"Real volunteerism is doing things for others, when it’s NOT convenient for you."
The 5-1-2 BULLETIN - 10 July 01 - No. 62
TO: OR-NorCAL-NV ARES and other EMCOMM Stations,ARRL Officials, other EMCOMM and Public Safety Officials;
in Oregon District 5, California SV Section Districts 1, 2...and BEYOND.
FROM: D.W. Thorne, K6SOJ, ARES SEC, SV Section (North), editor.
Assistant ACS Officer MAR III California OES
INTERNET: www.qsl.net/k6soj E-MAIL: k6soj@arrl.net
CA OES ACS INLAND REGION WEBSITE: www.acs.oes.ca.gov/Inland/
+ OES/ACS, ARES, and NAVY PERSONNEL INJURED IN SAR HELICOPTER CRASH
From: Matt Scharper, Deputy Chief, California OES Law Enforcement Branch
and State SAR Coordinator / Region V LEMA Coordinator
Date: Monday, July 09, 2001 2:42 PM
"As some of you are probably aware, Tuolumne County Sheriff is conducting a major search operation within the Emigrant Wilderness, Stanislaus National Forrest for a 28 year old solo hiker from Mountain View, Santa Clara County. The search is scaling down as no positive clues have been found, aside from the subjects car at the trail head and his wilderness permit on file, since he departed on the 27th of June. Many of you have provided mutual aid of which is truly appreciated aside from the many communications problems, wilderness area restrictions problems, and difficult assignment problems. I have been staffing the search base to try and help ease these problems and have been experiencing the frustration present.
Yesterday, July 8th, at about 1300 hours, a Fallon NAS HH-1N (Huey) "Longhorn 2", assigned to the search crashed. It was in the
process of deploying portable mountain top repeaters within the wilderness area to
overcome some of the communications problems being encountered. It is unknown at this point what actually occurred but the ship was just about
to set down on "Granite Dome" 10,322 elev. to set up a repeater when there was a
loss of control and the ship suddenly spiraled and struck the mountain side very
violently, destroying the aircraft. Luckily, the aircraft came to rest on a ledge -
keeping it from falling over a 300 feet vertical cliff. The crew of 4 NAS Fallon
along with 2 OES personnel aboard, although injured, were able to exit and get away as reportedly, the
engines were unable to be shut down and continued to run for 15 to 20 before shutting down themselves while jet fuel was running
everywhere.
There was never any fire. Also, luckily, either the transmission or main rotor shaft became disabled so there was no spinning rotor blades, or what would be left of them, when the ship came to a rest.
The crew was quickly rescued by an Army National Guard UH-60 (Blackhawk) that was preparing for a search assignment when the "mayday" was received. I met with all the personnel of the aircraft at the Tuolumne General Hospital ER and must say, these are some very lucky individuals.
As a matter of fact, I mentioned that they all need to go buy lottery tickets as it's their day! Aside from looking pretty beat up, some fairly major cuts, abrasions, and bruises to all the most severe injury was a broken hand on one of our OES communications employees. After treating the broken hand and suturing up the lacerations, all were released from the hospital.
We may not know the cause of this accident for some time as it is under a tight military investigation but I will keep you posted to any issues we should be aware of for future SAR operations and anything that may come out of this regarding our use of military assets, namely NAS.
This incident reminds us that we must never forget to analyze the risk to benefit factor and always expect the unexpected. Murphy must have shown up at search base yesterday but he failed to sign in. Obviously an angel also showed up for the helicopter crew!
UPDATE: (received 10 July)
From: Don Root, Chief, Telecommunications Section, Operations Support Branch, Governor's Office of Emergency Services (California)
(Relayed via): Ben Green, WD8CZP, OES Telecommunications Officer ACS/EAS
"As some of you may have heard, at about 1:00 PM yesterday Ed Braaten and Jeff Ruhl were on board a Navy SAR helicopter that crashed at the 11,000 foot level while deploying a portable repeater in support of a Search effort in the Emigrant Wilderness on the Stanislaus National Forest. All 6 occupants (the 4 Navy crew members and our 2 team members) were able to get out of the wrecked aircraft, and were picked up by another SAR helicopter within an hour. All were flown into Sonora and taken to the hospital for check-out. Ed has no injuries of note (other than major soreness); Jeff received a broken hand and was also very sore."
