“A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.”
-- General George S. Patton
A Weekly Bulletin for ARES and other EMCOMM Operators and Public Safety
Officials in “the west”...and beyond.
D. W. Thorne, K6SOJ - Chief Editor - k6soj@arrl.net
Bill Frazier, W7ARC - Washington Associate Editor and Webmaster
Ed Ewell, K7DXV - Assoc. Editor Training / Technical Consultant
Paul Cavnar, NN7B - Associate Editor, Nevada
Sgt. Dave Nicholson, KB6PNT - Assoc. Editor and SAR Advisor
INTERNET: www.emcomm.org E-MAIL: k6soj@arrl.net
A.R.R.L. HQ: www.arrl.org/ (Check it daily!)
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• RADIO WATCH • MONITOR • CALLING • TRAFFIC • EMCOMM • GUARD •
• EMCOMMWEST: 7111 KHZ DAY / 3711 KHZ NIGHT / 146.52 MHZ 24/7
• ALASKA WATCH/TRAFFIC/CALLING: 3534 // 7042 // 14050 KHZ
• NEVADA ARES MONITOR/CALLING SSB: 3965 KHZ
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L = Current local time in the [PST winter / PDT summer] zone.
Z = Universal Time Coordinated - UTC (same as ZULU and GMT.
HOMELAND SECURITY ALERT LEVEL: ELEVATED (Yellow)
IN THIS EDITION ...
+ NEW SUBSCRIBERS
+ SHORT CIRCUITS
+ FEEDBACK
+ COMING EVENTS
+ TRAINING AND CONTINUING EDUCATION
• TRAUMA ALERT
• OCT 1 PRACTICE RADIOGRAMS
+ NWS SKYWARN SECTION
+ EMCOMMWEST BULLETIN INFORMATION
+ WELCOME NEW
SUBSCRIBERS -
• Chuck Miller, KD6AQM, Rancho Cordova, California - SARCR, RACES, ARES
• Kevin Dickson, K6KWD, Foresthill, California - Placer County ARES
• Shawn Gillogly, KG6GMV, Auburn, California - Placer County ARES
+ SHORT CIRCUITS
-
• Bill Frazier, W7ARC, OES, ORS is the new STM for the WWA Section.
• Michael Colvin, W6CUJ, Yuba-Sutter EC (SV Section) has succesfully
completed ARECC-02.
• Ray Skinner, WA6UUR, Fort Jones, CA - SK. Ray and Jean,
KD6PLY were
Siskiyou County ARES VOLUNTEERS OF THE YEAR for 1996.
+ FEEDBACK,
SQUEALS, WHISTLES...AND SPURIOUS EMISSIONS -
“I really look forward to receiving your EMCOMMWEST Bulletin each week.
I doubt seriously if ANYONE else in the U.S. puts forth the time and effort you
do. I plan on plagiarizing it frequently. Communications and Training is the key
to our success! - Harry, KG6RIM, Pilot Hill, CA
COMMENT: Thanks for the kind words Harry. Harry is the webmaster for EL
Dorado County ARES and District 4 (SV Section). View his work at:
http://www.ares-el-dorado-county.org
http://www.ares-sv-d4.org
-------------------------
Ref. “ICAO RADIOTELEPHONY PROCEDURE WORDS AND PHRASES” (ECWB #178)
“Would the word ‘OKAY’ have a place in the vocabulary?
‘Okay?’ (Do you agree or understand.) ‘Okay!’ (I agree or
understand.) Morse -- "--- -.-"
Try it.” - Fred White, WB6WFF, Sonora, CA
COMMENT: Well Fred, I don’t know why “Okay” isn’t listed in the ICAO
RADIOTELEPHONY PROCEDURE WORDS AND PHRASES. My guess is that since these
words and phrases are an international standard, and are used by many for whom
English is a second language, my guess is that the word “Okay” may sound
like a word that may have an entirely different meaning in some other language.
As for the Morse ”OK”, it is commonly used (I use it myself as a friendly
“I agree”). But as far as I know, it is not an official abbreviation
or prosign. I guess that’s because everyone knows what it means.
