[Bgmrc-list] Hurricane drill Wed Sept 20th

Tue Sep 19 09:22:31 EDT 2006

Here's more info on the "Hurricane Savannah" drill. If all goes well, I should be able to call a net from work at 10am on 513. If you check in with me then, I will relay your check-in. If you can't make the net, or unforeseen problems arise, you can email your check-in directly:

"PARTICIPATION USING WINLINK: Anyone wishing from there residence, work, mobile, EOC wishing to check in as a participant to the drill can send a winlink message to N4PJR at winlink.org  and your check in will be counted in this drill. Please indicate your location i.e. work, home etc. and method of transmission being internet, Telpac node from HF digital Pactor thru a PMBO."

thx & 73 -- 

Chris McGehee KL0UD
EC, Coweta ARES

-----Original Message-----
From: n4vad [mailto:n4vad at bellsouth.net]
Sent: Monday, September 18, 2006 4:36 PM
To: EDWARDS, STAN WA4DYD; [WA4DYD] ...
Cc: N4VAD at Winlink.org
Subject: DRILL BREIFING FOR ANG EXCERSISE SEPT 20, 2006 PLEASE DESEMINATE TO ALL GA AND AL ARES MEMBERS FOR DRILL

HURRICANE SAVANNAH

MISSION: The 165th Air National Guard Savannah, Ga. has asked that we incorporate Amateur Radio into this drill. A demonstration of ARES communications for disaster communication working with Air National Guard will be tested using HF, VHF, DIGITAL WINLINK SYSTEM

DATE: Wednesday, Sept 20, 2006

TIME: 0700 – 1900 hours local. ARES may be completed and asked to stand down early upon orders from Lt. Dale Sharp.  

LOCATIONS: Air National Guard Travis Field Savannah Georgia, Henry Tift Airport Tifton, Georgia, Dobbins Air Base Marietta, Georgia, Cobb County ARES / Cobb County EOC Marietta Georgia and OHS/GEMA State Operations Center Atlanta Georgia along with any other deemed site set in scenario by Air National Guard.

POINTS OF CONTACT FOR SAVANNAH:  Ga. State HF ARES Net. 3.975 MHz., Air National Guard Savannah,  Chatham County EOC.  DOBBINS  Joint Operations Center and TIFTON Airfield sites. COBB County ARES, OHS/GEMA SOC.

POINTS OF COMMUNICATIONS FOR THE ATLANTA AREA:  Ga. State HF ARES Net. 3.975 MHz., DOBBINS Joint Operations Center, Cobb Co. ARES, Savannah and Tifton sites and OHS/GEMA SOC.

POINTS OF COMMUNICATIONS FOR TIFTON AREA: Tift Co. EOC, Tift Henry Airport; Tifton Regional Medical Hospital, Dobbins Joint Operations Center  Marietta, Ga. and Savannah Ga. sites.

MODES OF OPERATION: HF / SSB 3.975 MHz, 7.275 LSB, DIGITAL PACTOR, WINLINK, VHF/UHF FM VOICE, LOCAL PACKET TELPAC NODES. Local Savannah amateurs may call in via 2 Meter Simplex 146.520 for those in the immediate Savannah, Ga. Area.

RESOURCES HF NET: SSB NET CALLED BY K4GK band conditions permitting may call for multiple relay stations to be on frequency. NCS back up will be Charles WA4UJC in the event propagation changes and relief for primary NCS.

 We welcome Alabama ARES to the table and will also be participating in this net for relay purposes. Out of State Stations are valuable as relay stations during and actual emergency. 

Remember ANY AND ALL INFORMATION TRANSMITTED in relation to this drill should have a statement made prior to the message and after it .

 “THIS IS ONLY A DRILL”  We do not want to alarm other person(s) listening thinking this is really happening and thank goodness it is not.

SCENARIOS: The Air National Guard 165th Med Unit will be setting up a portable MASH Unit in Savannah, Ga. Simulation of a disaster from a major hurricane called Hurricane Savannah.  There will be multiple emergency scenarios’ some local and others needing outside assistance and messages sent to.  Patients involved in several emergency incidents will be triaged, treated and loaded onto a C-130 and transported to Henry Tift Airport in Tifton, Ga.

Upon arrival at Tifton Critical Care and severe patients will be transported to Tifton Regional hospital for admittance.  Once this has been tasked they will be reloaded and flown back to Savannah to end exercise.