Editor’s Note: Ed Braaten, K6EKB and Jeff Ruhl, (call sign N/A), are both
active ARRL/ARES and ACS volunteers. This incident was unfortunate, and we are all thankful that the outcome was not worse. It also underscores the
importance of working within the system, and being registered properly with the served agency. - editor.
+ + + SHORT CIRCUITS - Brief (important) announcements:
+ SHASTA COUNTY ARES TEAM MEMBER INJURED IN AUTO ACCIDENT:
Dee Cloyd, W6DEE (YL of Dick, WO6P, District 2 EC) was injured in a traffic accident Thursday evening (7/5). A semi-truck driver fell asleep at the wheel
and crossed over into Dee's lane and hit her head on. She was wearing her seat belt and the air bags deployed correctly. No doubt that these items saved
her life, but her car is totaled. She was released from the hospital on Sunday (7/8). Please keep Dee in your thoughts and prayers.
Dee’s address is:
Dee Cloyd, W6DEE
30910 Thumper Dr.
Shingletown, CA 96088
(Dee was the petite and very pleasant YL that assisted at the registration desk at EMCOMM 2001)
+ SOJOURNERS Field Day 2001 Pictures at: www.qsl.net/w6soj/field_day/fieldday.html
(NOTE: If your EMCOMM group has Field Day pictures on a website, just send the URL and we’ll mention it in the 5-1-2 Bulletin)
+ QST...QST...QST... WWV/WWVH COULD GO AWAY ... DO YOUR PART TO SAVE IT!
The NIST (formerly National Bureau of Standards) Time and Frequency Services survey is now available
online. To complete the survey, go to: www.timesurvey.nist.gov/
The survey will be concluded September 30, 2001. Thank you for your participation.
For additional information and comments on this issue visit:
http://lists.contesting.com/_towertalk/200102/msg00673.html
http://www.strongsignals.net/swboard/messages/2026.html
+ FEATURE ARTICLE (at end of this bulletin) -
TWEEMCOMMO ("Tweem Commo") "The Well-Equipped EMergency COMMunications Operator: maps - Maps - MAPS!"
+ MONITORING THE NATIONAL CALLING FREQUENCY AND THE "WILDERNESS
PROTOCOL"
Most operators know that the VHF portion of the 2 meter band is "channelized". There are 25 frequencies designated for FM simplex operation. 146.52 MHz is the National CALLING Frequency. All EMCOMM operators should monitor this frequency whenever possible. (Yes, I know that it is abused considerably in some areas by "rag-chewers")
It is especially important for mobile operators traveling and for those of us who live near wilderness areas to monitor 146.52.
In the June 1996 issue of QST (p. 85) a "Wilderness Protocol" is defined. Stations are instructed to monitor 146.52 MHz (and 446.0, 223.5, 52.525 and 1294.5 where possible) for the first five minutes of the hour if possible starting at 0700L daily. And especially every three hours (e.g. - 0700-0705L, 1000-1005L, etc.) for distress or other calls from hikers and other backcountry travelers. This should also be observed by travelers in wilderness areas who "hold their HTs high above their heads" and listen. (A pocket roll-up TV twinlead J-pole antenna is worth it’s weight in gold. I’ve used one many times, when my "rubber duck" just didn’t cut it!)
Calling CQ, to see who is within range, should not be done until four minutes after the top of the hour.
Of course if you are at home or mobile, with a constant power supply, it is recommended to monitor 146.52 continuously. I do so, and if called, I move the QSO to another 2M "channel" once contact has been established.
Also, in the southern Oregon / northern California region, operators on the Jefferson Noon Net (JNN) (1200-1230+ daily on 7232 LSB (alt. 3987), monitor 146.52 for relays or traffic from "the backcountry". (In addition, they periodically announce that they are monitoring for the JNN.)
Maybe, just maybe, this concept will catch on during other regularly scheduled nets...everywhere.