Okay? - Editor
>From “Central Mendocino County” (CA):
“Hello, Len, WA6KLK here. On October first I will no longer
be the San Francisco Section Manager. My term is up and I am being replaced by
Bill Hillendahl, KH6GJV, of Santa Rosa. He has been my ASM for almost four
years.
Bill will do a great job and I will assist him where and when I can. He
has many new ideas and is going to make some changes in the section. My many
thanks to you and to EMCOMM for all the support I have received. Although I
haven’t made the Jefferson Noon Net too much lately, I hope to
get back on track shortly and get involved again.” TNX es 73 Len Gwinn,
WA6KLK.
COMMENT: And thanks for all of YOUR support the past few years Len.
Good luck to you on your new adventures! C U ON JNN. - Editor
“Just returned from a two day trip to Sierra County...did a little
fishing at Sardine Lake. Kathy caught one really nice 13” Brook Trout
and I caught two (14” and 10”) had fish for dinner. Camping was nice
with very few campers this late in the season. Got down to 39 degrees at
night.
I have been using the NVIS type antenna that you wrote up in one of your
EMCOMM BULLETINS. Connected one end of the wire to the top of the ladder
on the back of the motor home. Have an insulator at the 20 meter resonate
point and a clip to jumper over the insulator to make a 40 meter resonate point
with another insulator with a jumper to make for a 75/80 meter length.
Works quite well. I had the wire hooked to the top of the ladder (I use vertical
sticks there under most conditions) and the wire just draped over several
bushes. Got really good results up into Oregon and down into Southern California
as well as Idaho. Simplicity works well!” -
Frank Sharit, W6DHN - Georgetown, CA
COMMENT: “Sardine Lake’? In the High Sierras? But glad the
“K.I.S.S.” antenna worked well for you. One drawback on that antenna
and vehicle counter-poise method is that it may cause interference to other HF
stations when operating in a congested situation (such as Field Day or an
emergency operation). But it sure is “the ticket” for quick deployment
at a road side or wilderness location. (The antenna Frank mentioned is
described at: http://www.emcomm.org/svares/projects/nvis.htm
)
+++ COMING EVENTS
+++
+ TOMORROW + (10/8)
+ NET REMINDER - (2nd Wednesday of the month)
• Sacramento Valley Section ARRL Net (Stations outside SV section welcome).
• 1900L 146.085- (127.3) SV Section ARRL Net (south-central valley area).
• 1930L 3987± kHz LSB (1982 kHz alternate).
+ 9 DAYS UNTIL PACIFICON 2003 -
• Pacific Division ARRL Convention
• October 17, 18, 19, 2003
• San Ramon Marriott Hotel
2200 Bishop Drive
San Ramon, California
• www.pacificon.org.
++ NOVEMBER ++
+ CALIFORNIA STATEWIDE EXERCISE
• The California Emergency Medical Services Authority and Department of
Health Services (EMSA/DHS) will conduct a statewide exercise on 13 November 2003
from 1600 to 2000 PST.
• The California OES/ACS has been invited to coordinate emergency
communications. The exercise will include ACS/RACES and ARES EMCOMM at the
local, section, regional and statewide level. All ACS, RACES, and/or ARES
operators should begin now to make sure that their field gear is operational,
and that their formal message handling and net operating
skills are up to par.
+++
TRAINING and CONTINUING EDUCATION SECTION +++
Ed Ewell, K7DXV, Associate Editor for
Training/Technical
NOTE: “TRAUMA ALERT” is in two parts. It is designed to be reproduced
and is in a format suitable for distribution to local officials and others as an
educational document about amateur radio and EMCOMM. You may choose to
distribute only the first page, or both pages if desired.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
“TRAUMA ALERT”
by D. W. Thorne, K6SOJ
Imagine that you and your family are on a motor trip far from home.
Suddenly, you are involved in a traffic accident. While you escape serious
injury, your loved ones are seriously injured. They receive emergency
treatment “on scene” by EMT’s and paramedics. The ambulance driver
asks if
you have a preference as to which hospital you wish to have them transported.