Our task is to get communications from Savannah to Dobbins Air Base and Tifton Airport of multiple messages given to us by the ANG and other officials. Information will be relayed as to how many patients, (status) of conditions, departure and arrival of the air hospital unit.  

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL PATIENTS NAMES, MEDICAL CONDITIONS OR OTHER PERSONEL INFORMATION BE TRANSMITTED DUE TO HIPPA LAWS.

In a true disaster the NIMS (National Incident Management System will be used to communicate. Plain English language is to be used in sending and receiving all messages for this drill as well. For this drill ARRL Radiograms will not be used unless needed.   

PATICIPATION USING HF: From 0700 hrs eastern time until 1900 hrs eastern Net Control will call for check-ins on the top of every hour on 3.975 LSB. +/-. At the bottom of each hour Net Control will take all check-ins on 40 meters @ 7.275 +/- Depending upon availability and the amount of messages and check-ins and propagation on 80 and 40 meters.

You may check in multiple times during the day from home, automobile, EOC giving you multiple chances to test your equipment for readiness. If communications cannot be made by HF voice with or without relays or from a local ARES 2 meter net relay,  then a Winlink resource should be used to get that message thru so that your check in will be counted. Send an email from anywhere you are located to n4pjr at winlink.org or chask4gk at aol.com to be counted.

 ASSIGNED WINLINK  STATIONS DOBBINS, SAVANNAH, TIFTON, OHS/GEMA: Once assigned stations are at there post and set up should call into the Net Control Station K4GK Charles Pennington on 3.975 LSB. To test communications via voice.  Once your digital station has been is set up and operational call send a message to primary site locations Savannah, Tifton, Dobbins and OHS/GEMA WX4GMA via winlink of your status and readiness.    See Winlink Airmail SOP at end of this briefing.

PARTICIPATION USING WINLINK: Anyone wishing from there residence, work, mobile, EOC wishing to check in as a participant to the drill can send a winlink message to N4PJR at winlink.org  and your check in will be counted in this drill. Please indicate your location i.e. work, home etc. and method of transmission being internet, Telpac node from HF digital Pactor thru a PMBO.

This is the importance of multiple modes and the relay system. This is why they call the ARRL the American Radio Relay League.

EC’s are encouraged to have someone in their assigned area or county call a local area net, take check ins and relay them via HF SSB to K4GK or the WINLINK system.

OHS/GEMA SOC WX4GMA will be on VHF 145.410- (MATPARC) as primary and have 146.82- pl146.2 (ARC) as back-up. 

TACTICAL CALL SIGNS: if used....

When using amateur frequencies you still must ID with your FCC assigned call signs.  An accepted method that has been in use over the years is at the end of a QSO to sign using your tactical call sign followed by your FCC call sign.

An example might be: "roger Rambo 1 this is Lost 2, KK4Z out".  The 10 min ID rule is still in effect, but most tactical calls are less then 10 minutes.  If the 10 minute mark is reached then use the Tactical Call Sign / FCC call sign.

HURRICAINE SAVANNAH

Assigned Drill personnel and locations.

165th AIR NATIONAL GUARD Savannah, Georgia

N4VAD          Greg Tillman             MCP WINLINK

K4TMT           Terri  Tillman             2m

N4PJR           Jim Cote                    MCP HF SSB

W4WDT         Dan Thornton           2M MCP

N4CVF           Kurt Hoffman            HF VOICE/ 2M

KI4ORR         Vern Quathamer      2M roving

K4SDJ           Steve Jonas              HF / 2M fixed station

W4SWJ          Susanne Jonas       2m roving

W4WTO         Bob Harmon             Observing

KG4SZS        Bill Elmore               Observing

Chatham County EOC

KC4MKD       David Swindell         HF/2M

K4WP             Bill Deloach              HF/2M

KG4BKO        Bill Collins                 HF/2M

KG4SZS        Bill Elmore               Observing

W4WTO         Bob Harmon           Observing

Tifton Georgia Site

KE4RJI          Paul Boyd                 2m HF-Tift Regional Medical Center

W4AYK          Gene Clark               HF Winlink ops-Tifton Fire Dept Station 1
KI4JQR          John Ruberson        2m relay-Tifton Airport
KI4JQS          Matthew Ruberson   2m Tifton Fire Dept Station 1

Dobbins Air Base Joint Operations Center

KK4Z              Scott Royle               HF / ARES MAT

AG4ZR           David Benoist           HF/  ARES MAT

N4DQ             Jere Couch               HF / ARES MAT

Cobb County ARES/Cobb County EOC

Operators Pending

OHS/GEMA State Operations Center

WX4GMA     Tom Holcombe (K5AES)     HF/Telpac/2M FM

                        Bill Cherepy  (WB4WTN)    HF/Telpac/2m FM

OHS/GEMA SOC WX4GMA will be on HF 3.975 LSB and VHF 145.410- (MATPARC) as primary and have 146.82- pl146.2 (ARC) as back-up. 

