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Five ARRL Sections Collaborate to Support Exercise Communications for the USV-JSC -- On Saturday, June 8, ARES and ACS groups in the North Texas, Northern Florida, Orange, Oregon, and Western Washington Sections provided Winlink and DMR voice communications for the United States Volunteers - Joint Services Command (USV-JSC). Multiple exercise scenarios were in play simultaneously, all with a focus on assisting the National Tribal Emergency Management Council (NTEMC). Two of the Regional Commands prepared for “Reach Back” operations by conducting emergency management training. One Regional Command, a medical support unit, trained to receive the injured. One Regional Command conducted a simulated train derailment scenario with HAZMAT, firefighting, and mass casualty responses. A Brigade Coordination Team unloaded relief food supplies (some of which were destined for tribes living along the Oregon coast) as they arrived on general aviation aircraft. In all, 51 USV-JSC members received communications support from more than 20 radio amateurs. The USV-JSC National Commander, LTG John L. Natterstad, said “By participating in this exercise, the USV-JSC increased its ability to support the NTEMC in a natural disaster. The ham radio network established communications in the disaster area and to areas outside the disaster area. Communications makes it possible to coordinate the movement of supplies, medical support, and evacuation to areas where help is available. The ham radio support was vital to this exercise.” -- Steve Aberle, WA7PTM, Assistant Director, ARRL Northwestern Division The interior Alaska ARES group has incorporated as a 501(c)(3) organization, and is working on organizing and training. The group’s goal is to build a mobile EOC and find a partner in the local emergency operations center in Fairbanks. You can find additional information on the Alaska group’s efforts here. The group also has a Facebook page under the name of the Arctic Amateur Radio Emergency Service (AARES). -- Mike Heit, AD7VV, North Pole, Alaska Challenging Real-World Scenario in the “Carrington Event,” the EmComm Training Organization May Semi-Annual Drill -- In this year’s May Semi-Annual Drill, titled “Carrington Event,” our team with the EmComm Training Organization faced significant real-world challenges that tested the adaptability of our amateur radio operators and communication technologies. Originally designed to assess the impact of geomagnetic storms on high-frequency radio communications, the scenario quickly reflected actual solar activities that globally disrupted communications. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center reported an X-class solar flare, which severely hindered our ability to establish HF radio contact from Hawaii to the US mainland. It was only after dark, when the solar geomagnetic storm effects subsided, that successful message transmission was possible. This experience highlighted the immediate and disruptive impacts of solar events. -- Michael C. Miller, KH6ML, FEMA Disaster Emergency Communications News Clippings and Topics of Interest Vol. 14 Issue 10, May 16-31, 2024 FEMA Disaster Emergency Communications |
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| Northern California County’s ARES Group Leads Communications Functions in Medical Exercise |
Placer County (California) ARES® was asked to participate in the April 25, 2024 Medical Exercise in conjunction with the Local Emergency Medical Service Authority (LEMSA). Our role was to provide communications support with Northern California counties. There were several hospitals and the Medical Health Operational Area Coordination (MHOAC) entity, along with other State and Federal agencies involved. When talking to the medical exercise Incident Commander (IC), we discussed the types of traffic she would like passed and the information to be delivered. We determined that Winlink would be the best method of data transfer. Radio operators participating in the exercise would need to use a combination of HF and VHF frequencies to access Winlink radio message servers distributed over a wide geographic area. |
The exercise would follow a typical chain of command for the Incident Command System (ICS), with the Placer County ARES Emergency Coordinator (EC) Scott Read, KM6RFB, acting as the Communications Unit Leader (COML). The IC requested the Communications Unit provide a standard Communications Plan (ICS-205), Communications Log (ICS-309) noting all traffic passed, and Incident Activity Logs (ICS-214) for all members of the unit. This was the first time that Placer County ARES was asked to be the lead group handling all communications for an exercise, as well as the first time using Winlink as the primary digital communications mode. Placer County ARES arrived promptly at 0700 to begin setting up equipment and deploying radio gear for the 0900 