XPost: rec.radio.info

********************************************
The ARES Letter

Published by the American Radio Relay League ********************************************

June 15, 2022

Editor: Rick Palm, K1CE <k1ce@arrl.net>

IN THIS ISSUE

- FEMA Regions 4 and 6 Winlink Exercise -- A Major Success for At Risk
Areas
- Slingshot Tips
- ARRL Section ARES News
- On EMP and Solar-Terrestrial Effects
- K1CE for a Final: My Rural County Preps for Hurricane Season; New EC
Presents at EOC Partners Meeting
- ARES® Resources
- ARRL Resources

ARES® Briefs, Links

ARES® FORUM at Dayton Hamvention® -- ARRL Director of Emergency
Management Josh Johnston, KE5MHV, reports that he moderated the ARES
forum at Hamvention this past month: "The forum was a panel discussion
on overcoming difficulties, successes, and best practices, with
panelists that included Emergency Coordinator, Public Information
Coordinator and newly elected Section Manager of Northern Florida Scott Roberts, KK4ECR; ARRL Central Division Vice Director Brent Walls, N9BA;
and Illinois Section Emergency Coordinator Robert Littler, W9DSR. The
forum was well attended and following the panel discussions, the panel
fielded a number of great questions. Some very good discussion was
shared among attendees and the positive feedback was welcome."

The Northwest's largest amateur radio convention, SEA-PAC <https://www.seapac.org/>, held its 40th anniversary show, June 3 - 5,
2022, and was the ARRL Northwestern Division Convention. The convention
kicked off on Friday with a series of all-day workshops. An Emergency Communications workshop covered topics from "what to take" during an
emergency, to disaster response experiences and stories. ARRL Director
of Emergency Management Josh Johnston, KE5MHV, participated in the
workshop, offering a perspective on the role of ARES in responding to
local disasters.

WX4NHC Annual Station Test 2022 Report: "After 2 years of our dedicated volunteer ham radio operators working remotely from home stations due
to Covid, we operated from inside the National Hurricane Center (NHC)
for our annual test event on May 28th. (All ops were fully vaccinated.)
This was our 42nd year of volunteer communication services for the
National Hurricane Center. The test event was successful as all
facility radios and antennas performed well. In 8 hours, we made 289
contacts nationwide and internationally using HF, VHF, and UHF radios
and digital communications modes. Thanks to all our volunteer operators
for their continued efforts and for all the stations worldwide that
help during hurricanes. Please remember, no matter how many hurricanes
we have this season, it only takes one to destroy your house or
community; no matter how many or how few Surface Reports we receive
from an affected area, just one Surface Report can make a big
difference." -- Julio Ripoll, WD4R, Assistant Coordinator, WX4NHC, NOAA National Hurricane Center

Kenneth Graham, WX4KEG, is the next NOAA assistant administrator for
weather services and the 17th director of the National Weather Service <https://weather.gov/>, effective June 7, 2022. "Ken has the scientific integrity, trusted leadership, and communication prowess that will take
the National Weather Service to even greater heights," said NOAA
Administrator Rick Spinrad, Ph.D. "I have full confidence that he will
help create a more weather- and climate-ready nation amid more extreme
weather fueled by our changing climate." Graham has served as director
of the National Hurricane Center since 2018. He has been an ardent
supporter of the NHC Amateur Radio Station WX4NHC, the Hurricane Watch
Net, and the amateur radio severe weather reporting community at large.

The ARRL Executive Committee of the Board of Directors met in formal
session on May 9. An Emergency Communications and Field Services
Committee update was provided by chairman and Great Lakes Division
Director Dale Williams, WA8EFK. Noting that there is an extensive
project list, four subcommittees were created to handle the work. The subcommittees include subject matter experts and have been shown to be effective. Currently the committee is working on MOUs. The MOU with
FEMA has been progressing nicely, with positive feedback from FEMA and
is expected to be a 5-year agreement. Other partners that MOUs are
being worked on include the Red Cross and Salvation Army. The committee
is also in the early stages of addressing a separate MOU format for use
by groups in the field who want agreements with local served agencies.
Other items that are showing progress include updating the ARRL Section Manager's workbook and expanding the mission of the National Traffic
System (NTS).