SOP FOR ARES-MAT WINLINK/AIRMAIL OPERATIONS

The purpose of this SOP is to establish operational procedures for GA ARES-MAT using Winlink/Airmail under tactical/emergency conditions.

The scope of this document covers the use of Winlink/Airmail.  It does not cover any of the other digital modes that may be used by GA ARES-MAT.

Predeployment:

This is the planning stage for the tactical use of Winlink/Airmail.  The DEC for ARES-MAT will receive a briefing from the served agency detailing their needs and our ability to accomplish the mission.  The DEC will then make assignments based on availability of members and skill level needed to perform the task.  The DEC will assign one member to be the Net Control Station (NCS) for the Winlink/Airmail net.  The NCS will usually be the station located at the served agency’s headquarters.

Deployment:

All stations will deploy to their respective locations. The NCS will start monitoring Airmail approximately every 30 minutes after the deployed units have left.  If the internet Telnet is available then that should be used so as not to tie up the PMBO’s.  When the deployed units reach their destination and set up their station they will send an email via Airmail to the NCS with their actual location, that they are now operational as of (date/time stamp) and any other pertinent information.  The NCS will reply to this message stating that is was received and answer any questions the deployed station may have.  In this instance the NCS will always reply to the deployed station to show that the deployed station is working properly.  When all the deployed stations have checked into the NCS, the NCS will send an email to all deployed stations with a list of all the stations that are operational and where they are located.

While Deployed:

It may not be necessary to check Airmail every 30 minutes after all deployed units reach their destination.  Mission requirements and power conservation for the deployed units may necessitate a longer or shorter check times.  This will be determined by the NCS and the served agency.  If no time is set then the deployed unit should state in their last email when they plan to check Airmail next.

Stand Down:

Each deployed station should send an email to the NCS when it is standing down or moving to a new location.  If moving to a new location an approximate time should be given when the station plans to be back on the air.

Emergency Traffic:

The unit originating the emergency traffic will send a copy to the recipient and to the NCS.  In case the recipient is not at their computer or has gone off duty the NCS can find that person or his replacement and notify them that there is emergency traffic.  If available, the NCS can print the message and hand deliver it.  Before the NCS leaves his station to deliver the message he will send a return receipt to the originating station.  

The originating station will state in the subject line and the first line of the body of the message in capital letters “EMERGECNY” message.  At the bottom of the message the originating station will state when it expects a reply by (try to give ample time for the recipient to work on the issue).  If there is no response by the message’s reply time then the originating station will resend the message as before expect add the words in capital letters after emergency “SECOND ATTEMPT”.  This will continue incrementing the attempt number until the message is answered.

For the deployed unit the same procedure would take place if there is email for the recipient except that the deployed units e-mail would be used also.  If email is not available then only send it to the deployed unit’s email address and the NCS.  If the NCS is the originating station then only the deployed unit’s address is necessary.

Routine Traffic:

Routine traffic does not have to go through the NCS and can be emailed directly to the recipient.  Priority or Emergency traffic should have the NCS on copy.

Return Receipt Requested:

Not all traffic requires acknowledgement.  Routine traffic unless specified by the words “return receipt requested” at the bottom of the message will not be return receipted.  Priority and Emergency traffic will always be return receipted.

Voice Mode:

If voice mode is available it can be used to augment this SOP.  However, this SOP is designed as a worse case scenario in that only a digital mode is available and all the rules in this SOP shall be followed even though voice is available.

Looking forward to working with everyone and I thank everyone for their support and participation in this exercise. I know this was difficult for a lot of volunteers wanting to participate and could not due to work schedules and prior commitments however this drill was designed to make it as easy as possible for all ARES members and amateurs both in and out of state to be involved.

Greg Tillman N4VAD

ASEC Ga. ARES Operations