The ARES Letter for January 17, 2024

[ARRL Web site]

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The ARES Letter

Published by the American Radio Relay League
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January 17, 2024

Editor: Rick Palm, K1CE <k1...@arrl.net>

IN THIS ISSUE

- ARES® Briefs, Links
- Letters: USGS Thanks Winlink Amateur Volunteers for Shakeout Service
- National Hurricane Center's WX4NHC SKYWARN Recognition Day Operations
Successful
- FEMA: Results of 2023 National Household Survey on Disaster
Preparedness.
- Ham Radio Comms Trailer Decisions
- Florida Pair Travel to Serve New York City Marathon
- K1CE For a Final: Subscribe to The NTS Newsletter
- ARES® Resources

==> ARES® BRIEFS, LINKS

The Digital Library of Amateur Radio & Communications
<https://archive.org/details/dlarc> (DLARC) is now archiving issues of
QST NFL, the newsletter of the Northern Florida ARRL Section. DLARC is
a project of the Internet Archive, the not-for-profit online library.
DLARC is growing to be a massive online library of the past and present
of ham radio and related communications. It is funded by a grant from
Amateur Radio Digital Communications <https://www.ardc.net/>, a private
foundation that exists to support amateur radio and digital
communication science and technology. - ARRL QST NFL, January 2024
issue, Marty Brown, N4GL, editor [After more than eight years as
editor, Brown is retiring with the gratitude of Northern Florida ARES
and other amateur interest communities across the section and state.
Well done, thank you and good luck, Marty. - Ed.]

Orlando HamCation® <https://www.hamcation.com/> -- the ARRL Florida
State Convention -- is next month, February 9 - 11, at the Central
Florida Fairgrounds. There are a number of forums and meetings of
interest to ARES and other emergency communicators: Disaster Response
Communications and Auxcomm Florida; Training for Net Operations;
SARNET; ARES Forum; New Directions in MARS; and What is SATERN. These
forums are conducted by nationally-recognized leaders and
practitioners. See you at HamCation!

==> LETTERS: USGS THANKS WINLINK AMATEUR VOLUNTEERS FOR SHAKEOUT
SERVICE

"We at the USGS really appreciate the work of the Winlink amateur
volunteers who contributed to the recent ShakeOut earthquake scenario
exercise as well as contributing to the USGS Did You Feel It? (DYFI)
system since 2020. Winlink volunteers have sent in more than 6,000
responses for exercises and actual events. We anticipate that your
contributions will help us provide critical situational awareness in
the minutes and hours after a significant earthquake. You have a rather
unique capacity to communicate after a damaging earthquake. Hence, the
connection between amateur radio operators and the USGS'
post-earthquake information tools is a natural yet impressive handoff.

"I've been really impressed with the enthusiasm and professionalism of
all the amateur radio operators we've worked with over the past few
years who have been ready and willing to develop the interface to
connect directly to USGS via the DYFI system and to the many operators
who have sent in felt reports. Fantastic!

"Lastly, I also want to thank Vince Quitoriano (USGS contractor) for
making all the connections between Winlink and USGS work so smoothly."
-- David Wald, PhD, Supervisory Research Geophysicist, U.S. Geological
Survey

==> NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER'S WX4NHC SKYWARN RECOGNITION DAY
OPERATIONS SUCCESSFUL

On December 2, 2023, Amateur Radio station WX4NHC operators at the
National Hurricane Center were on-the-air on HF (40 and 20 meters) for
the SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD) event from 9 AM to 6 PM EST. WX4NHC
was also on the VoIP Hurricane Net on EchoLink WX_TALK Conference (Node
7203)/IRLP 9219 from 4 PM until 6 PM EST. WX4NHC has participated in
this annual event since its inception more than 20 years ago.

This event is sponsored by the National Weather Service (NWS) and is
excellent practice for ham radio operators as well as NWS staff to
become familiar with the unique radio communications available during
times of severe weather. The event was open to all stations in the US
and worldwide.

WX4NHC total SRD contacts: 144

NWS Stations contacted: 19

Farthest stations contacted: Brazil (PY3BI)

Coldest Temperature reported: 15°F, AG9G, Wisconsin

Hottest Temperature reported: 88°F, 6Y5WW, Jamaica

WX4NHC station weather (in Miami, Florida): 77°F - 81°F and partly
sunny

Radio amateurs who made contacts with the NHC station can receive a QSL
card documenting the radio contact. (Please send SASE to WD4R (QRZ
address is OK). - Thanks, Julio Ripoll, WD4R, Assistant Manager, WX4NHC
station at the National Hurricane Center

==> FEMA: RESULTS OF 2023 NATIONAL HOUSEHOLD SURVEY ON DISASTER
PREPAREDNESS.

