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The ARES E-Letter

August 16, 2017
Editor: Rick Palm, K1CE


Contact Your Senators Right Now for Passage of the Amateur Radio Parity Act!

The Amateur Radio Parity Act holds special significance for us in the ARES
community who prepare our portable, mobile and home stations for
emergency/disaster response communications for the safety, health and welfare
of our families, friends and neighbors, community and partner agencies. We
can't do it without good antennas!

The Amateur Radio Parity Act was passed unanimously by the House of
Representatives in January as H.R. 555. It provides a mutually satisfactory
compromise reached between the American Radio Relay League (ARRL, the national
association for Amateur Radio) and the Community Associations Institute (CAI,
which represents home owners associations). The Senate Bill, S. 1534, allows
for effective outdoor Amateur Radio antennas for public service and emergency
communications while protecting the prerogative of community associations.

Please take action and urge your Senators to pass S. 1534. I did, this week!
The ARRL has set up a special web utility that makes contacting your senators
as easy as possible; it took me only one minute to process and send my letters
to my senators. Click here to do it!

See also ARRL Amateur Radio Parity Act FAQs (8/9/17)

____________________________________________________________________________


In This Issue:

 *  Contact Your Senators Right Now for Passage of the Amateur Radio Parity
    Act!
 *  Get with the SET: ARRL Simulated Emergency Test (SET) Fall Classic Just
    Ahead
 *  Santa Barbara Amateurs Support Endurance Run in Los Padres National
    Forest
 *  Tennessee ARES Group Mentioned in Mayoral Address
 *  San Diego Winlink (RMS Express) Weekly Drill Starts Eighth Year

____________________________________________________________________________


ARES Briefs, Links

Click here for Monthly ARES Reports from ARRL HQ. (Most recent report is for
June 2017). Please check to ensure that your Section is represented in the
monthly reports -- your Section's data is of critical importance to the
League's efforts for spectrum defense.

Emergency Management Magazine published a very favorable article on Amateur
Radio. Check it out here. -- Thanks, Ted Luebbers, K1AYZ

IARU Region 2 Area G Announces Emergency Communications Exercise (8/9/17)

Hurricane Watch Net Activating for Tropical Cyclone Franklin (8/9/17)

Radio Amateurs in Atlantic Canada Go on Standby During Telephone Outage
(8/9/17)

Oklahoma Radio Amateurs to Participate in FEMA Exercise (8/2/17)

Seattle Radio Amateurs to Take Part in "Hubs and Spokes" Earthquake Scenario
Drill (7/28/17)

____________________________________________________________________________


ARES LAX: Plane Crash Drill Turns to Major Fire Response

ARES(R) Los Angeles (ARES LAX) Northwest District operators shifted from a
plane crash mass casualty drill to a real major fire response in a single day
recently. On Saturday, July 8, with record 108-degree heat the ARRL Los Angeles
 Section's ARES Northwest District Emergency Coordinator Roozy Moabery, W1EH,
didn't know that a real emergency would come just six hours after his ARES
members finished a full-scale, all-morning multiple-hospital mass casualty
drill.

The planned mass casualty drill involved numerous hospitals and first responder
 agencies following the scenario of a fully-loaded private jet crashing at a
busy freeway junction in the Encino area one minute after take-off from nearby
Van Nuys Airport. ARES LAX-Northwest members deployed to their assigned
hospitals by 7:00 AM for the drill to handle back-up communication on hospital
utilization and bed availability. Moabery reported this was also an excellent
case of ARES interfacing with other disaster-focused Amateur Radio
organizations.

But after a few hours of rest later in the day the ARES LAX-Northwest's real
emergency came from a 6:37 PM explosion and fire at a City of Los Angeles
Department of Water and Power 230,000-volt receiving station in the San
Fernando Valley's Northridge area. While firefighters fought flames, the
receiving station's electric flow was shut leaving 147,000 homes and businesses
 without AC mains power for up to 11 hours in the searing evening and overnight
 heat.

Five hospitals ARES LAX-Northwest serves-- including major trauma center
Northridge Hospital Medical Center--switched to emergency backup power. ARES
LAX-Northwest quickly established a net and Moabery immediately deployed to the
 409-bed Northridge Hospital, remaining there until 5:55 AM Sunday morning.
Assistant DEC Marty Woll, N6VI, served as net control while Assistant DEC Dean
Cuadra, WA6P, and Emergency Coordinator David Goldenberg, W0DHG, kept in
contact with other hospitals to determine their operational status.

