SKYWARN Newsletter #226
Hello
to all...
MEMA
Conducts Hurricane Awareness Week on the Week of July 21st-July 27th, 2005...
MEMA/National
Weather Service and Other Agencies to Host Hurricane Awareness Workshop...
Advanced
Emergency Communications Workshop in Eastern Massachusetts Scheduled...
SEMARA
Club Hosts ARES/CEMARC BBQ for the Eastern Massachusetts Section....
ARRL
Letter Article: Ham Radio Volunteers Deal With Dennis, Emily in the Wings...
ARRL
Letter Article: Radio Amateurs Secure Ops After Hurricane Emily....
ARRL
Letter Article: VoIP Modes Critical in Assisting the National Hurricane Center
during Activations....
***Newsletter
Issued: 8/2/05.
MEMA
Conducts Hurricane Awareness Week on the Week of July 21st-July 27th, 2005...
The
Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) and the Governor of
Massachusetts
declared the week of July 21st-July 27th Hurricane
Awareness
Week and sent out information and bulletins in support
of
Hurricane Awareness Week. A hurricane tabletop exercise was
held at
the MEMA State EOC in Framingham Wednesday and Thursday
with
agencies from across Massachusetts as well as federal
authorities
participating. ARES, RACES and SKYWARN participated
in this
exercise through the efforts of Mike Neilsen-W1MPN,
Eastern
Massachusetts ARRL Section Manager and myself. The
exercise
was very interesting and will lead to better
coordination
if a major hurricane affects the region.
More
information on last week's Hurricane Awareness Week can
be seen
at the following link:
http://www.mass.gov/mema
MEMA/National
Weather Service and Other Agencies to Host Hurricane Awareness Workshop...
The
Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, the National Weather
Service,
Red Cross and other agencies will host a Hurricane Awareness
Workshop.
The Workshop will take place Tuesday August 9th, 2005
from
7-8:30 PM at the Mass. Maritime Academy, Harrington Building
Admirals
Hall, 101 Academy Drive in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts.
The
goal of the workshop is to prepare residents for the
2005
hurricane season and to teach how to protect your family
and
property from hurricanes as well as review the
differences
between watches and warnings. For more
information,
please
call Doug Forbes, MEMA Region II at 508-697-3600.
Advanced
Emergency Communications Workshop in Eastern Massachusetts Scheduled...
There
will be an Advanced Emergency Communications Workshop on Saturday
August
13th, 2005 from 10:00 AM-4:00 PM at the Sturdy Memorial Hospital Rice
Webb
Auditorium in Attleboro, Massachusetts. This session is being put on by
the
ARES Section Staff, and the Sturdy Memorial Amateur Radio Club in
conjunction
with its ARES Emergency Response Team.
This
Advanced Emergency Communications Workshop will provide additional
background
in advanced emergency communication topics that will build on our
general
level emergency communications workshop course. Those who have not
attended
our general level emergency communications workshop course may
attend
this advanced workshop but must understand that many of the basic
topics
that are covered in our general level course will not be covered in
this
specific workshop.
Please
bring an HT to the workshop as it may be utilized during the
workshop.
Topics
for this advanced workshop include the following:
Emergency
Communication Applications of Voice Over IP Technology
Amateur
Radio Digital Communications and Applications for Emergency
Communications
How to
Be a Participant and How to Be Net Control for a NTS Traffic Net
How to
Deploy, Setup and Operate at an Existing EOC When Asked to Deploy
How to
Deploy, Setup and Operate at a shelter or similar place of deployment
This
training will also feature morning refreshments and lunch at no coerced
charge
to participants in the workshop, however, donations for lunch from
participants
would be helpful.
The
Emergency Communications presentations will be given by other
Amateur
Operators well versed in the topics listed above. The training
will be
a worthwhile endeavor not just for emergency communicators
but for
anyone who is an amateur radio operator, and wants to
learn
more about the hobby.
Directions
to the facility can be obtained via the following link:
http://www.w1smh.com/pages/SMH_Map.htm
Preregistration
is required for this workshop so that the club can
assure
enough food is provided so please decide as soon as possible
if you
would like to attend this workshop.
For any
additional information and to preregister for the workshop,
please
contact:
N1FLO,
John Benson by email n1flo@comcast.net
KD1CY,
Rob Macedo by email rmacedo@rcn.com
SEMARA
Club Hosts ARES/CEMARC BBQ for the Eastern Massachusetts Section....
Eastern
Massachusetts ARES and CEMARC, the Council of
Eastern
Massachusetts Amateur Radio Clubs is pleased to
announce
that the Southeastern Massachusetts Amateur Radio
Association
will be hosting a Chicken BBQ on behalf of the two
organizations.
