section
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AIR FORCE MARS 76th Anniversary Special Event: November 5-11 |
| The Air Force Military Auxiliary Radio System (AFMARS) celebrates its service to United States military and civilian government organizations during November 2024. This will be the “Air Force MARS 76 Years” special event and will include communications on amateur HF bands (80-6 meters) in the General class license portion of the band and in the Technician license portion of 10 meters using SSB, CW and digital modes. Read more. Event details shortcut: https://tinyurl.com/AFMARS-76th
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Cybersecurity Awareness Training for CERT |
| Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training covers basic skills that are important to know in a disaster when emergency services are not available. Volunteers who participate in CERT training have a better understanding of potential threats to the community, along with actionable steps they can take to mitigate risk and improve outcomes.
To provide additional support to CERT volunteers and the important role they play in their communities, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) partnered with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to provide a list of cybersecurity awareness training courses CERT volunteers can take to improve their ability to prepare for and respond to cybersecurity threats. The courses are selfpaced and publicly available at no cost from the Federal Virtual Training Environment and the National Cybersecurity Preparedness Consortium (NCPC). Course topics range from cyber essentials and fundamentals of cyber risk management to cyber ethics and mobile device security. To access these courses, visit the Cybersecurity Awareness Training website at https://community.fema.gov/PreparednessCommunity/s/cert-trainings?language=en_US&tabset-82942=19a04.
Last month, FEMA hosted a webinar with CISA and NCPC officials to let participants know about these training courses and where to find them. “These handpicked and selfpaced courses will provide you with tools to recognize, prevent and mitigate cyberthreats and also support our response to future events,” said FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell.
Presenters discussed concepts from the courses and described how they give CERT volunteers knowledge, skills and uptodate practices to plan for and protect against cybersecurity threats in the communities they serve.
“As the threat environment is evolving, we want to make sure that CERT volunteers are prepared to assist their communities, local emergency management agencies, and other organizations in their community, whether it’s helping with the direct response to a cybersecurity attack or indirectly helping with the cascading impacts,” said ICPD Acting Director Amanda Smith. “We have worked with CISA and the NCPC to put together these lists of cybersecurity courses that already exist and are most relevant to CERT volunteers.” — from FEMA’s Preparedness Connect. (2024).
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| The Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES) consists of licensed amateurs who have voluntarily registered their qualifications and equipment with their local ARES leadership, for communications duty in the public service when disaster strikes. Every licensed amateur, regardless of membership in ARRL or any other local or national organization is eligible to apply for membership in ARES. Training may be required or desired to participate fully in ARES. Please inquire at the local level for specific information. Because ARES is an amateur radio program, only licensed radio amateurs are eligible for membership. The possession of emergency-powered equipment is desirable, but is not a requirement for membership.
How to Get Involved in ARES: Fill out the ARES Registration form and submit it to your local Emergency Coordinator.
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| ARES® is a program of ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio®. No other organization works harder than ARRL to promote and protect amateur radio! ARRL members enjoy many benefits and services including digital magazines, e-newsletters, online learning (learn.arrl.org), and technical support. Membership also supports programs for radio clubs, on-air contests, Logbook of The World®, ARRL Field Day, and the all-volunteer ARRL Field Organization.
Join ARRL or renew today! www.arrl.org/join
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| The ARRL Letter is published on the third Wednesday of each month. ARRL members may subscribe at no cost or unsubscribe by editing their Member Data Page at www.arrl.org/opt-in-out.
Copyright © 2024 American Radio Relay League, Incorporated. Use and distribution of this publication, or any portion thereof, is permitted for non-commercial or educational purposes, with attribution. All other purposes require written permission.
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