Peoria County ARES Involvement in the SET, 11-16-2014

[Fritz Bock]

All,

There was a ARES SET scheduled for October 11, but do to the Goodwill March Forward, and the Chicago Marathon it was impossible to fit another activity into that week end.....so after contacting other EC's in District 7 we decided to postpone our participation in the SET until November.  We all (other EC's) settled on Nov 16th as the date.

Below I have listed some objectives that we need to accomplish during the SET.

I would like for someone to be at the Red Cross during that Sunday afternoon to conduct a VHF/UHF net and also make some 40 meter contacts (to the extent possible) on the vertical antenna..to other EC's or station using the ARES freqs, 3.905 and 7.230..I have an extra 80 meter dipole that someone could set up at the Red Cross.

Please read the objectives and let me know what you can do.....I will be set up in Brimfield during the SET.....don't forget the warming centers in Peoria County.......someone could set up at any of those locations.

I will be contacting all during this week to see what activities you want to do. 

SET objectives.

1) Contacts on 40 and 80 meters to served agencies/use the served agency as your comms headquarters
  Use the ARES freqs of 3.905 and 7.230 for contacts
  Attempt contact with each of the available EC's in District 7
  Make sure you preface each transmission with "This is a drill"

2) Local UHF/VHF net check ins while at your served agency
  Record Check-ins for your local emergency net
  Make sure you preface each transmission with "This is a drill"

3) Creation of RMSExpress email to WD9...@winlink.org
  This would be a good time to determine if there is a RMS node in your city or area.
  Download the RMSExpress email client and see if you can connect

4)  AUXCOM course attendees
  AUXCOM course attendees are asked to generate and transmit a message,  ICS-213 formaddressed to the Illinois AUXCOMM Coordinator, Brad,W9...@winlink.org indicating the sending station’s location (town/village/city and county), and how long that individual can maintain operations at his or her current location without outside support.  That would include such matters as fuel for generators, battery life at 90%-receive, 10%-transmit duty cycle, available food and water, and personal situation (heat, shelter, etc.).  This information may be sent via RF using 40 or 80 meters, or an email via RMSExpress. The message should be addressed to W9...@winlink.org and WD9...@winlink.org.





This is a snippet from Brad, W9FX, regarding the October SET that was conducted.....

SCENARIO DETAILS:  A major winter storm has moved swiftly from the Rockies, across the plains, and drops an average of 36” of wet, heavy snow across the entire state.  This has happened on the evening before the SET begins.  Temperatures before and during the storm averaged in the upper 20 degree Fahrenheit range, but, in the wake of the storm, frigid temperatures follow, dropping temps to near or below 0 degrees. Locations north of I-70 see temps in the –10 degree range.  South of I-70, temps hover near 5 degrees.  A second front is right behind the first one, and as the morning of the SET opens, heavy snow is falling across all of Illinois – on top of the already piled 3’ of snow.  Snow is falling at the rate of about 6” per hour.

INFRASTRUCTURE:   The bitter cold temperatures are too low for ice/snow melting concoctions used by highway departments to have any effect. and, highway departments are struggling to get any roads opened to traffic. Major highways, are impassable and have been closed by the Illinois State Police.  Motorists are stranded on the Interstate highways and toll ways.  Secondary roads are likewise unusable and littered with wrecked and abandoned vehicles.  Electrical utilities are slowly failing from the massive energy demand and from tree limbs falling across lines owing to the weight of snow on them.  Telephone/Internet service, including cellular systems, are sporadic.  With the approach of even more snow, and with it, freezing rain, the stage is set for a major natural disaster in Illinois.

DISCUSSION:   It’s not often that weather events are unannounced, and, this storm is no different.  Despite frequent warnings from the National Weather Service, most people are unprepared for an interruption in infrastructure and transportation that last longer than a few hours. This storm will disrupt normal lines of communications and transport for at least 48 hours.  Rural areas may be affected for a considerably longer period.  Hospitals, assisted living facilities, nursing homes all have populations that are vulnerable to these types of events, as they rely on a continuous, uninterrupted flow of supplies, including medicines, equipment, energy, food and water.  First responders will be unable to do their jobs well or expediently as communications both from and to their command centers will be unavailable, and, their abilities to move people and equipment will be severely limited.