This BBQ is largely a social event for ARES
members
and CEMARC representatives and to express thanks
to all
those who have assisted Eastern Massachusetts ARES and
CEMARC
over the last several years. The BBQ will be Saturday
August
20th, 2005 and begin at 11 AM with a 60-90 minute
presentation
on ARES and CEMARC accomplishments with video
and
audio clips from recent events. Food will be served between
12:15
and 12:30 PM. Scott Szala-W1EV, who runs activities for
the
SEMARA Club, will be putting together his Eastern
Massachusetts
ARRL Section famous Chicken BBQ, which has
been
the staple for lunch at past Emergency Communications
Workshops
done at the SEMARA Club and is the best Chicken
BBQ you
will ever have in the section!
Directions
to the SEMARA facility can be seen at the following link:
http://www.semara.org/direct.htm
Pre-registration
is required for this event and it will be limited to
roughly
50 people due to the capacity of the SEMARA facility. To
pre-register,
please contact the following:
Eastern
Massachusetts ARRL Section Manager:
W1MPN-Mike
Neilsen Email: w1mpn@ema.arrl.org
Eastern
Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator:
KD1CY-Rob
Macedo Email: kd1cy@ema.arrl.org
Looking
forward to seeing many of you at the SEMARA Club
Saturday
August 20th, 2005!
ARRL
Letter Article: Ham Radio Volunteers Deal With Dennis, Emily in the Wings...
The
following is an article from the ARRL Letter highlighting efforts in dealing
with
Hurricane Dennis and preparing to deal with Hurricane Emily.
==>AMATEUR
RADIO DEALS WITH DENNIS; EMILY EMERGES WITH NEW STRENGTH
Following
four days of operation as Hurricane Dennis swept through the
Caribbean
before making landfall along the US Gulf Coast, the Hurricane
Watch
Net (HWN) on 14.325 MHz secured operations July 10. The net worked in
concert
with WX4NHC at the National Hurricane Center to relay real-time,
ground-level
weather data from net members to assist NHC forecasters in
determining
the storm's behavior. HWN Manager Mike Pilgrim, K5MP, said the
net
racked up more than 50 hours of activation time for Hurricane Dennis
July
7-10. But even as he was sounding "Taps" for Dennis, he was already
anticipating
the net's next activation.
"As
we awaken on this sunlit morning in South Florida, it is with a
surprised
awareness that there is yet another tropical storm on the horizon
out in
the eastern Caribbean," Pilgrim said July 11. Tropical Depression 5
quickly
ramped up to Category 3 Hurricane Emily by the end of the
week--fulfilling
Pilgrim's prophecy and threatening Jamaica, the Dominican
Republic,
Haiti and, perhaps eventually, Mexico and southern Texas.
Property
damage from the winds and flooding Dennis spawned was still being
assessed
at week's end. Before heading toward US shores, Hurricane Dennis
left
behind a path of death and destruction in Haiti, the Dominican
Republic,
Jamaica and Cuba.
Amateur
Radio Emergency Service (ARES) reports from areas along the US Gulf
Coast
were still coming in at week's end. Northern Florida Section Manager
Rudy
Hubbard, WA4PUP, rode out the storm at the emergency operations center
(EOC)
in Santa Rosa County, which includes Pensacola. The Florida Panhandle
and the
Alabama Gulf Coast appear to have taken the brunt of Dennis, a
Category
3 hurricane as it came ashore.
Hubbard
said ARES teams in the Panhandle District of Northern Florida
handled
necessary communication assignments, including communication between
a
shelter and the EOC. He said coordination among the various county EOCs
and the
State EOC in the capital of Tallahassee also worked smoothly.
Hundreds
of residents in the Florida Panhandle and elsewhere along the
storm's
expected landfall point took advantage of Red Cross shelters.
Thousands
were without power in the affected area in the storm's immediate
aftermath.
Dennis hit the region less than a year after a series of
devastating
hurricanes ravaged Florida last year, and that point was not
lost on
Northern Florida Section Emergency Coordinator Joe Bushel, W2DWR,
who
noted that many ARES members were among those still recovering from
2004.
"For
most of us outside the isolated severe damage areas, Dennis was a great
drill
which provided much-needed experience," Bushel said. "Unfortunately,
Florida
has had its share of 'experience' over the last two years."
West
Panhandle District Emergency Coordinator Bobby Tyree, KG4KGX, said
Santa
Rosa County ARES stood down July 13. "The Santa Rosa emergency manager
made
the statement that she could not have done it without ARES," he
reported.