Since 2013, FEMA has conducted the National Household Survey on
Disaster Preparedness. This survey of people from across the United
States gauges the nation's disaster preparedness actions, attitudes,
and motivations. The 2023 survey conducted from February 1 through
March 14, 2023 included over 7,600 responses. Results from the 2023
survey indicate that slightly more than half (51%) of Americans believe
they are prepared for a disaster and 57% took three or more actions to
prepare for a disaster within the last year. The most common actions
people took to prepare for a disaster were assembling or updating
disaster supplies (48%) and making a plan (37%); the least common
actions were planning with neighbors (12%) and getting involved in
their community (14%). To review the survey results, download the
summary presentation
<https://lnks.gd/l/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJidWxsZXRpbl9saW5rX2lkIjoxMDAsInVyaSI6ImJwMjpjbGljayIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vZmVtYS1jb21tdW5pdHktZmlsZXMuczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS8yMDIzLU5hdGlvbmFsLUhvdXNlaG9sZC1TdXJ2ZXkucGRmIiwiYnVsbGV0aW5faWQiOiIyMDIzMTIyOS44Nzc3MDUxMSJ9.AiMpPycDyDf4pecotvn8shPrhIM2bCF000TzMD6IY_M/s/131030018/br/233943671422-l>.

Key Findings and Opportunities from the 2023 Survey

- There were big shifts in the way people prepared for disasters in
2023 compared to the year before. There was a large increase in the
percentage of people who assembled or updated supplies (from 33% in
2022 to 48% in 2023), but there was a large decrease in the percentage
of people who signed up for alerts and warnings (from 46% in 2022 to
36% in 2023). Emergency managers should remind people that there is
more to preparedness than just assembling supplies. When meeting with
your community, help people sign up for alerts and warnings right in
the moment. Walk them through the process of signing up to receive
local alerts while you have their direct attention, so they don't have
to remember to do it themselves later on.
- Only 50% of people believed that that taking steps to prepare for a
disaster would help them in getting through a disaster and were
confident in their ability to take those steps to prepare. To increase
preparedness efficacy, trusted local and community messengers should
provide outcome testimonials to demonstrate the value of preparing for
a disaster, especially for groups with lower rates of preparedness
efficacy.
- There was a strong association between having awareness of how to
prepare for disasters and taking action to prepare.89% of people had
read, seen or heard information in the last year about how to get
better prepared for a disaster. People who had received information
about how to prepare were five times as likely to take at least three
preparedness actions compared to people who had not received
preparedness information. Emergency managers should focus their
preparedness outreach efforts on communities with lower awareness of
preparedness information because the payoff could be big. Provide tips
and strategies for preparing based on a community's specific needs,
challenges, and environment. Leverage FEMA's preparedness resources
from Ready.gov
<https://lnks.gd/l/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJidWxsZXRpbl9saW5rX2lkIjoxMDEsInVyaSI6ImJwMjpjbGljayIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnJlYWR5Lmdvdi8iLCJidWxsZXRpbl9pZCI6IjIwMjMxMjI5Ljg3NzcwNTExIn0.O-CjMkg53u-ZTx7DfV3tjcCQ_At7MscG7n4IszF8LQM/s/131030018/br/233943671422-l>.
- There was a disconnect between the 60+ community's perceived
preparedness and their preparedness actions.People who were 60 years
old and older were about as likely as people between the ages of 18 and
59 to feel prepared for a disaster (52% and 51% respectively). However,
people ages 60 and older were less likely to have taken many
preparedness actions compared to people between the ages of 18 and 59.
To increase the preparedness of the 60+ community, emergency managers
should develop preparedness programming and materials that take into
consideration the unique challenges facing older adults and empower
them to prepare.
- Cost barriers may prevent people who are socioeconomically
disadvantaged from taking important preparedness actions.They were less
likely than those who are not socioeconomically disadvantaged to have
taken higher-cost preparedness actions but were about as likely to have
taken low- or no-cost preparedness actions. Emergency managers should
leverage community resources to help those who are socioeconomically
disadvantaged overcome the cost barriers to close the gap in taking
higher-cost preparedness actions.
- People living in areas at higher risk of flood and wildfire impacts
had lower levels of risk perception for those hazards. Only 43% of
people reported that riverine flooding was 'likely' or 'very likely' to
impact them, despite living in areas that are at higher risk of
experiencing the impacts of riverine flooding. For higher risk wildfire
areas, only 49% perceived their risk of being impacted by wildfires.
However, hurricane risk perception (96%) was much higher for people at
higher risk of experiencing hurricane impacts. Emergency managers
should apply the tools and messaging techniques that effectively
communicate risk for hurricanes to build a similar culture of risk
perception for floods and wildfires in communities at greatest risk.