Updated, current Red Cross/Winlink Thursdays exercise results and participant/clearinghouse maps <https://www.emcomm-training.org/Winlink_Thursdays.html> are available,
along with general information, schedules, and past exercise results.

FEMA REGIONS 4 AND 6 WINLINK EXERCISE -- A MAJOR SUCCESS FOR AT

RISK AREAS

The states in adjacent FEMA Regions 4 (Alabama, Florida, Georgia,
Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee)
and 6 (Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico) jointly participated
in a communications outage exercise on May31/June 1 with a cyber-attack scenario run in four major metropolitan areas: Charlotte, North
Carolina; Dallas, Texas; Miami, Florida; and Little Rock, Arkansas.

In addition to Winlink, with CISA SHARES and amateur radio operators
providing Field Situation Reports to be exercised by the states in the
two FEMA regions, were the following additional emergency
communications systems: FNARS (FEMA National Radio System), NAWAS
(National Warning System), MSAT G2 (Multi-State Satellite talk groups),
and Multi-State linking of P25 statewide trunking networks.

The mission of the Winlink exercise was for operators/observers to send
"ground truth" information in a Winlink Template report form called
"Field Situation Report" to three separate destinations via Winlink HF/VHF/Telnet depending on the originator's location. RF (no Internet)
only was to be used in the four communications outage (affected) areas
listed. Steve Waterman, K4CJX, DHS CISA SHARES Auxiliary Communications
and FEMA Region 4 Regional Emergency Communications Coordination
Working Group auxiliary communications committee chair, said "for the
US amateur radio operator, in a real-life event, we want to preserve
the small and precious RF space for those who have no other choice. So,
when we do have Internet, we should use Telnet. However, as an
exercise, the choice of delivery was left to the individual operator."

The scenario and task for Winlink operators was direct and simple: The
cities in the two regions were picked to suffer communications outages. Affected emergency management agencies needed "ground truth" situation
report information from everywhere within the two FEMA Regions from the
users of the Winlink Radio Email Network System, regardless of the
location within the Regions, or the reasons for the outages. There were
two separate sets of instructions for operators: If an operator was NOT
in the affected cities, the operator configured and reported on
specific configuration data for the Field Situation Report and sent the
report by using RF (over the air) modem protocols or Telnet. If the
operator was located within the affected cities, the operator was
tasked with reporting any outages on the Field Situation Report by
using RF only.

Results Speak for Themselves

There were a whopping 997 responses from operators in the field, which
provided adequate information regarding the locations of the cyber communications issues. View the distribution of responses here <https://scdto.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/19d22e12a96a4c19b2141d63b153ff3d>.
The State governments of South Carolina and Arkansas provided Dashboard information.

Waterman reported that there was a myriad of organizations involved,
including ARRL, SHARES Regional Coordinators and others, all working
together in executing this exercise. "This was an excellent exercise,
and I thank all for the extraordinary work from those who provided
input into this entire process, including and especially all the
visuals -- sizzle matters," he said.

Waterman said there were lessons learned, and after-action discussion
will be forthcoming. But, "we have already made some major enhancements
in Winlink Express <https://www.winlink.org/WinlinkExpress> regarding statistical information from resulting input from our mappable forms.
More importantly, we can always improve our functionality, accuracy,
etc., but getting any incentive for improvement in what we do, and how
we do it will depend on the level at which each agency views
resiliency, and their acceptance of Winlink and volunteer resources at
the tail-end of their PACE plan. Extensive feedback from areas under investigation is a critical component of any disaster," he said.

SLINGSHOT TIPS

by Gordon Gibby, KX4Z

North Florida Amateur Radio Club <https://www.qsl.net/nf4rc/>

We've been using slingshots for years to place antenna supporting lines
in trees, up to about 50 feet. I'm certainly not an expert, but it has
worked well for us. Some of the Alachua County (Florida) crew have
purchased or constructed air-powered mini-potato rifles also, which
have even greater range. This article gives just a few tips on using a
simple slingshot to place lines.