Although ARES only physically deployed to Northridge Hospital, other ARES
members were on standby throughout the incident. The reduced electric power
available at Northridge Hospital combined with the extreme hot weather resulted
 in numerous patients being relocated to unaffected hospitals.

Moabery gave a full presentation on lessons learned from the July 8-9 drill and
 actual emergency at his August ARES LAX-Northwest monthly meeting. First, you
can never have enough HT batteries. Some ARES members were recharging their
depleted batteries following the morning hospital drill when the early evening
power outage occurred. Second, the hospital drill proved another reminder that
repeaters cannot always be relied upon--having a simplex back-up plan is
essential and ARES LAX-Northwest had one. Third, on such an extremely hot day
and back-up power unable to work hospital air-conditioning systems or kitchens
ARES members need to be prepared for such operating conditions--bring your own
water and food. Finally, ARES LAX-Northwest learned that hospitals can take up
to 24 hours to fully recover from a lengthy power outage because of
re-sterilization procedures and ensuring critical medicine and tissue storage
areas maintained proper refrigeration. -- ARRL Los Angeles Section Manager
Diana Feinberg, AI6DF

____________________________________________________________________________


Get with the SET: ARRL Simulated Emergency Test (SET) Fall Classic Just Ahead

The main weekend for the 2017 ARRL Simulated Emergency Test (SET) is just a bit
 more than a month away -- Saturday and Sunday, October 7 and 8. The primary
League-sponsored national emergency exercise is designed to assess the skills
and preparedness of ARES and other organizations involved with
emergency/disaster response.

"Every local ARES team and/or ARRL Section will come up with their own
scenarios and work with served agencies and partner organizations during the
SET," ARRL Field Organization Team Supervisor Steve Ewald, WV1X, said, noting
that not all SETs will take place on October 7 and 8.

"SETs can be scheduled at the local and Section levels and conducted throughout
 the fall season to help maximize participation," he said, "and ARRL Field
Organization leaders have the option of conducting their SETs on another
weekend, if October 7 and 8 are not convenient."

ARRL Field Organization Leaders -- Section Managers, Section Emergency
Coordinators, Section Traffic Managers, District Emergency Coordinators,
Emergency Coordinators, and all of their Assistants and Net Managers -- are
among those tasked with developing plans and scenarios for this year's SET,
Ewald explained.

"The SET invites all radio amateurs to become aware of emergency preparedness
and available training," Ewald said. "ARES, Radio Amateur Civil Emergency
Service (RACES), National Traffic System(TM), SKYWARN, Community Emergency
Response Team (CERT), Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN) and
other allied groups and public service-oriented radio amateurs are encouraged
to participate."

The object of the annual nationwide exercise is to test training and skills and
 to try out new methods. "It's a time to work with partner organizations and
served agencies to get to know them better and to determine their needs before
an emergency or disaster strikes," Ewald said. "Knowing whom to contact within
partner groups with the planned procedures will help everyone to accomplish
their goals and succeed in their missions."

Over the decades, ARRL has established strong working relationships with such
organizations and agencies as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA),
the American Red Cross, The Salvation Army, the National Weather Service, the
National Communications System, the Association of Public-Safety Communications
 Officials- International (APCO-International), Citizen Corps, National
Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD), REACT International, the
Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE), the US Power Squadron, and the Boy Scouts
 of America.

"Getting to know these organizations at the local, section, and state levels
and how to work together for effective emergency and disaster response service
is important," Ewald said. "The annual Simulated Emergency Test provides the
chance, and you and the radio amateurs of your community help make it happen."

To get involved, contact your local ARRL Emergency Coordinator or Net Manager.
See the ARRL Sections web pages or your ARRL Section Manager (see page 16 of
QST for contact information).

____________________________________________________________________________


Santa Barbara Amateurs Support Endurance Run in Los Padres National Forest

Over the weekend of July 14-16, fifteen ARRL Santa Barbara Section hams
operated from 10 remote Aid Stations in support of the Santa Barbara Endurance
Run in the Los Padres National Forest above Santa Barbara, California. The
Santa Barbara Endurance Run is a 100K Ultra run combined simultaneously with a
Mountain Marathon and Heavy Half-Marathon (for those not challenged enough
running on flat ground).

