Thanks to Scott, W7OXZ, for the following info:
Some thoughts on the outcome of the Joplin Tornado and Amateur Radio, having read reports form local newspapers, ham radio blogs and the ARRL newsletter
1) Amateur Radio played a useful role in helping with communications in coordination the evacuation of hospital patients from Joplin to hospitals in Springfield and Arkansas. Amateur Radio also was used by the Red Cross in shelter communications. These efforts are winding down and maybe terminated by now as more normal communications have been reestablished which has happened very quickly.
2) More importantly and I had never contemplated this, Many Amateurs were ready and able to help but did not self deploy into the area. If in our zeal to help we rush into a disaster but are not needed we only make matters worse for the incident command.
3) It is ironic that Congressman Billy Long, who is an out spoken opponent of attempts to develop tornado worming systems and a cosponsor for HR07 ,is from Joplin. The blogs have been having fun with him!!!
Aside from that there is an ARRL sponsored Webinar on DStar this evening.
______________
05/23/2011
Periodically, the ARRL’s Atlantic Division hosts a “webinar” -- an interactive Web-based seminar, designed to facilitate communication between a small number of presenters and a large remote audience using the Internet. Atlantic Division Director Bill Edgar, N3LLR, and the National Capital Region D-STAR Association will present a two-part webinar discussion on D-STAR technology and its application to emergency communications. Anyone can register for these informative, interactive Internet meetings; you do not need to reside in the Atlantic Division to join in.
Part 1 will be presented on Wednesday, May 25 at 9 PM (EDT). This 90 minute webinar -- entitled D-STAR Basics -- will provide a general introduction to the topic of D-STAR and compares the technology to existing Amateur Radio systems. Examples of D-STAR innovation will also be presented. Click here to sign up for Part 1.
On Wednesday, June 8 at 9 PM (EDT), join in for Part 2 -- D-STAR and EmComm. This 90 minute webinar will provide a discussion on how D-STAR technology can benefit Amateur Radio EmComm scenarios. Examples of D-STAR applications to EMCOMM will also be presented, as well as future growth ideas. Click here to sign up for Part 2.
Scott
=======================
There is also some interesting info about hams and the storms on the QRZ website located here.
That's it for now.
73 de N7OZH
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
2012 Great Utah ShakeOut & Pre- ShakeOut Exercises
The 2nd Quarter 2011 Community Emergency Response Coordination Workshop has been scheduled. Please join us at the workshop on Saturday, May 14, 2011. Continental breakfast will be offered at 8:00 am. Welcome and opening address will begin at 8:30. The workshop is aimed at continued discussion on topics surrounding the coordination of Salt Lake City communities, neighborhoods, and businesses in emergency response, especially through CERT, and establishing communications networks.
This workshop is for anyone interested in community emergency response and post-disaster communications capabilities in Salt Lake City.
The Salt Lake Office of Emergency Management is pleased to report that CERT, Mobile Watch, and other religious and non-governmental organizations throughout the City are continuing to be established, while coordination of communications continues to be a high priority. We ask the community councils for assistance in finding representatives in every neighborhood to participate in these efforts. We also encourage everyone involved with other community groups interested in emergency preparedness (such as churches) to attend as it is vital that we coordinate with existing plans and efforts.
Below is the agenda. Didn’t attend the previous workshops? No problem. Please join us at this one! Pass this on to anyone you feel would have an interest in emergency response.
Please RSVP as soon as possible. Please send an email to SSmithRPh@aol.com and type “will attend breakfast” or “meeting only” in the subject line.
Community Emergency Response
Coordination Workshop
Agenda
Saturday, May 14, 2011, 8:00 am – 11:30 am
Pioneer Police Precinct
1040 West 700 South
8:00 Sign-in & Light continental breakfast
8:30 Welcome & Open Meeting – John Flynt/Michael Stott
2012 Great Utah ShakeOut & Pre- ShakeOut Exercises
9:00 Ben Sharer – Unified Fire Authority (UFA), Community Services Bureau
Response to Cottonwood Heights Flooding 2010: Communications, Volunteers, and CERT Leadership.
9:45 Q & A
10:00 Break
10:15 CERT Division Breakout Session – CERT Division Supervisors
Organization of CERT, Communications, and Exercises in preparation for the 2012 Great Utah ShakeOut (http://www.shakeout.org/utah/overview/).
Pre-credentialing volunteers for possible Salt Lake County flood response.
11:30 Adjourn
=================
In any disaster there are often downed power lines. It is a fatal mistake to assume that downed power lines are only carrying the same 110Volts that exists inside your house. Downed power lines ALWAYS have higher voltages than 110 Volts. Here is a summary:
Overhead power transmission lines are classified in the electrical power industry by the range of voltages:
* Low voltage – less than 1000 volts, used for connection between a residential or small commercial customer and the utility.