Accuracy -- I think there are two key factors here. A wrist brace seems
to be key. I use a simple slingshot purchased from Amazon that has a
folding wrist brace. Without that brace, I can't keep a simple "Y" type hand-held slingshot still during the release. The brace makes it easy. Secondly, that very floppy leather "pocket" seems to be extremely
important for accuracy with a lead fishing weight. A replacement band
with a stiffer pocket turned out to be completely useless. Replacing
the "pocket" with the old leather one brought it back to perfect
working order.

Projectile -- I prefer an "egg sinker" fishing weight in the 1-1/4 to
1-1/2 ounce range. Heavier doesn't go as far, and I get concerned about possible accidental damage. These have a hole drilled straight through,
which makes it easy to attach a line. Acquire several.

SAFETY -- Obviously we aren't perfectly accurate, and the lead fishing
weight can often hit a branch or a tree and go somewhere we didn't
expect. Stay AWAY from power lines! Always try to avoid choosing a
direction toward windows, cars, and other expensive items. At Field
Day, it's best to get lines up and over limbs before all the cars park
in risky locations.

Graded Sizes of Lines -- My usual goal is to either get the line over a specific limb or over an entire tree if the branches are too thick.
Only a very lightweight, low-friction line can be pulled to an apex
50-60 feet by a light fishing weight. And they are amazingly difficult
to FIND on the other side! My friend Sam Register clued me into
fluorescent orange braided fishing line -- I prefer 60- or 80- pound
test. This is much easier to work with than the usual mono-filament.
Consider a version of: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MGA5WJ6 I
keep a couple of spools on hand. Spread at least twice the desired
height in line out over pavement or asphalt or a sheet in long columns
in front of you if possible - if there are twigs on the grass, the line
will always get tangled and your distance will be severely reduced.
After a successful placement of the fishing line over a desirable
branch, go to the far side, cut off the fishing weight and tie on a
nylon or nylon-polypropylene mix twine, approximately #18 up to 3/32"
size. Be certain that the twine you choose is fairly strong. Reel back
in all of the fishing line, pulling the line backwards over your limb.
Now tie on a stronger line, up to perhaps one-quarter inch size -
paracord works well or twisted or braided nylon. Make sure your ties
between different sized lines are strong and secure - sometimes a
simple knot between a small and a larger line can allow the smaller
line to slip out, disastrously. Finally, if the one-quarter inch size
isn't up to the task, you can then pull up 3/8" or half-inch rope to
finish off the project.

Stuck -- Inevitably you will end up with a fishing weight "stuck" up a
tree. Be careful when pulling back on such a line - you don't want it
to come zinging back and kerplunk right into your face! Sometimes
you'll have to give up and simply cut it off (above nuisance height)
and leave it. The orange fishing line degrades in the sunlight and will
be almost invisible in weeks. Having extra fishing weights and braided
fishing line is a good plan. I keep a kit for this purpose in a plastic
tool box. The slingshot band will degrade after a few years, so
periodically provide a spare. Just remember to use the floppiest
"pocket" you have. - QST NFL June 2022

ARRL SECTION ARES NEWS

Oklahoma Section

To help with emergency communications support following an outbreak of tornadoes that hit this past month, the Oklahoma Department of
Emergency of Management and Homeland Security requested support from
Oklahoma ARES. During the first week of May, 12 tornadoes touched down
in the central and eastern parts of the state. The tornado that struck Seminole, Oklahoma, on Wednesday, May 4, left EF2 damage, according to
the National Weather Service. That tornado was a mile wide, and its
path totaled 31 miles.

