TO: OR-NorCAL-NV Regional VHF and HF ARES Stations
SECs, DECs, ECs, AECs in OR District 5 and CA Districts 1, 2;
ARRL Officials and other HF EMCOMM stations
Selected EMCOMM and Public Safety Officials
Editor: D.W. Thorne, K6SOJ, SEC, SV Section (North)
Amateur Radio Emergency Service
ACS Officer MAR III California OES
k6soj@arrl.net
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THE “5-1-2 BULLETIN” - 12 DEC 2000 - No. 32
“EMERGENCIES DON’T TAKE HOLIDAYS”
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REGIONAL ARES NETS
WEDNESDAYS: 1900 to 1930L - The OR-NorCAL-NV Regional ARES " early net" is on
3987 LSB (1982 LSB alternate). ALL ARES and other EMCOMM STATIONS are WELCOME and are
encouraged to check-in.
1930 to 2000L - OR/NorCal/NV A.R.E.S. LEADERSHIP NET on 3987 LSB (1982 LSB
alternate)
DAILY: 1200 to 1230L -Jefferson Noon Net on 7232 LSB
THIS WEEK:
1 - A CHRISTMAS EVE SCENARIO
2 - NEW AEC IN PLACER COUNTY
3 - CALIFORNIA OES-ACS EMCOMM BULLETIN
4 - NWS SKYWARN NEWS
5 - IF YOU HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT ...
6 - COMING ATTRACTIONS
7 - NET ROSTER - UPDATE
1 - A CHRISTMAS EVE STORY - by D.W. Thorne, K6SOJ
It is the day before Christmas. A family of four, having loaded their car with all
manner of gifts, food, and decorations, depart from their home near Sacramento shortly
after noon. The kids are excited about being able to visit Grandpa and Grandma who live in
Grants Pass, OR.
After stopping in Redding for fuel, and a refill of hot coffee, and snacks. It
is raining as they venture north on Interstate 5. Darkness sets in and soon the rain
turns to snow. Visibility is very poor, and the heavy holiday traffic begins to slow to a
crawl.
The snowfall is increasing. Dad is at the wheel, and falls into line behind an
“18 Wheeler”. The weather worsens, and they safely follow the truck into a
rest area on I-5 near Lakehead. They decide to wait for awhile and listen to the
radio for WX and road reports. They are dismayed when they learn that I-5 is closed
a few miles north of their location due to a “jack-knifed-big-rig”. There is now
about a foot of snow on the ground, and the temperature is dropping. An hour later a
CHP Officer arrives and informs everyone that “I-5 is closed for the night”, but
“it will be re-opened in the morning”. They prepare to spend the
night in their car. Fortunately, their sleeping bags from last summer’s camping
trip are still in the trunk!
Dad walks over to the pay phone to call his parents in Grants Pass, advise them that they
are “OK”, and that they will see them tomorrow. Sadly, the telephone has
been vandalized and is non-operative. Knowing that his dad and mom are prone to
worry, he begins to be concerned about them. He knows that his father listens to the
NWS Medford WX Broadcasts, and will be aware of the severe winter storm WARNING.
As he walks back to the car, he notices that a few people are standing near the drivers
door of the “18 Wheeler”. The commercial driver is talking into a
microphone. CB? Someone says, “it’s a ham radio operator! And
further more, she is a member of the Walker County, Texas, ARES, as is familiar with
proper operating procedures and “traffic handling”.
As this scenario has been developing, emergency coordinators in affected counties have
activated local weather and road nets (WARNs) on pre-determined local frequencies.
And,
throughout the southern Oregon and northern California region, alert ARES operators have
tuned up and are monitoring 3987 LSB as well as established local VHF frequencies (146.52,
146.55, or local repeaters).
Back at the rest area, the truck driver is handling a message for another stranded
motorist. After the message has been passed, our hero in this little tale asks:
“Can you get a message to Grants Pass? The lady trucker responds with,
“I can sure try!”. She writes down the name, address, and telephone number
of Grandpa and Grandma. The message: WE ARE STRANDED REST AREA NEAR LAKE
SHASTA X ARE ALL SAFE X SEE YOU TOMORROW X MERRY CHRISTMAS X LOVE FRED MARIE
AND KIDS.
An ARES operator a few miles east of Redding has just started his two hour WARN
“watch”. Every 15 minutes he announces on a repeater: “This is
KF6---, monitoring for the Shasta County A-R-E-S, standing by for weather or road reports
or other traffic.” The trucker quickly
checks in to the net, indicating she has “health and welfare” traffic. The
operator has a blank RADIOGRAM handy and accepts the message.
He advises the truck driver that the WARN will be active late into the evening and to call
if there is any other needs. He also intructs the driver to remain on frequency and
says he will make a long distance call to the addressee. He dials the number.
A recording is heard... “We’re sorry, but all circuits are busy.
Please check the number and try again. BEEP” After several attempts the
ARES monitor calls another ham, on a local ARES simplex frequency (that has been set aside
for local coordination). This ham has HF and quickly tunes up and checks into the
REGIONAL ARESWARN on 3987LSB.
The HF NCS is in Alturas and responds. She reports that the HF net will again call
for checkins at the “bottom of the hour”, and that Josephine County has had an
ARES station in
the net for the past three checkins. It is now 1930L and the NCS calls for
checkins.
He mentions that he has traffic for Grants Pass . ARES station KC7---in
Merlin, OR answers and accepts the traffic. The local phones are clear and the
message is delivered. Grandpa and Grandma are greatly relieved.