OBJECTIVES:    We Illinois AUXCOMM volunteers, and, that banner is used to describe both ARES and RACES units and members, have talked about ICS (Incident Command System) procedures and classes for some years now. Most of us have taken the four basic ICS courses – 100, 200, 700 and 800.  Some have added other, more advanced classes to those, and, a few of us have had the opportunity to complete the AUXCOMM class.  It’s time to put some of the training to work.  The primary objective of this SET is for your group – ARES, RACES, MARS or other, to establish local communications between your members and/or your served agencies via your established local nets.  Each of your participating members is asked to generate and transmit a message, addressed to the Illinois AUXCOMM Coordinator for this event (details on addressing to follow by separate message), indicating the sending station’s location (town/village/city and county), and how long that individual can maintain operations at his or her current location without outside support.  That would include such matters as fuel for generators, battery life at 90%-receive, 10%-transmit duty cycle, available food and water, and personal situation (heat, shelter, etc.).  A message schematic/template will be distributed prior to the exercise.  This message should be in ICS-213 format. Information on ICS-213’s will follow in later messages.  The message may be sent via voice communications or via digital-RF means, i.e., the Winlink network.  If you have a packet RMS station available to you, use it.  If not, use Winmor or Pactor.  If those aren’t available to you, find out who in your organization, or a nearby organization can act as your gateway to get the message onto the Winlink network.  The only prohibition is that we won’t use the Internet for message traffic.  This one is all RF.

LOCAL ARES INVOLVEMENT:   .  Each community has it’s own unique circumstances and potential needs, and, for that reason, each EC is free to decide how involved his or her group’s participation in this exercise will be.  EC’s are encouraged to use some creativity in designing the local scenarios based on the general, Section SET scenario.

[John Coker]

I can open up the Red Cross and operate from there.

I haven't seen any further posts from anyone on this topic.

.

Let's discuss Friday night.

John C.  N9FAM

On Wednesday, November 5, 2014 8:22:16 PM UTC-6, Fritz Bock wrote:

All,

There was a ARES SET scheduled for October 11, but do to the Goodwill March Forward, and the Chicago Marathon it was impossible to fit another activity into that week end.....so after contacting other EC's in District 7 we decided to postpone our participation in the SET until November.  We all (other EC's) settled on Nov 16th as the date.

Below I have listed some objectives that we need to accomplish during the SET.

I would like for someone to be at the Red Cross during that Sunday afternoon to conduct a VHF/UHF net and also make some 40 meter contacts (to the extent possible) on the vertical antenna..to other EC's or station using the ARES freqs, 3.905 and 7.230..I have an extra 80 meter dipole that someone could set up at the Red Cross.

Please read the objectives and let me know what you can do.....I will be set up in Brimfield during the SET.....don't forget the warming centers in Peoria County.......someone could set up at any of those locations.

I will be contacting all during this week to see what activities you want to do. 

SET objectives.

1) Contacts on 40 and 80 meters to served agencies/use the served agency as your comms headquarters
  Use the ARES freqs of 3.905 and 7.230 for contacts
  Attempt contact with each of the available EC's in District 7
  Make sure you preface each transmission with "This is a drill"

2) Local UHF/VHF net check ins while at your served agency
  Record Check-ins for your local emergency net
  Make sure you preface each transmission with "This is a drill"

3) Creation of RMSExpress email to WD9...@winlink.org
  This would be a good time to determine if there is a RMS node in your city or area.
  Download the RMSExpress email client and see if you can connect

4)  AUXCOM course attendees

  AUXCOM course attendees are asked to generate and transmit a message,  ICS-213 formaddressed to the Illinois AUXCOMM Coordinator, Brad,W9...@winlink.org indicating the sending station’s location (town/village/city and county), and how long that individual can maintain operations at his or her current location without outside support.  That would include such matters as fuel for generators, battery life at 90%-receive, 10%-transmit duty cycle, available food and water, and personal situation (heat, shelter, etc.).  This information may be sent via RF using 40 or 80 meters, or an email via RMSExpress. The message should be addressed to W9...@winlink.org and WD9FMB@winlink.org.

[Fritz Bock]

John

We will be discussing this tonight.......

Fritz

Fritz Bock
WD9FMB
309-256-2297
IL ARES District 7, DEC
Peoria County ARES EC
www.peoriacountyares.org
www.W9UVI.org

ARRL PIO, IL Section

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