+ TROPICAL STORM ALLISON REPORT -
Bill Frazier, KC7REK, (ARES DISTRICT 1 and 2 webmaster) has returned from his Red Cross disaster assignment in Houston, TX. Since he is deserving of some "R and R"...the SV Section District 1 & 2 website will not have any updates for a few more days. Here is the latest (unedited) message from one of the greatest guys I ever met:
GM Dave,
First let me tell you that I have already updated the Field Day info for next year on the W6SOJ website and have removed it from the K6SOJ website for the time being. I'll replace it later this week.
Next, I'm sorry to hear of the "demise" of the VHF JNN. I know that it had to be a hard decision with as much commitment you and Nannette had put into it, after all, it was the "father" of the HF net that is now in place. It doesn't seem reasonable that there wasn't one person that would step forward as NC to provide some relief for you and Nannette,
Just few facts that you may not be aware of on Tropical Storm Allison and the Red Cross response this far. There were more than 40,000 families affected by the storm in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut.
The Red Cross has provided over $8.1 million dollar in Class 2 relief (clothes, shoes and food) in Texas alone. There were as many as 10 service centers open at one time in the Houston area and at our service center we opened over 600 cases by close of business July 4, 2001.
The Red Cross had served over 2,173,148 meals and snacks to victims and relief workers as of close of business June 27, which was the last day for Mass Care on this operation. Damage Assessment had compile over 60,000 "street sheets" for the Houston area where flooding was known to have occurred.
At our service center (#7) we were seeing about 180 people a day for disaster relief. Our hours of operation for the first 2 weeks were from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm with the last client getting out the door around 8:30 or 9:00 depending on the case and on the last day for Class 2 assistance we wrote disbursing orders totaling $22,000.
Although, as I said before, I ran into a lot of other hams on the assignment, I didn't make a single radio contact. (Editor’s note: Bill is a family services specialist (caseworker) and was not assigned to communications.) I was able to access the 146.94/34 machine one time, but then it went down, but my HT came in handy for monitoring the NOAA weather station on 162.400 for tornado warnings and flash flood warnings during the almost daily thunderstorm we got in the afternoons. By the way the temperatures stayed in the 90's with a humidity range of 90 to 100% every day I was there. HOT and MUGGY!
By the way we did have a "twister" touch down about 2 miles from where our service center was located. The winds uprooted a few trees around the school where we had the service center and knocked out power periodically in the area, but everyone was okay. And lightning -- I have never seen so much vertical lightning in my life. This is the stuff that kills and did while we were there.
There was a tow truck driver and a police officer both struck at the same time while hooking up a wrecked car on one of the freeways while I was there, they both survived, but another person was at their computer and they weren't so lucky.
I did get one day off while I was there and drove down to Galveston for the short trolley tour of old downtown Galveston to get some of the "flavor" of the town. I also took in a slideshow presentation "The Great Storm", about the 1900 hurricane that almost completely destroyed Galveston, both the city and the island. This was the first great disaster that the Red Cross assisted with and Clara Barton, herself, took charge of the relief operation.
Well, that's about it from here for now. Feel free to use any of this if you feel it's information that others would like to know.
73 de Bill, KC7REK
------------------
Thanks Bill for your fine report...I hope your are enjoying your well-deserved "R and R"!
------------------
+ FYI: The American Red Cross public service frequency is 47.42 MHz.
The (unofficial) ARES/ARC 2 meter simplex frequency is 147.42 MHz.
+ NET REMINDER - 5-1-2 REGIONAL ARES AND NWS NETS
UPDATED (May 9) LEADERSHIP 5-1-2 NET ROSTER AT: http://www.qsl.net/k6soj/nets/net.htm
DAILY:
1200 to 1230L: Jefferson Noon Net on 7232 LSB (3987 LSB alternate)
WEDNESDAYS:
1915 to 1930L: NWS WX SPOTTER NETS (see NWS-SKYWARN section below)
1930 to 2000L: A.R.E.S. LEADERSHIP NET on 3987 LSB (1982 LSB alternate)
(NOTE TO ALL ARES and other EMCOMM LEADERS (including, but not limited to SECs,
DECs, ECs, AECs) in any section, district or county: Although this net is primarily for District 5 (OR) and Districts 1 and 2
(SV); you are all cordially invited to check in and participate in the
discussion(s). A wide range of EMCOMM topics are covered.)