The next morning, the CAL-TRANS crews clear the highway. The sun
is shining, and the snow is melting off. And, after a very uncomfortable night, our
family is again on their way to a very (albeit late)... MERRY CHRISTMAS!
REGIONAL ARES PLAN FOR MUTUAL AID, WARNS, WIDESPREAD POWER OUTAGES AND / OR TELEPHONE
SYSYEM FAILURES. HOOK UP TO EMERGENCY POWER AND BEGIN TO MONITOR THE REGIONAL
FREQUENICES. THE MUTUAL AID GUIDE IS AVAILABLE AT:
www.qsl.net/k6soj
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REGIONAL ARES WEATHER AND ROAD NETS (WARNS) for SV Districts 1 and 2 are on
7232 LSB (daytime) and 3987 LSB (nighttime). 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.
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Check in to the JEFFERSON NOON NET daily at 1200L on 7232 // 3987 LSB for announcements
regarding anticipated severe WX.
2 - NEW AEC APPOINTED IN PLACER COUNTY
Wayne Mikel, KE6DJE, Emergency Coordinator for Placer County (District 4 SV Section) has
appointed Gary Cunningham KQ6RT as his first Assistant EC. The announcement was made
at the Sierra Foothills ARC Christmas Party on December 8, 2000. One of Gary’s
assignments will be assisting with recruiting hams to the ARES in Placer County.
Congratulations Gary and welcome to the ARES leadership team!
3 - (Editor’s note: I thought this was worth reproducing here)
Reprinted with permission from:
THE CALIFORNIA OES ACS NEWSLETTER
Editor: Ken Bourne, W6HK
Copyright (C) 2000 by State of California OES ACS.
(EMC267 Volunteer Management 4/4 For release 12/11/00
(Conclusion of a presentation by Paul Carlin, CA OES Coastal
Region ACS Officer)
The State of California started the idea of the ACS to get volunteers from many
professions to come together and work as unpaid employees of the state, and has actively
promoted this
idea to other agencies that closely work with the state. This is probably the greatest
step towards utilizing volunteer talent that any government agency has ever tried. The
result has been recruitment of people that may run the gamut from company CEO, to highly
trained project managers from the computer industry, to amateur radio operators and
technicians, to a retired police chief. This effort has dramatically broadened the skills
and expertise available to ACS.
The average person we now recruit is a self-starter, confident, well educated, and highly
motivated. Regardless of the civilian job they bring to ACS, the common factor found in
these individuals is the desire to see their unique skills and expertise used and
appreciated as an asset to a served agency.
We in the leadership roles in ACS need to make sure each individual in the unit is heard
and has a voice in the direction of their unit. We must, in our day-to-day activities,
give everyone the ability to have input and contribute to the decision-making process.
This applies less during actual deployments or activations, when property and lives are
threatened and there is a need for a more direct leadership role.
There are, however, consequences to this direct leadership role. If decisions are made and
the ranks disagree, they must have the opportunity to provide input to the After-Action
report and active participation in the incident debriefing. This is where that leadership
is taken to task, if needed.
A volunteer is a unique creature, with different needs than paid staff. The volunteer's
paycheck is what he or she gets back from the organization in the form of pride in his
contribution to public service. It is really the only thing we have to offer them. By
maximizing this, we maximize their desire to work for us. Staff meetings should be open to
all, allowing the volunteers to be an integral part of the group--allowing them to speak
their mind, to disagree. They will know their opinion counts with the leaders within the
organization, and in this way they provide valuable contributions to planning at all
levels.
4 - SKYWARN NEWS
Jim Reynolds, Warning Coordination Meteorologist, Medford NWS
Randy Miltier, K7RPM, SKYWARN Coordinator
Gary Pederson, N7GK, Asst. SKYWARN Coordinator
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
NWS WEATHER SPOTTER CLASSES:
NOTE: The Medford NWS office reports that classes will resume around April or May. Watch
this spot and/or check in to the ARES nets for updates and announcements.
WEEKLY SKYWARN NET:
Sundays at 1930L on the Mt. Ashland 147.26+ repeater (WX7MFR/R) ALSO activated during
severe weather events.
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 concerning the ham radio part of the program, contact Randy/K7RPM < k7rpm@arrl.net > or,
Gary/N7GK < gpederso@orednet.org > via e-mail or on 147.26+
(Mt. Ashland).
5 - 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...just send it to:
k6soj@arrl.net
6 - COMING ATTRACTIONS...
*** STRAIGHT KEY NIGHT - DECEMBER 31, 2000***
(Yes Virginia, there IS a place for CW in EMCOMM)
*** EMCOMM 2001 - MARCH 31, 2001 - PALO CEDRO, CALIFORNIA ***
7 - NEW ROSTER - UPDATE
The 5-1-2 ARES Regional Net Roster is at: www.qsl.net/k6soj/nets/net.htm
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ECs and AECs: WE NEED YOUR HELP - BE A NET CONTROL OPERATOR!
(NOTE: ALL ARES Leadership personnel (ECs, AECs, DECs, and SECs), and ARRL OES and ORS,
from any District and/or Section are welcome to check in as visitors. If you wish
to be on the discussion list (second round), just indicate that when you check in.)
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IF YOU ARE A PRIVATE OR GOVERNMENT PUBLIC SERVICE AGENCY, OR JUST A "MEMBER OF THE
PUBLIC"; AND YOU NEED EMERGENCY OR DISASTER RELATED
COMMUNICATIONS...JUST CALL "5-1-2". WE'RE OPEN...24 HOURS A DAY!
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