* Medium Voltage (Distribution) – between 1000 volts (1 kV) and to about 33 kV, used for distribution in urban and rural areas.
* High Voltage (subtransmission less than 200 kV; subtransmission or transmission at voltage such as 115 kV and 138 kV), used for sub-transmission and transmission of bulk quantities of electric power and connection to very large consumers.
* Extra High Voltage (transmission) – over 230 kV, up to about 800 kV, used for long distance, very high power transmission.
* Ultra High Voltage – higher than 800 kV.
If your body is dry and you are not grounded, you can usually let go if you accitentally grab 110 Volts. Howewver 110 Volts can be and often is lethal. The line coming to your house from the transformer on the pole is 220 Volts. If you tough 220 Volts, you cannot let go. You loose ALL muscle control.
I call voltages above 1000 Volts "Friendly Voltages" because you do not have to come into contact with their power lines. Just get close enough and they will reach out and touch YOU! They make the first move. 100 KV lines can "jump" 5 to 6 feet through dry air and fry you. Above 200 Kv they can "jump" more than 8 feet! I have pictures of 800 KV arcs that exceed 30 feet. If you are "touched" by 100 KV or better, you will never be the same, if you live to tell about it. Your central nervous system and/or your physical body WILL be altered by voltages over 100 KV.
Don't go near downed power lines. Ambulance crews have been trained not to do so. Firefighters have been trained not to. Law enforcement has been trained not to do so. Don't take the chance. Some have been killed trying to move a downed line off the sidewalk using a stick. The electricity walked along the stick into their hand and out through their feet and shoes. Death was neither quick nor pleasant.
=======
Do you have 12 volt gel cell batteries for emergency communications? Do all your power cords have anderson power pole connectors on them? A gel cell battery, even a small one, can run your HT for a VERY long time. It will even run your mobile radio for a while. You also need ways to recharge emergency batteries. Harbor Freight sells many sizes of solar cells. Emergency Essentials in Salt Lake has small personal solar charges that can charge AAA, AA, C and D batteries.
=========
73's until next time. O. D. Williams
This workshop is for anyone interested in community emergency response and post-disaster communications capabilities in Salt Lake City.
The Salt Lake Office of Emergency Management is pleased to report that CERT, Mobile Watch, and other religious and non-governmental organizations throughout the City are continuing to be established, while coordination of communications continues to be a high priority. We ask the community councils for assistance in finding representatives in every neighborhood to participate in these efforts. We also encourage everyone involved with other community groups interested in emergency preparedness (such as churches) to attend as it is vital that we coordinate with existing plans and efforts.
Below is the agenda. Didn’t attend the previous workshops? No problem. Please join us at this one! Pass this on to anyone you feel would have an interest in emergency response.
Please RSVP as soon as possible. Please send an email to SSmithRPh@aol.com and type “will attend breakfast” or “meeting only” in the subject line.
Community Emergency Response
Coordination Workshop
Agenda
Saturday, May 14, 2011, 8:00 am – 11:30 am
Pioneer Police Precinct
1040 West 700 South
8:00 Sign-in & Light continental breakfast
8:30 Welcome & Open Meeting – John Flynt/Michael Stott
2012 Great Utah ShakeOut & Pre- ShakeOut Exercises
9:00 Ben Sharer – Unified Fire Authority (UFA), Community Services Bureau
Response to Cottonwood Heights Flooding 2010: Communications, Volunteers, and CERT Leadership.
9:45 Q & A
10:00 Break
10:15 CERT Division Breakout Session – CERT Division Supervisors
Organization of CERT, Communications, and Exercises in preparation for the 2012 Great Utah ShakeOut (http://www.shakeout.org/utah/overview/).
Pre-credentialing volunteers for possible Salt Lake County flood response.
11:30 Adjourn
=================
In any disaster there are often downed power lines. It is a fatal mistake to assume that downed power lines are only carrying the same 110Volts that exists inside your house. Downed power lines ALWAYS have higher voltages than 110 Volts. Here is a summary:
Overhead power transmission lines are classified in the electrical power industry by the range of voltages:
* Low voltage – less than 1000 volts, used for connection between a residential or small commercial customer and the utility.
* Medium Voltage (Distribution) – between 1000 volts (1 kV) and to about 33 kV, used for distribution in urban and rural areas.
* High Voltage (subtransmission less than 200 kV; subtransmission or transmission at voltage such as 115 kV and 138 kV), used for sub-transmission and transmission of bulk quantities of electric power and connection to very large consumers.
* Extra High Voltage (transmission) – over 230 kV, up to about 800 kV, used for long distance, very high power transmission.