start time. The primary Winlink station at the exercise was operated completely on emergency power by using a Honda 1000 W generator and battery backup. Ransomware Attack Scenario The exercise scenario was a ransomware attack of the medical system, with the length of the exercise to run from 0700-1300 hours. Participants included the Local Emergency Medical Service Authority, County Emergency Operations Center, Regional Health Officers, regional hospitals, Federal agencies (CISA), and additional state agencies (the Emergency Medical Services Authority and others). Placer County ARES deployed a large-screen TV as a second computer monitor to allow exercise participants to see the Winlink station in operation and act as a teaching aid during Winlink demonstrations. Placer County ARES passed 24 messages and received a similar volume of traffic from the participating agencies. The equipment used at the communications control station included an HP ProBook Laptop, an Alinco DR-135 radio, Repeater Builder RIM-Alinco sound card, an N9TAX antenna for voice operation, and a Diamond X50 antenna for the Winlink station. Throughout the day, the Emergency Management director and other agency personnel stopped by the Placer County ARES station to learn more about Winlink and experience how effective Winlink was at passing critical traffic. Several agencies inquired about building similar capabilities at their facilities. The exercise turned out to be a great public relations event for Placer County ARES. One of the keys to our success was our professional presentation in a central location during the exercise that generated excellent visibility for our team and interest from exercise participants. Placer County ARES was able to capitalize on this opportunity by delivering clear and concise demonstrations of our Winlink capabilities that helped generate a renewed interest in amateur radio as a professional-grade radiocommunications. -- Placer County ARES EC Scott Read, KM6RFB |
| Amateur Radio at the 2024 Multiple Sclerosis Society Twin Cities Walk, City Ride, and MS-150 |
Hams were invited to perform the “safety” role at the May 5 Twin Cities Walk (up to 3 miles, 2,800 participants -- the largest in the US) and at the May 11 Twin Cities Ride, a 400-person 14/35/45 mile urban/suburban bike ride. We also supported the MS-150 on June 8-9, a 2-day, 2,000 rider, 150-mile route from Duluth to the Twin Cities. For the City Walk we had three top ham SAG drivers and were established in a Minneapolis riverfront park area. The ICS-205 (Incident Radio Communications Plan) showed two FM repeaters and a simplex channel as well as APRS. Simplex was added years ago for the longer MS-150 event: the idea was SAGs are actually dispatched by the nearest aid station, so repeater radio traffic from 75 miles away would not be a distraction. We set up on a reverse slope in a valley by the medical tent. I brought a battery, 15 feet of TV mast and my Icom IC-2730 event radio, which should have been programmed the night before. I struggled with the “mute” feature in the long owner’s manual when we also decided the location kept us out of good handheld repeater coverage. A factory reset sorted out the radio. We had a new radio operator, Jen Zielinski, KF0MPK, who is a former EMT and 911 dispatcher. She calmly logged all radio traffic on an IC-214, and was unfazed by any amount of confusion. Soon a plastic bin of UHF business band radios appeared, and these were to be issued to our team. Right after our medic appeared, we got our first request -- a staff member needed non-emergency assistance in a nearby business parking lot. We sent a SAG and our newly arrived medic. As it turned out, in our haste, we did not collect the name, phone number, or exact location. The business had in fact two very large nearby parking lots. It took half an hour to locate the injured person. We mastered lost and found (good practice for missing persons) and the Event Director, who loved status reports, liked the concept I framed up for a ticketing system/dashboard and wanted pricing for a cloud-based instance of OSTicket, with which we have been experimenting. If you see references to “service desk” in the new CISA documents, this is that function. MS Bicycle Ride Ops For the MS Ride, Peter Corbett, KD8GBL, and I were assigned to an early rest/water stop. Again there were several ham-operated SAG wagons, local volunteer motorcycle support and van support drivers. Peter programmed his radio the night before and we had 15 feet of antenna mast and did fine. I was bragging about my 2023 AHA first aid/CPR training and staff asked if I could also help out in that capacity as this was an early stop. I concluded I would wear the yellow “safety” shirt and not the red “medical” one, as I was certainly not an off-duty ER physician. I had one “patient,” who needed a small adhesive bandage. This I put on gloves for and slid it across the