+ ARES and other EMCOMM NETS - list at:
www.qsl.net/k6soj/nets/index.htm
+ ICS COURSE IN JACKSON COUNTY, OREGON
Medford, OR. July 23-27, 2001.
Info: Kelly Jo Jensen at: (503) 378-2911 or kjensen@oem.state.or.us
+ AND NOW...THIS WEEK’S TRAINING:
The article: "DISASTER / MAJOR EMERGENCY -- WHAT CAN WE EXPECT? by Lt. Dan
Blackston, Chula Vista Police Department" appeared in its entirety in BULLETIN # 36 (January 9) and is archived at
www.qsl.net/k6soj. Below are excerpts from that article with comments.
48. Traditional non-emergency personnel will want to go home at 5 o'clock;
all public employees must be made to realize that they are a part of the
emergency response team.
COMMENT: This a very real problem for emergency management and other local and/or state officials. Let’s face it...staff overtime is not planned for in
budgets, and taxpayers are already overburdened. A state or federal "declaration" may help...but that is usually only kicks in after local resources are
exhausted.
Some paid government employees will often "change hats" and stay on with a volunteer agency such as the Red Cross or the ARES. However, since many rank-and-file disaster and other emergency volunteers work in the private sector; and are only available "after hours", the two groups can complement each other. But it does require pre-planning and cooperation between the public and private sector.
TRAINING BULLETINS that appear in this bulletin are also archived at:
www.qsl.net/k6soj (PLUS A "PLETHORA" OF ADDITIONAL TRAINING MATERIAL)
+ NWS-SKYWARN NEWS
Jim Reynolds, KD7MLO, Warning Coordination Meteorologist, Medford NWS
Gary Peterson, N7GK, Asst. Medford SKYWARN Coordinator
D. W. Thorne, K6SOJ, Asst. Medford SKYWARN Coordinator
NWS WEATHER SPOTTER CLASSES:
The pre-summer schedule of WX SPOTTER training classes for southern Oregon and northern California area has been completed.
MEDFORD NWS SKYWARN PAGE:
http://www.qsl.net/wx7mfr/SKYWARN/index.html
CURRENT NWS WEATHER BULLETINS AND WARNINGS ARE AVAILABLE VIA A LINK AT:
www.qsl.net/k6soj
SKYWARN is the National Weather Service program of trained volunteer spotters reporting severe weather.
The ARRL/ARES has a national "memorandum of understanding" (MOU) with the NOAA/NWS.
MEDFORD NWS WX SPOTTER NET WEDNESDAY NIGHTS.
The Medford NWS WX SPOTTER NET is on Wednesdays at:1915L on 147.26+ (Mt. Ashland repeater -
WX7MFR/R); SIMULTANEOUSLY ON: 146.55 SIMPLEX (Siskiyou and Klamath Counties); AND 146.97- the Likely repeater (Modoc County).
FROM 1920 to 1929L: on 3987 LSB (1982 LSB alternate), relays and other checkins will be accepted and forwarded.
ALSO, a packet WX SPOTTER NET is being developed to run concurrently
SKYWARN will be activated on these frequencies during severe weather events.
The NWS PACKET NODE ON MT. ASHLAND is on 145.030 MHz, ID is: skywrn. NWS is asking for SKYWARN and ARES packet stations to connect and let them know your location, the type of antenna and power you use to access the Mt. Ashland node. The "connect" to NWS packet bbs (direct) is 145.090 and the ID is
NWSMFR. Then connect to NWSBBS, e.g., c nwsmfr. Then, c nwsbbs. The NWSMFR at nws mfr is a node.
Questions? contact Gary, N7GK < gpederso@orednet.org >
The NWS/Medford "service area" consists of nine counties: Coos, Curry, Douglas, Klamath, Jackson, Josephine, Lake, (OR); Modoc and Siskiyou (CA).
If you have any questions about the SKYWARN program, contact: Gary/N7GK
< gpederso@orednet.org > via e-mail or on 147.26+ (Mt. Ashland).