He states that there are two hospitals available, each is about five miles away,
but in opposite directions.
The ambulance driver tells you that when Community Hospital is notified
that they are about to receive several multiple-trauma patients, they page for
“any available doctors and nurses” to respond to the emergency department.
They believe that since doctors, nurses, and technicians are all licensed;
having an emergency team that works and trains together on a regular basis,
really isn’t necessary.
The driver also mentions that at University Hospital, they have a
“trauma team” on stand-by that is composed of emergency physicians, trauma
surgeons, trauma nurses, and technicians that work and train together on a
regular basis. They all regularly take up-to-date continuing education
courses and several have post graduate certification in various specialties.
They know each other’s abilities, strengths and weaknesses; and are familiar
with their equipment and know how to use it even under adverse conditions.
Which hospital would YOU choose?
Now let’s take another scenario and apply it to emergency
communications. Suppose that you are an emergency manager for a county emergency
service agency. A major incident has occurred affecting your entire region
or state. Commercial power, telephones and computers are all down.
The hospital has a critical patient that urgently needs two units of B Neg.”
(Whole blood.) An emergency radio message must be sent to the blood center
at the state capitol, 300 miles away to request two units of B Neg. to be sent
by emergency airlift. The message must be sent “letter perfect”. There
is NO room for error. You have two choices:
1. - You call a ham radio friend and ask him for help. He gets on the
local repeater and says that all available hams are to report to the county EOC.
Within minutes three licensed hams arrive. When you ask to send the
emergency traffic, all you get is three blank stares.
One of them starts calling for help on the repeater. Several hams answer
and ask what is happening. But none of them know how to format and forward
formal (message) traffic.
2. - A trained and skilled EMCOMM operator is already at the EOC. She
carries a HT, and has a VHF mobile transceiver in the parking lot. She
tells you that a local and ARRL Section Net has already been activated. The ARES
operator quickly formats a formal message and within minutes
transmits it to a local ARRL Official Emergency Station for relay. Within 30
minutes the blood is aboard a State Police helicopter and it arrives in about 2
hours.
Which EMCOMM team would YOU choose?
This is the mission of the ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES).
If you are interested in learning more about how the ARES “handles” formal
(RADIOGRAM) message traffic...read Part II >
“TRAUMA ALERT” - PART II
The ARES operator is directed to Dr. DeFibb, the message
“originator”. She asks the doctor to write down who the message is going to
and what he wants the message to say. She remembers the “TRAFFIC
HANDLER’S “MANTRA”... “No • Prepared • Ham • Should • Copy •
Priority • Traffic • Delayed” (NUMBER-PRECEDENCE-HX-STATION OF
ORIGIN-CHECK-PLACE OF ORIGIN-TIME-DATE) On the first line she writes:
1 EMERGENCY HXE K1PYL 22 WATERTOWN CA 1100PST NOV 13
She formats a RADIOGRAM with the name and address, text, and signature:
DUTY OFFICER
CAPITAL CITY BLOOD CENTER
35 RED CROSS DR
CAPITOL TOWN CA 95600
916 555 5555
NEED TWO UNITS B NEGATIVE
WHOLE BLOOD BY 1500 TODAY
REQUESTING EMERGENCY AIRLIFT TO UNIVERSITY
HOSPITAL WATERTOWN ADVISE BY RADIOGRAM
WHEN AIRBORNE
H DEFIBB MD UNIV HOSP WATERTOWN
The ARES operator then shows the RADIOGRAM to Dr. DeFibb who “OKs” it
by initialing it near his name on the signature line. She then IMMEDIATELY
goes to her car, and calls the local ARES Net Control Station on the net
frequency. Local nets are usually on VHF (short range).
K1PYL: “K1PYL WITH EMERGENCY TRAFFIC. OVER.”
NCS: “ALL STATIONS STAND BY.” K1PYL GO AHEAD.”
K1PYL: “I HAVE EMERGENCY TRAFFIC FOR CAPITOL TOWN. OVER.”
NCS: STAND BY. W1PTO ARE YOU ON FREQUENCY? OVER.”