118 runners registered for the 100K, with 39 finishing (12:31 top finishing
time); 48 registered for the Mountain Marathon, with 29 finishing; and 68 for
the Heavy Half-Marathon, with 34 finishing. This is a tough run.

Concerns, as always, when operating in remote areas, are reliable
communications when cell phone coverage is marginal to non-existent. The
Amateur Radio operators' mission was to advise when runners were reported in
distress -- exhausted or dehydrated. The operators were able to dispatch Trail
Sweep motorcycle riders to locate and escort runners to a vehicle or aid
station where they were rehydrated, and either returned to or retired from the
race and got a ride to the finish area. Radio communication support was
provided primarily through the Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club (K6TZ) Rover
portable repeater operating on the Santa Ynez Ridge above Santa Barbara. Backup
 communications were provided through the W6YJO and WB6OBB repeaters, also on
the Santa Ynez Ridge.

There are always lessons learned: In this year's race event, several late
changes to the course were made, primarily due to trail and road damage from
winter storms. With the course changes and accompanying Aid Station location
changes, radio coverage between the Aid Stations and the Net Control Station
can become unpredictable. Relay operations and alternate simplex channels
became the order of the day.

While supporting the Ultra, the amateurs were also monitoring the K6TZ primary
repeater on 146.790 MHz for status reports on the Whittier Fire, approximately
10 miles away near SR 154 and Lake Cachuma, which eventually grew to over 18
thousand acres with more than 3000 being evacuated (and also threatening both
the W6YJO and WB6OBB repeaters). Thanks went to the Santa Barbara Amateur Radio
 Club for the repeater support for this operation. - Stewart Stone, KG6BOV,
Oxnard, California

____________________________________________________________________________


Tennessee ARES Group Mentioned in Mayoral Address

On Wednesday, July 23, ARES members represented the Williamson County,
Tennessee, ARES (WCARES) at the Mayor's Annual State of the County address.
This year's address was aimed at voluntarism in Williamson county. The ARES
members set up a booth at the entrance of the convention center and displayed
drop-kits and handed out ARRL literature. They were approached by several
attendees who showed an interest in Amateur Radio and wanted to know what ARES
does. During the Mayor's address, he spoke about WCARES and had a slide in his
power point presentation showing WCARES in action. This was a great opportunity
 for WCARES and Amateur Radio. - Jeff Standifer, WB5WAJ, Franklin, Tennessee

____________________________________________________________________________


San Diego Winlink (RMS Express) Weekly Drill Starts Eighth Year

Recently, the pioneering San Diego Winlink group began its eighth year of its
weekly drill program. Ed Sack, W3NRG, said "I am pleased to note that in the
period since we began, we have missed only one week on the drill exchange."
And, "if my arithmetic is correct, that indicates we have conducted over 360
drills during the period. The number of drill participants has remained fairly
constant over the seven year period the drill has been in existence." The
number of addressees has been between 20 and 25 with approximately half of
those having been active during the entire period and the other half being
those who join, practice for a while and then are replaced by new participants.
 The weekly response rate runs from a low of 55% to a high of 90% with 75%
being a fairly good overall average. During the life of the drill, there have
been many upgrades to the Winlink (RMS Express) program. Of particular note,
the idea of standard templates was introduced several years ago and the drill
message today is sent out on the latest Winlink IC-213 template which, of
course, can be accessed by those who use templates, as well as those who do
not. Winlink has become the "program of choice" for emergency/disaster response
 work in many corners of the nation and the world. "We believe that having a
trained and prepared cadre of Winlink emergency communicators in the San
Diego/Northern Baja region provides a very powerful tool for ARES and other
organizations to utilize should a serious emergency/disaster occur in this
region. - Thanks, Ed Sack, W3NRG

_________


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____________________________________________________________________________


The ARES E-Letter is published on the third Wednesday of each month. ARRL
members may subscribe at no cost or unsubscribe by editing their Member Data
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Copyright (C) 2017 American Radio Relay League, Incorporated. Use and
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