table, unwrapped, to the person. We had two repeaters, simplex capability and no business band radios. The professional staff and non-ham volunteers were delighted by all of us using Zello also, which provided situational awareness. We sent our SAGs into an area near Minneapolis to sort out reports by phone of two down bikes. They talked to local police and recovered two bikes and learned that two participants were in fact transported. The de-confliction role is critical. MS-150 Operations For our MS-150, Route Safety is owned by a fascinating volunteer version of Unified Command. Chaired by the Staff Event Director, resource teams (with 40+) from three groups collaborate on keeping the two 75-mile stages safe. Hams operate the seven SAG vans and trailers, Net Control, have two first aid response SUVs and staff the aid station comms tables. Volunteer motorcycle and van escort groups patrol the route and are often first on scene. This model is vastly different than the classic AUXCOMM tasking familiar to many hams in government service. We are not in the Logistics Section; we are in Operations and participant facing. In addition to four ham repeaters, simplex and APRS, two Zello rooms are running -- one for internal logistics/staff/vendors, one for Route Safety. This models recent Best Practice for the Baltimore Key Bridge collapse, two HSIN rooms were open -- one for core command and one for the larger “whole community” response team. It has been a lovely summer out there. I much prefer to be helping people vs. standing by for possible radio message traffic in the EOC. -- Erik Westgard, NY9D |
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A few years ago we got into solar to power ham radio equipment. Eighteen V, 100 W panels (name plate maximum 5 A at 18 V) were available for $100, and we could power modest projects like remote packet radio nodes. These needed a deep-cycle battery and a semi-smart charge controller that would protect the battery from over charge and deep discharge. We have had good luck with two solar-powered AX.25 packet nodes up on our regional backbone, where a large 100 A sealed lead-acid battery, 100 W panel and 6 W Icom handheld (low standby power draw) provide packet rain or shine. A few of our surplus construction light tower trailers came with the diesel engines removed. These had several 100 W panels installed, along with some batteries. One of our friends bought a Progress Solar-brand solar light tower trailer. These have around 10 100 W panels, a series of large batteries (6-8), and LED lights. He says he gets 1000 W of solar production on these on a good day. Our radio trailer, the Dawg House, had one 100 W panel, a Group 31 marine deep-cycle battery and “smart” $12 charge controller. That can produce, best case, around 25 A at 12 V net a day. The key to solar/battery is to have more power produced and stored than actually used. The radio gear can draw power 24 hours a day, the panels only produce 5 hours a day. Clouds, rain, and snow (not cold) impair production, of course. We bought a Starlink Gen 3 “dishy” -- it draws 60 W (measured, average) at 115 V ac. We bought a nice semi-intelligent 500 W pure sine wave 12V dc >115 V ac inverter. This pushed our power needs well past what we can make. In home grid tied solar systems (I have one, 6 kW, 14 panels) the big 69 x 41 inch 360 W 40 V panels are used. The panels are wired in series mostly; the higher system voltage reduces wire sizes needed. For quite a while the panels and required charge controllers were pricey. Recently, a 40 V in, 12/24/48 V out 1000 W PWM solar controller was spotted on Amazon (JJM Brand) for $30 and found its way to my shopping cart. The solar panels come with three kinds of wiring. The cheap ones have USB jacks or little coaxial wall-wart 2.1 mm connectors. Those are for charging cell phones and are not waterproof. The next size up has two pin flat automotive/Motorola radio dc plugs. They look like the ones on trailers and have #16 wire. They are okay. The larger panels have the solar semi-standard MC4 connectors and around #10 wire. This is what you want. Price Points Lower The price of large solar panels has come way down. I got three surplus Panasonic 360 W 40 V panels from a solar installer. They were new, surplus at $140 each. They are big, with delicate glass fronts and not the strongest frames. They are designed to sit in a sturdy roof or ground mount frame. I found some $29 solar panel aluminum tilt mount adjustable brackets on Amazon. The solar panels are absolutely huge. One person can barely lift them. I made a wooden travel crate out of 1/4 inch plywood (nearly a full sheet) and pine 1 x 3s for each of mine. The name plate power per panel output is fascinating -- 11 A at 38 V. The charge controller sends this out at the auto sensed battery type and voltage. I tried it a bit in the driveway. I got 3.5 A at 38 V per panel so far. I ended up buying another