REGIONAL ARES WEATHER AND ROAD NETS (ARESWARNS) for SV Districts 1 and 2 are on the MUTUAL AID FREQUENCIES of 7232 LSB (daytime) and 3987 LSB (nighttime). 1982LSB (nighttime alternate). Up/down QRM. OREGON District 5, and all ARES stations elsewhere, are CORDIALLY INVITED to participate. During a SEVERE WEATHER EVENT, the HF WARN meets hourly AT THE BOTTOM OF THE HOUR, until all information and traffic is passed, (more often as needed).
LOCAL ARES/WARNS are activated by a local EC or AEC per your local plan. Check with your EC for more information about your area. It is recommended that they meet at the TOP OF EACH HOUR, and include a local HF - VHF station for relay / interface duty with the regional net.
Check in to the JEFFERSON NOON NET daily at 1200L on 7232 // 3987 LSB for announcements regarding anticipated severe WX.
IF YOU HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT OR SOMETHING OF INTEREST TO REPORT about your ARES team or other EMCOMM unit...and would like it posted in the 5-1-2 BULLETIN...send it to: k6soj@arrl.net
+ COMING ATTRACTIONS ...
WHAT CAN WE EXPECT? THE SERIES CONTINUES
HOW PREPARED ARE YOU? - A FUN QUIZ
+ EMCOMM 2002:
April 20-21 2002 - Bishop Quinn High School, Palo Cedro, CA.
+ The "5-1-2 BULLETIN" - Copyright (c) 2001 - D.W. Thorne, K6SOJ Permission is hereby granted to reproduce and re-circulate items from this bulletin providing appropriate credit is given to the "5-1-2 REGIONAL ARES BULLETIN" and/or the author or originator of the material. Send corrections, updates, etc. to:
k6soj@arrl.net
+ PLEASE REMEMBER TO CONSERVE ENERGY!
---------------------
+ FEATURE ARTICLE
TWEEMCOMMO ("Tweem Commo"); OR, "The Well-Equipped EMergency COMMunications Operator"; OR,
"maps - Maps - MAPS!"
- by D. W. Thorne, K6SOJ
After keeping a logbook, pen/pencil, a clock or watch, a phone book and/or list of emergency numbers handy in your ham shack; a supply of maps is high on my priority list of accessories for any well-equipped EMCOMM station.
During the Devil Fire (Lassen County) a few weeks ago, I was unable to quickly place my hands on my Lassen N.F. map. Now where did I put it?!
I finally found it, but soon decided it was time for me to take action and re-organize my map cache.
Maps are cumbersome. Most are usually stored folded (like an accordion) or rolled. It is difficult to work with a map that has been rolled up. It wants to stay rolled up, and in the ensuing battle it usually gets torn. Folded maps aren’t much better. I decided to keep mine as "unfolded" as much as possible (folded in quarters or sixths for ready reference.
Storing them then becomes a problem. A drawer in "legal" size file cabinet works well, but it is not very good for "grab and go". Out in my shop, I resurrected a old surplus Swedish Army, lightweight, fiber case that I had bought a few years ago. It measures 26"L x 14"W x 7" H. A tad bit bulky, but it would make rapid access to my maps easy. A old lightweight suitcase or attaché case should also work well.
I started by unfolding, flattening, and refolding my collection of 21 N.F. maps. Since the name of each map may not always be visible when folded in quarters or sixths, I used 3"x 3" index cards, with each map’s name, and attached them in the upper right hand corner with a jumbo paper clip. Got 'em all indexed. Nice! Now I will begin to add selected "topographics", aeronautical charts, road maps, etc.
To make your "map kit" complete, I suggest adding a ruler, a compass, a protractor (360 degree is best), a magnifier (lighted is best), a flashlight, some high-lighter type markers, pencils, pens, and a notebook. You may even want to consider keeping your GPS receiver (if you have one) in your "map ready case".
Now, all I have to do is figure out where to keep it in the house. I doubt that my YL (KE6MZT) will tolerate having it as the center piece on our dining room table very much longer. "I’ll have it off the table by the end of fire season dear...I promise!"