==> HAM RADIO COMMS TRAILER DECISIONS

After studying the idea of a radio/video uplink trailer for some time
in early 2020, Doug Reed, N0NAS and I discussed at great length the use
case for such a rig. It would be for events where we needed an indoor,
all weather operating space for a day or longer. In COVID, a large,
multi-operator space (i.e., motorhome) was problematic.

On impulse I found a good deal in mid 2020 on a 15â-² Palomino hybrid
camper. The u-shaped dinette area was ideal for one or two operators. I
drilled a one inch hole under the dinette seat and put in a hinged
cover. The cables went in and out easily via the access door under the
dinette seats. It had a kitchen area, sink and a built in 12V and 120V
power system. It worked well at Field Day 2021.

Disadvantages were: It was big. Lots of drag/wind area. High fuel
consumption. My 300 HP tow vehicle was at times unhappy. It was wide: 8
feet. And tall: ten fet. And all the systems needed to be winterized. I
worried about the sun-worn rubber roof. It took up lots of driveway
space. These are three-season campers, really. The fold out tent beds
are useless in winter. You cannot sleep and operate in the same
trailer. An ideal camper for ham radio - the Casita- 15â-² + fiberglass
and similar brands - seems good but rare and pricey.

Prices on new enclosed cargo trailers are crazy. I wanted a 5'x7â-² with
extra height to be driveway friendly. New these are $4000. Doug was
arguing for 6'x10â-² or so. A local club got a 28â-² - no.â-‚Locally I found
a 5'x7â-² at auction but is was very rusty. It did have a side door; 6â-³
of extra ceiling height; and about 5 feet inside height, which seemed
good.

I put in a forward laminated counter in the pointed nose. And one in
the rear. These are easily made from 1Ã-3 pine lumber, 2Ã-2 pine legs and
laminated 3â-² wide lumber yard shelving. We added an RV style
translucent roof vent and 20â-² Harbor Freight aluminum flagpole. It now
has a Group 31 marine deep cycle battery (~100AH) and 20 amp marine
shore power supply and inlet. And a 100W solar panel and the smallest
"SUV" awning we could find. And some 12V LED lighting and a microwave
oven. It worked well at Hams in the Park 12/21 and numerous events
since. It was towed out on the ski course by a tracked ATV for the
Loppet Winter Festival.â-‚

For event/recovery deployment, it will travel with a pair of the 30â-²
diesel tower trailers.â-‚This brings three towers, fully redundant 6KW
120/240 power and 120 hours of onboard diesel. - Erik Westgard, NY9D,
St. Paul, Minnesota [Westgard is a regular contributor to the ARRL ARES
Letter].

==> FLORIDA PAIR TRAVEL TO SERVE NEW YORK CITY MARATHON

- Gordon "Gordie" Beattie, Jr., W2TTT, and Nancy Beattie, N2FWI, ARES
members of rural northern Florida, traveled to New York City to help
with race coordination for the New York City Marathon on Sunday,
November 5th. This is a marquee training opportunity wrapped up in a
live event where 55,000 elite runners traverse the City of New York.
Nancy and Gordon are part of an Amateur Radio team that comes from ten
states to volunteer for this event.
Years ago the first Amateur Radio Communications Director, Steve
Mendelsohn, WA2DHF/W2ML (SK) started to exchange talent with other
Marathon teams from around the country as a way to develop improved
best practices for communications support. While most of the volunteer
hams are local to metro New York/New Jersey, there are many who fly or
drive in days before the event to participate. They also participate
and lead various key planning roles remotely in the months leading up
to the Marathon. It is an amazingly complex event with a diverse social
landscape, great people and awesome experiences for anyone interested
in contributing and honing their skills. A few have participated since
the 1970s, but most since the 1990s or early 2000s.

Each year there are new volunteers, so the team has depth, and is
infused with new ideas that keep it at the top of the game. The primary
mission for the hundreds of volunteer Amateur Radio operators along the
twenty-six mile course is the timely delivery of vital information to
the Race Control Center in Central Park via the attached Amateur Radio
Communications Center. They also provide backup should other systems go
down. The NYPD has required the integration of Amateur Radio volunteers
for over forty years and with the New York City Roadrunners engages the
Amateur Radio community for this and other events throughout the year
as part of a layered strategy for "observe and report" and backup
communications functions.