Group 31 marine deep-cycle battery. The idea is to try and store the peak noon sun for use at night. The panels in the crates are big and heavy. I did buy more Amazon Basics canvas sandbags to hold them down. The plan was to be able to make and store enough solar power for the Starlink to be run 24 hours a day at a disaster/recovery scene. These panels would be wired in parallel as the controller has a 40 V maximum input at 1000 W. I get a lot of coaching to buy the newer Lithium type batteries. Our main deployments so far have been mid-winter. So, 4 degrees F. Lithium batteries tend to charge poorly (or not at all unless heated) below ~25 F. I did upgrade the trailer charge controller to the bigger, 40 V one. The big solar panels crates may travel in the truck. One thing to consider on batteries: HF rigs can draw a lot of current on transmit -- make sure the batteries and solar controllers if used for battery system output are rated for this. -- Erik Westgard, NY9D |
| K1CE for a Final: Think Field Day Safety First |
A new ARRL Field Day safety benefit offers bonus points. 7.3.18. Field Day Responsibilities Bonus (new for 2024): A 50-point bonus may be earned by having a person ensure that the Field Day site is free of hazards, and that safety precautions have been taken throughout the entire event, as well as providing a point of contact to the visiting public or served agency officials. A signed copy of the Field Day Responsibilities Check List must be included in the supporting documentation sent to ARRL HQ in order to claim this bonus. Available to Class B, C, D, E, or F entries. Also, consider Field Day Rule 7.3.6. Message Handling: 10 points for each formal message originated, relayed, or received and delivered during the Field Day period, up to a maximum of 100 points (10 messages). Copies of each message must be included with the Field Day report. The message to the ARRL SM or SEC under Rule 7.3.5. does not count toward the total of 10 for this bonus. Messages claimed under this bonus must be in either standard NTS or ICS-213 format (or have the equivalent content). All messages claimed for bonus points must leave or enter the Field Day operation via amateur radio RF. Available to all Classes. Have a happy and safe Field Day 2024! -- Rick, K1CE |
| K1CE for a Final: NTS and ARES – A Symbiotic and Historic Relationship Needed Again |
In the early 1950s, ARRL HQ staff made an effort to consolidate the Amateur Radio Emergency Corps (AREC, the forerunner of the modern ARES program that exists today), and the new National Traffic System (NTS) conceived in 1949 from the prior trunk lines relay system that had been employed which led to the creation of the American Radio Relay League in 1914. Under one ARRL-sponsored umbrella to be called the Amateur Radio Public Service Corps (ARPSC), the goals were to have the NTS operate daily, 365 days a year, handling routine radiogram traffic during normal times. The AREC would conduct occasional drills to develop operating acumen and maintain a high state of preparedness. Once a year, a simulated emergency test nationwide in which the AREC nets would become active at local levels to handle simulated emergency messages and the NTS would provide both local and long-distance record message handling in support. This required close cooperation between these two divisions of ARPSC. It's time to bring them back together. Let’s just say it: NTS traffic handlers were, and now with the ARRL’s major effort to renew and reinvigorate the system, are once again emerging as water carriers for emergency communication systems and programs like ARES. These systems and alliances allow for competent, accurate message handling across the country when needed. Professionalism and quality management are the hallmarks of the new system. The NTS 2.0 Committee is working hard to raise the standard of operation of NTS traffic handlers and the system that has enjoyed a long, symbiotic relationship with ARES (formerly AREC). I got my start in organized amateur radio public service in 1977 with the Boston area repeater net – the Heavy Hitters Traffic Net – and the Eastern Mass Rhode Island Phone Net. I’m looking forward to reengaging with the NTS; not only for the public service opportunity it offers, but also for the pure fun of it, as enjoyed over 40 years ago! -- K1CE |
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. |
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 The ARES Letter is free of charge to ARRL members. Subscribe: www.arrl.org/subscribe Find ARRL on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X (@arrl and @arrl_ares), and Threads ARRL Store: www.arrl.org/shop Support programs not funded by member dues at www.arrl.org/donate Contact us to advertise in this newsletter (space subject to availability): ads@arrl.org |
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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