HAM RADIO!
FIELD DAY! (www.arrl.org)
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The Earthquake and The SLC Airport Explosion!
Remember the 3.3 earthquake we had a short while ago? It was VERY interesting at our household. When it hit, Sue and I were in the living room about 10 feet apart. I heard a loud explosion type BOOM followed by the house shaking. A few seconds later there was another explosion type BOOM followed by more shaking. As we discussed this, we learned that Sue did not hear any BOOMS like I did. She just had the shaking.
We could not find anything on the TV about the "explosions", so we turned on the scanner. We quickly found that there had been a very large explosion at the SLC airport. A fuel storage tank had exploded and many were killed and some were missing. A hellicopter flying overhead informed the rescue crew on the ground that there was a body on top of an airplane wing and that it would not be visible to rescue personnel on the ground.
Next they announced that an incendiary device had been located and that the explosion was a terror event and that the FBI and DHS were now on site. We listened to all the radio traffic until ll:45 PM when incident control stated, "The drill is finished. Everyone report to the debriefing room." Yep, the whole thing was a DRILL!
Apparently state and federal groups do not have to announce regularly that "This Is A Drill" like Ham Radio groups do. If they are required to announce that this is only a drill, the airport group forgot to do so!
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Hospital ICS Protocol Released with Job Sheet for Amateur Radio.
The fifth addition of the Hospital Incident Command System (HICS) 2014 was just published. This document sets forth protocols for incident command responses to disasters associated with hospitals -- internally or within the community. Click here to view the document.
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The Kaiser Permanente Amateur Radio Network has an excellent web site www.kparn.org with hospital communications information. Mariotti reports "In my presentations (some are posted on the web site) I stress that hospital communications are not shelter or EOC or like any other communications -- hospitals already have patients that they are responsible for taking care of when the crisis starts. When they need a patient relocated, literally someone's life is at stake as a result of this communications activity. Even the basics of what information is required are unique. Hospital buildings do not move and the information that local government, health departments, etc, all want is the same so you can publish forms for use by all as part of planning." The webmaster also tracks Amateur Radio organizations that are devoted exclusively to supporting hospital communications.
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CERT Volunteers: Download Disaster Reporter
A message from FEMA: A picture is worth a thousand words. As we kick off the 2014 Hurricane Season, help us highlight the CERT [Community Emergency Response Team] program and demonstrate your capacity as citizens and trained volunteers to provide accurate, on-the-ground situational awareness and augment the capabilities of professional responders during disasters.
As a CERT volunteer, you play an integral role in disaster reporting in your community. Administrator Fugate is calling upon CERT volunteers throughout the country, including you, to download the FEMA mobile app, which includes Disaster Reporter. Why should you use Disaster Reporter? Here are our top four reasons:
1. It provides FEMA responders, local emergency managers, CERT volunteers, and the public with greater visibility into disaster situations across the United States. This can help expedite emergency response efforts.
2. It provides a reliable source for viewing disaster events around the country.
3. It's a great free resource to download straight to your mobile phone.
4. Your support efforts in an impacted area will be displayed publicly on an online map.
Learn more about Disaster Reporter at http://www.fema.gov/disaster-reporter and http://www.fema.gov/disaster-reporter-terms-conditions. To download the FEMA app, please visit http://www.fema.gov/smartphone-app.
In addition to the Disaster Reporter tool, the FEMA App also has preparedness tips, an interactive emergency kit checklist, recovery safety tips, open Red Cross Shelters, open FEMA Disaster Recovery Centers, and FEMA blog posts. The app is available for Android, Apple, and Blackberry. Don't forget to check the latest CERT newsletter for other great resources and stories. The latest edition is available at http://www.fema.gov/community-emergency-response-team-national-newsletter.
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WINLINK 2000 When the Internet is DOWN!
TEMA AuxComm Spring Exercise in the History Books
The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) held its annual AuxComm Spring exercise May 1-4, 2014 at the Tennessee Fire and Code Enforcements Academy in Bell Buckle, Tennessee. The scenario for the exercise was that a major cyber-attack had been launched against the US taking down the Internet and critical infrastructure and resulting in civil disturbance and casualties. Because the Internet was unavailable, all message traffic had to be passed by radio-only Winlink messages. [Winlink 2000 is a global system for sending and receiving e-mail formatted messages over radio, independent of the Internet, which makes it attractive to entities needing to send messages when disasters occur and the Internet is consequently down. Amateur Radio and MARS are heavily invested in this system.]
There were four primary objectives of the exercise: (1) Training on the use of the Winlink system in general and specifically on the use of radio-only message transmission. Training also was provided on the Incident Command System (ICS) and HF field antennas; (2) test and assessment of the Winlink radio-only message transmission capability and capacity when stressed with an intense traffic load; (3) test long-haul relaying of messages from distant states (including Washington and Hawaii) via HF radio relay; and (4) test interoperability between SHARES, military units, civilian agencies, NGOs and individual participants.
Approximately 90 attended the exercise. There were 15 Winlink stations on-site in operation simultaneously including stations in a dozen command/communication vehicles. Many agencies participated on-site including TEMA, the Tennessee Department of Health, the National and State Guard, CUSEC, American Red Cross, Arnold Air Force, FedEx, Bridgestone Emergency Response Team, and multiple county EMAs. In addition to on-site participants, many agencies and individuals exchanged Winlink messages within the exercise from off-site locations.
All objectives for the exercise were met and exceeded. Training was provided both on-site and in Jackson, Tennessee. More than 880 radio-only messages were reported to have been sent/received by on-site stations. In addition, more than 400 messages were reported for the conventional (Internet-linked) Winlink system. All received messages were reported with 100% accuracy. Long-haul message relaying worked well with messages originating as far away as Washington and Hawaii.
An additional burden was placed on the radio-only Winlink system by a major Winlink radio-only exercise being carried out concurrently in Texas. The HF footprint of the two tests had overlapped.
Automatic Relaying of Packet Messages via HF
A system was set up in the Williamson County EMA trailer to act as a combined packet and HF RMS (Regional Message Server). Messages were sent to this RMS via packet connections from local client stations, and the RMS automatically forwarded the messages via HF to other RMS. This demonstrated that a packet/HF RMS located in a position with good coverage can provide wide-area (nationwide) relaying of packet messages via HF.
Interoperability Results
On the Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) network, multiple messages were exchanged between the Tennessee National and State Guard, various civilian government agencies, NGOs and individual MARS members. On the SHARES network, interoperability was demonstrated between multiple agencies. Since the MARS and SHARES networks use different RMSs and radio frequencies, messages were not directly transferred between MARS and SHARES stations; MARS/SHARES interoperability was achieved by having a joint communications center at the exercise. SHARES/MARS linking on Winlink could be accomplished easily if policy so dictates. - Steve Waterman, K4CJX, Winlink Development Team
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I have more but I will save it for next time.
-N7OZH-