The request for amateur radio emergency communications support was made
on Thursday, May 5, 2022. ARES was activated on Saturday, May 7. Seven
amateur radio operators were active, providing voice communications
between chainsaw and debris removal teams from their base at Seminole
State College's volunteer center. ARRL Oklahoma Section Emergency
Coordinator Mark Conklin, N7XYO, said the cleanup crews worked quickly,
and ARES was needed for 8 hours until cellular and wired communications
were restored. There were no deaths or injuries during the tornado
outbreak, but cleanup continues. - ARRL News Desk

Puerto Rico Section

On Saturday, June 4, 2022, a SKYWARN training session was held at the
theater facilities of the University of Puerto Rico at Bayamón (UPRB),
located in the municipality of Bayamón, Puerto Rico. It was led by
Ernesto Morales, Warning Coordination Meteorologist of the US National
Weather Service in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The activity had a large
attendance of mostly radio amateurs from many parts of the Island. It
was a very dynamic talk where the public had the opportunity to ask
questions and clarify their doubts. Morales

Part of the ARRL Puerto Rico Section contingent present for the SKYWARN training session were (from left to right) Jorge A. Rivera, NP4ZB; ARRL
Puerto Rico Section Manager Rene Fonseca, NP3O; ARRL Section Traffic
Manager Emmanuel J. Cruz, NP4D; NWS subdirector Ernesto Morales;
SKYWARN representative Luis E. Cruz, NP4KB; and ARRL Emergency
Coordinator, Zone 10B Alberic J. Medina, NP3MR. [Photo courtesy of
WP3GW]

highlighted the importance of the community as the "eyes" of the
National Weather Service in places where it is difficult for NWS radars
and sensors to obtain data. He lectured attendees on the different
weather hazards, on what observations program participants should make,
and what they should report. The activity was coordinated by Luis E.
Cruz, NP4KB, of SKYWARN, and his daughter Vann Cruz, with special
thanks to Mario Rivera, KP4NNC, Migdalia Santiago-Albadejo, KP4MSA, and
Dr. Miguel Vélez -Rubio, Rector of the UBPR for the use of the
facilities. -- Thanks, ARRL Puerto Rico Section Public Information
Coordinator Ángel Santana, WP3GW

Santa Barbara Section

The Ventura County (part of the ARRL Santa Barbara Section in
California) Board of Supervisors passed a resolution on June 7
proclaiming June 2022 as Amateur Radio Month in honor of the more than
3,800 FCC-licensed amateur radio operators residing in Ventura County,
and ARES. -- Thanks, Ventura County ACS Radio Officer and Ventura
County ARES District Emergency Coordinator Robert Hanson, W6RH, and
ARRL Santa Barbara Section Public Information Coordinator Jeff
Reinhardt, AA6JR, who arranged for the proclamation with the county supervisors.

Southern Florida Section

The Hurricane Charlie drill in Palm Beach County, Florida on Saturday,
May 21, 2022, commenced at 9:00 AM with the use of three county
repeaters -- 146.625 MHz, Jupiter; 146.670 MHz, West Palm Beach;
147.225 MHz, Boynton Beach; and the 444.325 MHz SARNET repeaters.
Forty-one people checked into the exercise repeaters. Turning to
simplex frequencies, 10 operators checked in, for a total of 51.
Contacts were made on SARNET, the Florida statewide 70 cm FM network of repeaters. Checked-in station operators reported simulated incidents
such as: power lines down, flooding, trees down, roofs damaged, and
roads impassable. All transmissions started and ended with "This is a
Drill." Thanks went to the skilled net control operators, and special
thanks went to Armen Gregorian, KI4UKP, of the Palm Beach County EOC
for opening the facility on a Saturday, allowing operators to be
admitted to monitor and observe the exercise from inside the radio
room. All operators were thanked; many of those who participated in
this drill exercise are members of ARES, Red Cross, Palm Beach County
auxiliary communications and various CERTs. -- Albert Moreschi II,
AG4BV, Jupiter, Florida

Letters

ON EMP AND SOLAR-TERRESTRIAL EFFECTS

I enjoyed your article "Safety Tips for ARRL Field Day and Hurricane
Season" in the June 2022 issue of QST, pages 67-68 -- great article!
Regarding EMP and solar-terrestrial effects on electronic equipment,
this is an item that I include when writing emergency response plans
for water and wastewater utilities. It's clearly an issue when it comes
to industrial control and SCADA systems. If you're interested in the
subject, two references that I use are:

1. National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center: Electromagnetic Pulse Protection and Resilience Guidelines for Critical Infrastructure and Equipment <https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/19_0307_CISA_EMP-Protection-Resilience-Guidelines.pdf>,
Virginia, 2019.