* Ultra High Voltage – higher than 800 kV.
If your body is dry and you are not grounded, you can usually let go if you accitentally grab 110 Volts. Howewver 110 Volts can be and often is lethal. The line coming to your house from the transformer on the pole is 220 Volts. If you tough 220 Volts, you cannot let go. You loose ALL muscle control.
I call voltages above 1000 Volts "Friendly Voltages" because you do not have to come into contact with their power lines. Just get close enough and they will reach out and touch YOU! They make the first move. 100 KV lines can "jump" 5 to 6 feet through dry air and fry you. Above 200 Kv they can "jump" more than 8 feet! I have pictures of 800 KV arcs that exceed 30 feet. If you are "touched" by 100 KV or better, you will never be the same, if you live to tell about it. Your central nervous system and/or your physical body WILL be altered by voltages over 100 KV.
Don't go near downed power lines. Ambulance crews have been trained not to do so. Firefighters have been trained not to. Law enforcement has been trained not to do so. Don't take the chance. Some have been killed trying to move a downed line off the sidewalk using a stick. The electricity walked along the stick into their hand and out through their feet and shoes. Death was neither quick nor pleasant.
=======
Do you have 12 volt gel cell batteries for emergency communications? Do all your power cords have anderson power pole connectors on them? A gel cell battery, even a small one, can run your HT for a VERY long time. It will even run your mobile radio for a while. You also need ways to recharge emergency batteries. Harbor Freight sells many sizes of solar cells. Emergency Essentials in Salt Lake has small personal solar charges that can charge AAA, AA, C and D batteries.
=========
73's until next time. O. D. Williams
Wednesday, May 04, 2011
MARA Net 05/04/2011
The Salt Lake City MARA net meets on Wednesday night at 9PM on the 146.74 and 448.10 repeaters. A tone of 114.8 is required to open the squelch. Please join us for discussions of Emergency Preparedness and Emergency Communications.
Harriman Utah has just formed a new club and has a net on Sunday nights on the Herriman 449.250 repeater (Tone is 118.8) Their blog is located at http://herrimanarc.blogspot.com/. They have an in person meeting on the second Saturday of each month. Details are on their blog. Thanks to KE7WYS for this information.
Section 8 of The ARRL Emergency Communication Handbook recommends the following:
Alternate NCS for emergency nets.
1. Same location - can take over for the regular NCS if needed.
2. Alternate location - not subject to equipment failures at primary NCS site.
Good operating procedure.
Be Accurate
Be Concise
Be Polite
I consider #2 the most important. If you are one of those people who gets nervous under pressure or who takes an hour to tell a five minute story, you probably are not cut out to be a Net Control Station.
Get experience being NCS
During a disaster is not the ideal time to learn how to function effectively as an NCS. For some people it just comes naturally, but for most, it is an acquired and learned ability. Best to get some experience during normal nets BEFORE an actual disaster.
See Chapter 8 of the ARRL Emergency Communications manual for more info.
A note about toilets. Picking a shelter location with adequate facilities is always a problem and often the one picked is the only one standing or the best one still standing. Toilet facilities are a major concern. In many disasters electricity fails. When it does, water will not be delivered to most buildings and homes. How will you handle sanitation at your home in a disaster? Check the Emergency Essentials web site or get one of their monthly fliers. They have inexpensive toilets that will serve well in a disaster. Everybody should have one.
Emergency Essentials places different items on sale each month. You can build up a great home disaster kit and supply kit by buying items on sale each month. Here is the contact info.
Emergency Essentials
Get on their mailing list - diff items on sale each month
BePrepared.com/Utah
110 West 3300 South
801-994-1055
Here are some interesting web sites that I discovered on just the first two pages of a Google search on Emergency Shelter Communications.
Community Planning Toolkit for State Emergency Preparedness Managers
http://www.hhs.gov/od/disabilitytoolkit/index.html
Shelter-in-Place - Communication
http://www.hhs.gov/od/disabilitytoolkit/shelter/communication.html
THE ROLE OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION
TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PROCESS OF POST-DISASTER
HOUSING RECONSTRUCTION (PDF)
http://www.irbdirekt.de/daten/iconda/06059007139.pdf
How to Deliver Your Message from/to a Disaster Area (Click on the PDF logo in upper right corner)
http://dl.comsoc.org/livepubs/ci1/public/2011/jan/mase.html
Story: Amateur Radio Operators Provide Vital Communications Links Between Red Cross Shelters During Hurricane Earl
http://newsroom.redcross.org/2010/09/07/story-amateur-radio-operators-provide-vital-communications-links-between-red-cross-shelters-during-hurricane-earl/
OR
http://tinyurl.com/3o7at6b
Development of an Emergency Communication System for Evacuees of Shelters
[Abstract]
We propose a novel communication system for evacuees of shelters, termed "Shelter Communication System (SCS)". SCS is composed of a computer (termed Shelter Server) connected to the Internet and a set of personal computers (termed shelter PCs), one in each shelter, connected to Shelter Server through a temporal link and the Internet. SCS provides a message communication service between shelters as well as between shelters and outside the disaster area. Neither computer terminals nor cellular phones are required for those in the shelters. They write messages on specially-designed message sheets by hand. They receive messages on the sheets of paper printed by Shelter PCs. A prototype of SCS has been developed. A simple evaluation shows that SCS could provides service for 15,000 shelters and 750,000 people there, using 10 earth stations and wireless mesh networks.