(W1PTO is an ARRL Official Emergency Station. The NCS knows that W1PTO is
VHF and HF equipped for operation on emergency power, and that the section ARES
net was “lit up” (activated) shortly after the incident occurred.)
W1PTO: “AFFIRMATIVE. K1PYL IS Q FIVE. OVER.”
NCS: “K1PYL SEND YOUR TRAFFIC.”
K1PYL, using proper ARRL procedure and ITU phonetics (as needed), sends the
EMERGENCY message to W1PTO...
K1PYL: “END OF MESSAGE NO MORE. K1PYL STANDING BY AT EOC.”
W1PTO: “ROGER MESSAGE NUMBER ONE. WILL EXPEDITE. W1PTO CLEAR.”
NCS: “THIS IS NET CONTROL FOR MOUNTAIN COUNTY ARES STANDING BY FOR TRAFFIC.
W1NCS.”
As the NCS resumes the ARES net operation, W1PTO relays the message to a
HF station near the addressee, who relays it to a VHF station at the BLOOD
CENTER. The Blood Center has planned ahead and has a state police
‘copter standing by. Within a few minutes two units of “B- Negative” are
airborne on chopper SP14.
Because the handling instructions for this message was HXE, the VHF
operator asks permission from the duty officer to originate an EMERGENCY message
back to Dr. DeFibb at University Hospital in Watertown, advising that:
“TWO UNITS B NEG BLOOD EN ROUTE VIA SP14 X ETA 1400 PST”.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: The names and call signs in this little scenario are fictitious.
K1PYL = “Kay, one Pretty Young Lady.”
W1PTO = “Wise one, Proficient Traffic Operator.”
W1NCS = “Working one, Net Control Station”
• RADIOGRAMS TRANSMITTED IN CW AND SSB DURING OCT 1 PRACTICE
SESSION:
---------------------------------------------------------------------
SENDING STATION: K7DXV -- RECEIVING STATION: K6SOJ
-------------------------------------------------
TEST 11 R K7DXV 19 KLAMATH FALLS OR OCT 1
DUANE MANN
1641 RD 196
TULELAKE CA 96134
530 667 4700
TEST MESSAGE X WHEN CHECKING
INTO THE NET WITHOUT TRAFFIC
STATE NO TRAFFIC ON PHONE
OR QRU ON CW
ED
-------------------------------------------------
TEST 12 R K7DXV 24 KLAMATH FALLS OR OCT 1
DONALD NEESE
624 DORRIS BROWNELL RD
DORRIS CA 96023
530 397 3466
TEST MESSAGE X BE SURE
TO UTILIZE THE CORRECT PHONETIC
ALPHABET WHEN CHECKING INTO A
PHONE NET X ALWAYS STATE
YOUR CALL SIGN PHONETICALLY
ED
If you have a question, send it to: k6soj@arrl.net.
Selected questions will be answered in this column.
• Previous training bulletins are archived at:
www.emcomm.org/svares/training/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
• THE TRAFFIC HANDLER’S “MANTRA”:
“No • Prepared • Ham • Should • Copy • Priority • Traffic •
Delayed”
“No • Prepared • Ham • Should • Copy • Priority • Traffic •
Delayed”
“No • Prepared • Ham • Should • Copy • Priority • Traffic •
Delayed”
(NUMBER-PRECEDENCE-HX-STATION OF ORIGIN-CHECK-PLACE OF ORIGIN-TIME-DATE)
+++++ REFERENCE/RESOURCE SECTION +++++
+ TRAFFIC HANDLER’S CHALLENGE: www.emcomm.org
(click bar on main page).
+ ARRL FSD-218. The famous “pink card” that contains
(almost) “everything you ever needed to know about RADIOGRAMS”. An
electronic version of the FSD-218 is available at: http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/forms/#fsd-218
+ National Traffic System (NTS) Methods and Practices Guidelines http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/nts-mpg/
+ PACIFIC AREA TRAFFIC NETS: http://home.earthlink.net/~k7bfl/nwnets.html
+ DIGITAL DIMENSIONS: www.emcomm.org
and click on: Digital Stations.