2. Glasstone, Samuel, and Dolan, Phillip J. The Effects of Nuclear
Weapons. United States Department of Defense. 1977.

Most of the actionable information on EMP effects is unfortunately
classified. There's been a lot of testing done using EMP simulators
producing a near-field rise time and field strength approximating a
weapon or solar event. Believe it or not, bipolar transistors and
silicone diodes can take a pretty good hit and keep on ticking, albeit
with degraded performance and shortened operating life.
Microprocessors, not so much. Microprocessors in a radio with a
connected antenna is a "forget about it." Metal equipment enclosures
are a good thing. - Walt Mahoney, KC1DON, Providence, Rhode Island

K1CE FOR A FINAL: MY RURAL COUNTY PREPS FOR HURRICANE SEASON; NEW

EC PRESENTS AT EOC PARTNERS MEETING

As this is written (June 2 -- just the second day of the official 2022 hurricane season), the Florida peninsula is under a tropical storm
watch. This past week, at the gracious invitation of new Columbia
County ARES Emergency Coordinator (EC) Brad Swartz, N5CBP, I attended
and observed the county emergency management team's 2022 Pre-Hurricane
Season and Community Partners Meeting at the county EOC. The meeting
was 90 minutes long, with the Emergency Manager presiding, with
representatives from the Florida Department of Emergency Management
(FDEM), Red Cross, and other agency reps from the county Sheriff's
office, United Way, schools department, Florida Highway Patrol, VA
hospital, Clay Electric, the 911 Director, and a nurse from the Health Department -- all key stakeholders.

First up to the podium was Swartz, who presented on amateur radio,
SKYWARN and ARES capability in the county, which has a population of
about 33,000 residents. The county is mostly rural/agricultural, with
some industry and tourism. Swartz discussed the dimensions of his ARES
program and its priority: planning and training for so-called Low Probability/High Impact incidents. He gave a brief history of county
responses and support for large public events such as the

Olustee (Civil War battle) parade and an air show. His crew has
participated in major regional exercises such as Whirlwind Boom 2 years
ago, and the ARRL SET. There are weekly tests with the State EOC in
Tallahassee via SHARES (Swartz is a SHARES license holder) and amateur
radio. ARES members participated in a recent, large FEMA Region 4/6
exercise, which proved highly successful - the assignment was to send
damage assessments via a template in the Winlink platform. The
inclusion of senders' GPS coordinates enabled map locations. [see
related story in this issue].

Emergency Manager Shayne Morgan injected an account of a simple test
recently: the scenario was a heart attack victim in a
sparsely-populated area of the county, with all emergency
communications systems down. The solution was an amateur radio voice
message to a radio amateur located physically near the EOC, who ran a
written note to the emergency management staff there, and EMS was
dispatched to the victim.

Swartz discussed the various modes of communications available to radio amateurs, how they are prioritized, and how his program participants communicate/coordinate with other county ARES programs and EOCs. He
informed the group on modes that can get short messages through in the
presence of poor band conditions, such as JS8.

The FDEM reps discussed their agency's needs in a disaster to have
reliable communications enabled between the State EOC and each of the
affected county EOCs, as a priority. FDEM is in the process of updating
their MOUs with community partners and preparing protocols for
prepositioning assets prior to disaster effects setting in.

The Red Cross rep informed the meeting attendees that the county's Red
Cross program is in the rebuilding stage following the loss of
volunteers due to the Covid pandemic. MOUs need to be updated, and more volunteer workers need to be recruited. Shelters need to be assessed,
and snacks and water supplies need to be stockpiled.