Although
ARES members were at the ready all along Florida's western coast,
Southern
Florida Section Emergency Coordinator Jeff Beals, WA4AW, said
Dennis
was "primarily a rain event" in most of the section's counties.
Special
sessions of the Southern Florida ARES Net were called up as the
storm
moved into the Gulf.
In
Mississippi, the West Gulf ARES net activated Sunday afternoon, and ARES
teams
invoked the memorandum of understanding with the Louisiana and South
Texas
ARRL sections regarding assistance with net control duties.
Mississippi
SM Malcolm Keown, W5XX, said the net secured July 11 as Dennis
exited
the state.
"Early
reports indicate that as Dennis approached, ARES responded very
quickly
in counties along the Gulf Coast and along the Mississippi/Alabama
line,"
Keown said, thanking everyone who took part.
The
Alabama Emergency Net and the Alabama EOC activated July 8. Alabama SM
Greg
Sarratt, W4OZK, traveled to Escambia County, Alabama, to assist with
ARES
activities there. He noted July 12 that ARES teams were assisting with
damage
assessment.
Pilgrim
said he was pleased to report that participants in the IARU HF World
Championship
contest July 9 and 10 posed no problems for the HWN, although
less-than-optimal
band conditions and solar flares did complicate things.
"We
received total and complete cooperation from the contesting community
and
were left with virtually a clear frequency on which to conduct our
business,"
Pilgrim said. "Thanks to all those who demonstrated their respect
for and
belief in the ultimate value of Amateur Radio Service--our ability
and
dedication to render support and assistance during times of emergency."
The HWN
reactivated for Hurricane Emily on July 15.
ARRL
Letter Article: Radio Amateurs Secure Ops After Hurricane Emily....
The
following ARRL Letter Article deals with Hurricane Emily and the
securing
of Ops after Hurricane Emily moved through.
==>HURRICANE
WATCH NET, WX4NHC, ARES SECURE EMILY OPERATIONS
After
several days of involvement with Hurricane Emily, the Hurricane Watch
Net
(HWN) <http://www.hwn.org/> and WX4NHC <http://www.wx4nhc.org/> at
the
National
Hurricane Center secured net operation on 14.325 MHz at 0430 UTC
July
20. The HWN activated several times as Emily crossed the Caribbean Sea,
the Yucatan
Peninsula and the Gulf of Mexico before making landfall on the
coast
of Mexico south of Brownsville, Texas, as a dangerous Category 3
hurricane.
The storm rapidly lost strength over the mountainous terrain of
northern
Mexico.
"Now
with Emily safely behind us, it is time to take a breath, sit back and
get
ready for the next one," HWN Manager Mike Pilgrim, K5MP, commented this
week.
"Unfortunately, there is sure to be another." Emily arrived fast on
the
heels of Hurricane Dennis, which came ashore in Florida and Alabama. At
week's
end, the National Hurricane Center was eyeing Tropical Storm
Franklin,
drifting erratically northeastward near the Great Abaco Island and
not far
from the Bahamas.
Pilgrim
recounted that during the course of seven days, Emily--the second
major
hurricane of the still-early season--cut a swath across the southern
Caribbean
barely missing Jamaica and the Caymans. "This is the earliest in
recorded
history that we have had five named storms," he said. "We certainly
hope
that is not a sign of what's to come." The Atlantic Hurricane season
ends
November 30.
All
told, Pilgrim reports, the HWN maintained an active presence on 14.325
MHz for
a total of 45 hours spread over various portions of five days and
nights.
"A rough estimate yields approximately 600 voluntary person-hours
expended
by HWN members and members of WX4NHC over that short period of
time,"
he said.
Meanwhile,
South Texas Section Emergency Coordinator Jerry Reimer, KK5CA,
says
Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) teams wound down their
activation
for Emily July 20. South Texas ARES District 3 volunteers began
to
prepare their homes and key operating sites for Emily on July 16, when
forecasts
indicated a potential landfall along the lower Texas coast.
At the
request of the Texas Governor's Division of Emergency Management,
South
Texas ARES activated an emergency net on July 19 on HF, Reimer
reported.
Supplementing the net were EchoLink and IRLP-linked repeaters
throughout
the potential target area and at resource staging areas such as
San
Antonio. "Some ARES leaders relied upon Winlink to maintain
communications
when their Internet provider had unexplained difficulties,"
Reimer
noted.