This last one makes me think that we need to get some web developers to volunteer to build a shelter/disaster communications package for the web that can be used to log shelter patient names at the time of intake and make that available to other shelters in the area.
73s until next time.
O. D. Williams N7OZH
Harriman Utah has just formed a new club and has a net on Sunday nights on the Herriman 449.250 repeater (Tone is 118.8) Their blog is located at http://herrimanarc.blogspot.com/. They have an in person meeting on the second Saturday of each month. Details are on their blog. Thanks to KE7WYS for this information.
Section 8 of The ARRL Emergency Communication Handbook recommends the following:
Alternate NCS for emergency nets.
1. Same location - can take over for the regular NCS if needed.
2. Alternate location - not subject to equipment failures at primary NCS site.
Good operating procedure.
Be Accurate
Be Concise
Be Polite
I consider #2 the most important. If you are one of those people who gets nervous under pressure or who takes an hour to tell a five minute story, you probably are not cut out to be a Net Control Station.
Get experience being NCS
During a disaster is not the ideal time to learn how to function effectively as an NCS. For some people it just comes naturally, but for most, it is an acquired and learned ability. Best to get some experience during normal nets BEFORE an actual disaster.
See Chapter 8 of the ARRL Emergency Communications manual for more info.
A note about toilets. Picking a shelter location with adequate facilities is always a problem and often the one picked is the only one standing or the best one still standing. Toilet facilities are a major concern. In many disasters electricity fails. When it does, water will not be delivered to most buildings and homes. How will you handle sanitation at your home in a disaster? Check the Emergency Essentials web site or get one of their monthly fliers. They have inexpensive toilets that will serve well in a disaster. Everybody should have one.
Emergency Essentials places different items on sale each month. You can build up a great home disaster kit and supply kit by buying items on sale each month. Here is the contact info.
Emergency Essentials
Get on their mailing list - diff items on sale each month
BePrepared.com/Utah
110 West 3300 South
801-994-1055
Here are some interesting web sites that I discovered on just the first two pages of a Google search on Emergency Shelter Communications.
Community Planning Toolkit for State Emergency Preparedness Managers
http://www.hhs.gov/od/disabilitytoolkit/index.html
Shelter-in-Place - Communication
http://www.hhs.gov/od/disabilitytoolkit/shelter/communication.html
THE ROLE OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION
TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PROCESS OF POST-DISASTER
HOUSING RECONSTRUCTION (PDF)
http://www.irbdirekt.de/daten/iconda/06059007139.pdf
How to Deliver Your Message from/to a Disaster Area (Click on the PDF logo in upper right corner)
http://dl.comsoc.org/livepubs/ci1/public/2011/jan/mase.html
Story: Amateur Radio Operators Provide Vital Communications Links Between Red Cross Shelters During Hurricane Earl
http://newsroom.redcross.org/2010/09/07/story-amateur-radio-operators-provide-vital-communications-links-between-red-cross-shelters-during-hurricane-earl/
OR
http://tinyurl.com/3o7at6b
Development of an Emergency Communication System for Evacuees of Shelters
[Abstract]
We propose a novel communication system for evacuees of shelters, termed "Shelter Communication System (SCS)". SCS is composed of a computer (termed Shelter Server) connected to the Internet and a set of personal computers (termed shelter PCs), one in each shelter, connected to Shelter Server through a temporal link and the Internet. SCS provides a message communication service between shelters as well as between shelters and outside the disaster area. Neither computer terminals nor cellular phones are required for those in the shelters. They write messages on specially-designed message sheets by hand. They receive messages on the sheets of paper printed by Shelter PCs. A prototype of SCS has been developed. A simple evaluation shows that SCS could provides service for 15,000 shelters and 750,000 people there, using 10 earth stations and wireless mesh networks.
This last one makes me think that we need to get some web developers to volunteer to build a shelter/disaster communications package for the web that can be used to log shelter patient names at the time of intake and make that available to other shelters in the area.
73s until next time.
O. D. Williams N7OZH
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