May 04

May 6-9 Mini SET

Here’s the plan from Stan:

With the cancellation of in person SIMCOM this year it threw a wrench
into out initial MINI-SET plans.

So plan B is going to be an exercise to reach out during this weeks
COMEX exercise with Air Force and Army Mars on one day or evening. Then
on Saturday May 8th for the national Red Cross exercise.

For our portion: Have all members with 60 meter capability make contact
on the COMEX exercise with MARS Net controls. Then those with WINLINK
check into the Red Cross Drill Via winlink. Then report to their
respective EC on:

1. If they were successful with getting checked into the nets and
how may MARS stations each could copy. (MARS will NOT give out locations
though).

2. Either in conjunction with your weekly nets or a special net-
your call, collect reports from your members and compile those into a
message to the DEC on either WINLINK or via the Sunday Morning WI
ARES/RACES HF net on Sunday May 16.

NOTES FOR MARS Contacts:

ARMY MARS

ARMY MARS takes over on Wednesday noon Central time. ARMY MARS plans
regularly scheduled network activity on 60 meter “Channel One” for the
first Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of each month (May 5-8 )

There will be Thursday, Friday and Saturday nets at 12:00 (Noon) Local
Time which are considered to be for local operations. There will also be
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday nets at 20:00 Local Time
considered to be for intermediate to long distance operations. These
descriptions are based on typical propagation conditions.

ARMY MARS will use just 60 meter Channel One for their nets which will
be primarily in SSB voice. They will also include test message traffic
in voice and data modes. Messages will be initially sent in MIL-STD
188-110A Serial PSK, Synchronous Mode in Plain Text (non-encrypted).
After a message has been sent in M110A they may switch to a prevailing
Amateur mode. Messages will be sent in ICS-213 format, whether by voice
or data.

The nets will begin Wednesday with responsibility for the 20:00 EDT nets
split among the East Coast Regions with half taking Wednesday and Friday
and the other Thursday and Saturday. [Both ARMY and AF MARS are divided
into regions which coincide with the FEMA regions, so I have included a
map of FEMA regions for reference. What you hear will be determined by
equipment and propagation, but if conditions are at all decent you
should hear someone.]

For the 20:00 CDT net, again responsibility is split among the central
regions on the same basis. This pattern continues to Mountain DT where
20:00 local is 21:00 CDT, then to Pacific DT at 22:00 CDT, next Alaska
DT at 23:00 CDT, Hawaii ST at 01:00 CDT, and you might(?) hear Guam
(Chamorro ST) at 05:00 CDT. Since they are a day ahead of us (across the
international date line), if they operate on Wednesday, you may hear
them Wednesday morning, but don’t count on it.

Similarly, beginning on Thursday, nets will occur at 12:00 local time in
each of the Time Zones, beginning with Eastern Daylight Time and
continuing to Pacific Daylight Time and also Alaska, Hawaii, and Guam at
their respective 12:00 local times. Although it is expected that
propagation will be mostly local, conditions can always vary.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.mcaresraces.org/may-6-9-mini-set/

Feb 17

Mini-SET 2-27-2021

2-25-2021

Here’s our Comms Plan.  Keeping in mind that some people have lives, lol, and surmising that the basis of this exercise is the fallout from freezing power lines and high winds — if you’d like to send me any ‘status’ or ‘request’ reports prior to the exercise, you can send them via WinLink Telnet to KD9AQM at any time prior to the exercise.

Click the image to download the pdf.

205

 

Here’s the latest from Stan:

TLDR;

  • SET begins 2:00pm ends no later than 3:30pm
  • Objective: local, District nets cover reports for an Ice Storm
  • Practice with ICS Forms 205, 213, 214 and 309
  • Winlink use encouraged, APRS messaging optional
  • WECOMM liason needed
  • SET will be cancelled for real world events.

Full text:

// EMAIL MESSAGE BEGINS

Good Evening,

Since many events we support over the year are still being suspended for
the covid, let us have a little practice Simulated Emergency Test (SET)
on Saturday February 27.

Time to start will be 1400 Local (2:00PM) until no later than 1530 (3:30
PM).

Please let me know if your county will participate to develop the Comm
Plan.

Objective will be to have local and District nets to cover reports for
an Ice Storm and practice with ICS Forms 205, 213, 214 and 309.
Documentation is EXTREMELY important for after action hot wash and
formal event critiques. These are then used for training plans and
process improvements for real events.

Simulated weather input will be 3 plus inches of rain with a
temperature of 28-31 degrees F and winds 15 to 30 MPH.

Galloping conductors, power failures, down trees and hazardous
driving conditions will be the results.

Use of Winlink is highly encouraged! Use of the Winlink ICS 213,
and or using attachments with your winlink message can be practiced.
Also use of APRS for messaging is an option. A net using
voice operation on the WECOMM system will be in operation for 1 person
per county to contact and relay information from your local net.

Please contact your county and local emergency manager(s) between
now and February and ask what they see as an amateur radio support under
such conditions.

Invite your EM to the event even as a casual participant to receive
simulated ice accumulations and damage reports via email.

SET will be cancelled for real world events.

Stan Piekarczyk K9STN

East Central ARES/RACES DEC

// NOTHING FOLLOWS

Permanent link to this article: https://www.mcaresraces.org/mini-set-2-27-2021/

Nov 11

Nov 14 – 8am Red Cross Winlink Drill

Saturday, November 14, 2020 at 8:00 am local time, The American Red Cross will be conducting a nationwide EmComm Fall Drill.   While the event STARTS at 8:00 am, you can participate at any time until 6:00 pm local.

John, W9AH may have already sent you the Drill Instructions via email, and you can also find them here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nPmWmuDbTrxQk6GeZYdalnhYTp7di_DI/view?usp=sharing

The instructions are easy to follow and comprehensive.

The premise of the exercise is that there is a major weather event that causes outages and hazardous conditions across the country.  Here’s a link to the simulated weather info:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1L0oI3VAhwpgDWe6UW9jJJUyAPMmmymA1/view?usp=sharing

For a realistic experience, you might consider operating off-the-grid.

There will NOT be a net initiated for this drill.  I’d encourage everyone to monitor the W9RES and W9DK repeaters.  KD9AQM will be listening and available in the morning to serve as a ‘support desk’ of sorts.  I’m sure WN9Q could also be found there at times.  😉

If this were a real-world emergency, we’d all forward message traffic to the EC or Net Control at the EOC.  That traffic would then be consolidated and forwarded to the ARC Divisional Clearinghouse.  For the purposes of this exercise, you can direct traffic via Packet P2P (or Telnet) to the EC using the callsign KD9AQM.

You should also attempt to pass traffic DIRECTLY to the ARC Divisional Clearinghouse per the Drill Instructions, as in a real-world emergency you might be asked to be a liaison by the EOC / EC.

To claim your ARRL Connect participation points, register here:

https://arrl.volunteerhub.com/event/index/12749190

Questions?  Leave them below this post.

 

Permanent link to this article: https://www.mcaresraces.org/nov-14-8am-red-cross-winlink-drill/