As
things turned out, Emily's trajectory took it ashore some 90 miles south
of the
Texas-Mexico border, sparing South Texas its most intense
winds--upward
of 125 MPH when the storm hit land. Reimer noted that constant
onshore
winds of 40-45 MPH along South Padre Island caused storm surges of 4
to 8
feet in some areas and localized coastal flooding.
ARES
volunteers remained at emergency operations centers in Brownsville,
Cameron
County, NWS Brownsville, Hidalgo County and elsewhere throughout the
night
in case the storm changed direction. Reimer says reports came in of
intermittent
rain and wind gusts of up to 50 MPH well inland from the coast.
One
special-needs shelter opened July 19. "Many people heeded the call for
voluntary
evacuation, especially those living on South Padre Island and
those
with motor homes," Reimer said.
ARRL
Letter Article: VoIP Modes Critical in Assisting the National Hurricane Center
during Activations....
The
following ARRL Letter Article highlights the VoIP Hurricane Net and the
important
role it played during Hurricane Emily while it intensified rapidly
and
impacted Trinidad, Tobago, and Grenada with damage and conditions similar
to a
Category I to minimal Category II Hurricane. SKYWARN Net Controls from
across
the NWS Taunton County Warning Area, North Carolina, the Midwest, Texas,
Hawaii
and Australia continue to provide support to this very important function
and the
ARRL highlighted the efforts of the net through a submission of
information
by Assistant National Hurricane Center Coordinator, Julio
Ripoll,
WD4R. The article appears below:
==>VoIP
MODES CRITICAL FOR HURRICANE CENTER SUPPORT, WX4NHC SAYS
Radio
amateurs using voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) modes such as
EchoLink
<http://www.echolink.org/> and IRLP <http://www.irlp.net>are doing
an
outstanding job of supporting forecasters tracking hurricanes. So says
WX4NHC
Assistant Amateur Radio Coordinator Julio Ripoll, WD4R. The latest
example
was during WX4NHC activations--in cooperation with the Hurricane
Watch
Net (HWN) <http://www.hwn.org/> --for Hurricane Emily. Ripoll, says
VoIP-mode
users have supported WX4NHC in collecting ground-level weather
data as
well as relaying hurricane advisories to residents and agencies in
affected
areas.
"The
EchoLink and IRLP partnership created for hurricanes and severe weather
is
unique," Ripoll told ARRL, adding that he's seen upward of 100 VoIP
connections
during storm emergencies, many of which represent repeaters and
conference
rooms "with untold numbers listening." Ripoll said VoIP modes
also
have served to connect Red Cross headquarters stations, state emergency
operations
centers (EOCs), National Weather Service offices and other
agencies.
"The
VoIP-WX Net <http://www.voipwx.net/> has also added a large number of
Technician
class operators who were not able to report on HF in the past,"
he
noted. Although it has a defined and trained cadre of regular
member-operators,
the HWN operates on 14.325 MHz--beyond reach of operators
lacking
at least a General ticket. Ripoll said those connecting via VoIP
modes
often do so using low-power VHF/UHF radios running on battery power
via an
IRLP or EchoLink-equipped repeater.
Ripoll
spotlighted WX-Talk Conference Net Manager Kevin Anderson, KD5WX, of
Texas,
IRLP Reflector 9219 Net Manager Danny Musten, KD4RAA, of North
Carolina,
and ARRL Eastern Massachusetts Section Emergency Coordinator and
SKYWARN
Director Rob Macedo, KD1CY, for being "very supportive" of WX4NHC.
Ripoll
reports that the VoIP Hurricane Net most recently generated "some of
the
most important surface reports" as Hurricane Emily tracked over Grenada,
St
Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago. He cited specific information during Emily
that
arrived via VoIP modes including a report from J73CI, relaying for
J39JQ,
of a roof being blown from a hospital and damage to homes on Grenada
caused
by strong winds. Other VoIP reports came via Julien Dedier, 9Z4FZ, in
Trinidad,
of power outages. Reports relayed by the Trinidad EOC from Tobago
at one
point indicated heavy rainfall and sustained winds of 60 MPH.
Reports
such as these, Ripoll said, were "especially vital during the very
late
evening hours, when there was a lack of HF propagation into the
affected
area."
For
additional information, visit the WX4NHC Web site
<http://www.wx4nhc.org>.
That's
all for this edition of the SKYWARN Newsletter!
Respectfully
Submitted,
Robert
Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES
SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern
Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
Pager
#: (508) 354-3142
Home
Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)
Home/Data
#: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)
Work
Phone #: 1-800-445-2588 Ext.: 72929 (8 AM-5 PM)
Email
Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
Back to the SKYWARN Newsletter Archive