The nets covering the course are hierarchical and layered for
reliability and capacity. There are separate DMR Talk Groups and
sometimes repeaters for the Start, Finish, VIP, Medical, Lower and
Middle Course and Central Park areas and functions as well as FM analog
repeaters for backup snd overflow. Additionally, each Mile Captain has
a Simplex Net that is usually FM but may also be DMR. Traffic is
tactical in format and includes everything from position reports to
logistics requests, spot reports of runners with unauthorized equipment
or other gear, medical issues, runner drop outs, course disruptions due
to fire or EMS activity in a community, protests and the presence of
suspicious items or people near the course - the essence of the "See
Something, Say Something" protocol.

Nancy is a net control for one of the many nets including the very
early DMR VIP Net starting a little before 5 AM and then she shifts
over to one of the FM nets until about 8 PM. She, along with others,
have a long day. Gordon manages the AREDN Mesh-based network and
cameras. All the cameras are supported by a Windows-based Blue Iris
video server sitting in New Jersey supported by two separate broadband
providers. From there, remote viewers can access all the cameras in the
network. The video feeds come from key points of interest and are fed
into the Race Control Center and to hams who are assigned to NYPD's
Operations Center in downtown Manhattan at One Police Plaza. An
additional local instance of Blue Iris is also monitored by Gordon and
others in the Amateur Radio Communications Center In Central Park.
Because cellular network overloading along the race course can cause
video stream dropouts, an ARES® team from Connecticut deployed a
Starlink Terminal to backhaul their AREDN Mesh-based video traffic from
the 59th Street Bridge area into the Internet.

Using APRS, Gordon tracks and displays the whereabouts of the Race
Precursor, Lead Female and Male Runner, press vehicles and the Runner
Drop-Out buses. These are all equipped with APRS trackers built by Dave
Henninger, N3UXK. Additional trackers built by individuals are also on
the course and help to refine our overall operational picture from
Central Park. Further, some of our ham volunteers run the APRS.FI
application on their phones or other devices. We have specified a
message format for both RF and cellular trackers and use the logs to
determine coverage gaps in both the APRS and cellular networks. Our
beacon message format indicates Amateur Radio RF or which cellular
carrier is in use which enhances our post-event analytics. -- J. Gordon
"Gordie" Beattie, Jr., W2TTT, QST NFL, January 2024 issue

==> K1CE FOR A FINAL: SUBSCRIBE TO THE NTS NEWSLETTER

The ARRL National Traffic System has a long, proud history (75 years)
of serving the public by originating, relaying and delivering formal
written messages via a formal network of trained operators across the
country. Recently, energetic working groups of experts have been
updating and invigorating the League's traffic handling program - the
NTS 2.0 project -- which dovetails with the equally historic and
important Amateur Radio Emergency Service® with an emphasis on moving
routine, priority and emergency messages to their destination
recipients. NTS 2.0 will not supplant the existing National Traffic
System. Rather, it seeks to improve and expand upon the ways in which
we deliver and originate radiogram messages. It also seeks to restate
its purpose to the general public and served agencies. NTS 2.0 will
devise tools and methods to allow our network to expand its current
capabilities to provide wide-area message communications services for
ARES, SKYWARN, RACES, and other served agencies.

For example, in an article in the new The ARRL NTS Letter, Jonathon
Taylor, K1RFD, writes about a project called The Radiogram Portal, a
website that introduces Radiograms to the public and provides an easy
way for members of the public to submit messages to be entered,
relayed, and delivered by the NTS traffic handlers. This introduces a
means of communicating in a disaster situation for the public, and
generates messages to exercise the system and improve the skill sets of
its operators for competent service. More information can be found in
the current issue of The ARRL NTS Letter, which contains a wealth of
news and information on the National Traffic System.

You can found archived editions of the new newsletter here
<https://www.arrl.org/nts-letter>. The NTS Letter is published monthly
and is free of charge to ARRL members. Subscribe: arrl.org/opt-in-out
<http://www.arrl.org/opt-in-out> Veteran traffic handler Marcia Forde,
KW1U <ntsl...@arrl.org>, Section Traffic Manager of Eastern
Massachusetts, Western Massachusetts, and Rhode Island - is the editor.
Sign up, and get the newsletter.

Orlando HamCation® (the second largest ham radio convention in the
world) - I hope to meet and greet many ARES Letter readers at this
spectular event! See you there! - Rick, 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.

==> SUPPORT ARES: JOIN ARRL

ARES is a program of ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio
<https://www.arrl.org>® . 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 <https://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! arrl.org/join <http://www.arrl.org/join>

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