Red Cross priorities during blue sky include getting smoke alarms into residents' homes. (Home fires represent the number one disaster across
the US, according to the organization.) During gray sky, their priority
is to prepare evacuation shelters. VOADs can assist Red Cross
regionally, and Red Cross National HQ also supports its local and
regional offices.

Open Forum

Following the presentations, Morgan opened the floor to questions.
There was one comment from the manager of a special needs shelter: "We
need more hams--they worked well for us but we need them to stay all
night. We need hams, and more EMS and law enforcement support, too -
they make the residents with special needs feel safe."

Takeaways

For me, the main takeaways were:

1. 27% of the 90-minute meeting was devoted to discussion of county
amateur radio capability. That stat really impressed me.

2. Agencies and Red Cross - as evidenced by the comments of the Special
Needs Shelter manager - profoundly count on the services of ARES and
volunteer Red Cross amateur radio operators. We serve a real need.

3. And lastly, it is clear that Columbia County is in good hands with
new EC Brad Swartz, N5CBP, as we head into hurricane season -- he has
the knowledge base, people skills, and management skills to motivate
his ARES operators to work appropriately with served agencies.

Have a great -- and safe -- Field Day! 73, Rick Palm, K1CE

______________________________

ARES® RESOURCES

· Download the ARES Manual [PDF] <http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Public%20Service/ARES/ARESmanual2015.pdf>

· ARES Field Resources Manual [PDF] <http://www.arrl.org/files/file/ARES_FR_Manual.pdf>

· ARES Standardized Training Plan Task Book [Fillable PDF] <http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Public%20Service/ARES/ARRL-ARES-FILLABLE-TRAINING-TASK-BOOK-V2_1_1.pdf>

· ARES Standardized Training Plan Task Book [Word] <http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Public%20Service/ARES/ARRL-ARES-STANDARDIZED-TRAINING-TASK-BOOK-V1_2_2.doc>

· ARES Plan <http://www.arrl.org/ares-plan>

· ARES Group Registration
<http://www.arrl.org/ares-group-id-request-form>

· Emergency Communications Training <http://www.arrl.org/emergency-communications-training>

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 <http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Public%20Service/fsd98.pdf> and submit
it to your local Emergency Coordinator.

ARRL RESOURCES

Join or Renew Today! <http://www.arrl.org/join> Eligible US-based
members can elect to receive QST <http://www.arrl.org/qst> or On the
Air <http://www.arrl.org/on-the-air-magazine> magazine in print when
they join ARRL or when they renew their membership. All members can
access digital editions of all four ARRL magazines: QST, On the Air,
QEX, and NCJ.

Subscribe to NCJ -- the National Contest Journal
<http://www.arrl.org/ncj>. Published bimonthly, features articles by
top contesters, letters, hints, statistics, scores, NA Sprint and QSO
parties.

Subscribe to QEX -- A Forum for Communications Experimenters <http://www.arrl.org/qex>. Published bimonthly, features technical
articles, construction projects, columns, and other items of interest
to radio amateurs and communications professionals.

Free of charge to ARRL members: Subscribe <http://www.arrl.org/myarrl-account-management#%21/edit-info-email_subscriptions>
to the ARES Letter (monthly public service and emergency communications
news), the ARRL Contest Update (biweekly contest newsletter), Division
and Section news alerts -- and much more!

Find us on Facebook <http://www.facebook.com/ARRL.org>. Follow us on
Twitter <https://twitter.com/ARRL_ARES>.

ARRL offers a wide array of products <http://www.arrl.org/arrl-store>
to enhance your enjoyment of amateur radio.

Donate <https://www.arrl.org/arrl-donation-form> to the fund of your
choice -- support programs not funded by member dues!

Click here <ads@arrl.org> to advertise in this newsletter, space
subject to availability.

_________

The ARES 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 as described at http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/ares-el/.

Copyright (c) 2022 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.

<http://www.arrl.org/>

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)