+ DIGITAL EMCOMM YAHOO GROUP (packet, SSTV, APRS, etc.): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cadigitalemcomm/
+ U. S. AIR FORCE Search and Rescue SURVIVAL MANUAL (AFM 64-5 Aug.
1969) -
Reference Charts - (Print and Save)
GROUND-TO-AIR (close-in) VISUAL SIGNALS:
http://www.emcomm.org/drawings/Ground_to_Air_Signaling_mid.jpg
GROUND-TO-AIR EMERGENCY CODE:
http://www.emcomm.org/drawings/Ground_to_Air_Emergency_Code_mid.jpg
MIRROR (and other) SIGNALING:
http://www.emcomm.org/drawings/Mirror_Signaling_mid.jpg
=== NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SKYWARN SECTION ===
===
MEDFORD -- RENO -- SACRAMENTO -- EUREKA ===
=== CALIFORNIA/NEVADA/OREGON NWS OFFICE MAP: ===
www.stormready.noaa.gov/stormmaps/ca-cwa.htm
=== NWS - ARRL MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING: ===
www.arrl.org/FandES/field/mou/weather.html
REGIONAL NWS SKYWARN NET: WEDNESDAYS AT 1915 PTZ on 3987
Consult the SKYWARN Coordinator for your area for local net information.
+ MEDFORD NWS (WX7MFR) SKYWARN NEWS AND INFORMATION -
OREGON: Curry, Coos, Douglas, Jackson, Josephine, Klamath, and
Lake Counties. CALIFORNIA: Modoc and Siskiyou Counties.
• Jim Reynolds, KD7MLO, Warning Coordination Meteorologist
• Gary Peterson, N7GK, SKYWARN Coordinator
• D. W. Thorne, K6SOJ, Asst. SKYWARN Coordinator
• MEDFORD NWS SKYWARN WEBSITE: www.emcomm.org/skywarn
--------------------------------------------
+ RENO NWS (WX7RNO) SKYWARN NEWS AND INFORMATION -
• RENO FORECAST AREA MAP: www.emcomm.org/reno/index.html
• Roger Lamoni – Warning Coordination Meteorologist
• Matt Parker, N7TOD - SKYWARN Coordinator
• http://renoskywarn.org/
------------------------------------------------------------------
+ SACRAMENTO NWS SKYWARN NEWS AND INFORMATION
• Kathryn Hoxsie, KC8CLO - Warning Coordination Meteorologist
---------------------------------------------
+ CANWARN (Canada “SKYWARN”)
http://hamster.ivey.uwo.ca/~dcolvin/canwarn/what.htm
+
EMCOMMWEST BULLETIN GENERAL INFORMATION
• SUBSCRIBE TO EMCOMMWEST BULLETIN: www.emcomm.org/subscription.htm
• HOW IS EMCOMMWEST AND EMCOMM.ORG FUNDED?
There are no charges, dues, or membership fees for the EMCOMMWEST Bulletin or
EMCOMM.ORG. The domain name, server, and other costs for EMCOMM.ORG are
funded solely by dedicated EMCOMM operators. We accept no commercial
advertisements and the EMCOMM.ORG is “pop up” and “ad free”. If
you have benefited from our efforts, and would like to say thanks by supporting
this work in a tangible way; you may do so by sending a few green stamps, or a
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CA 96058. A receipt will be issued upon request. (A SASE would be
appreciated). Your donation is an outright gift and is NOT tax-deductible.
A five dollar annual donation works out to less than 10¢ an issue.
“Brother...can you spare a dime?”
• RECENT EMCOMMWEST SUPPORTERS: (Thank you!)
- George Simmons, KG6LSB - Auburn, California
• BACK ISSUES OF THE EMCOMMWEST BULLETIN and (the former 5-1-2+
BULLETIN) ARE ARCHIVED AT: www.emcomm.org/svares/archives/
• SEARCH FEATURE AT EMCOMM.ORG
Ever try to locate an article in a past issue of the bulletin? Or, maybe
you’re a new subscriber, and you are interested in knowing if a particular
subject has ever been addressed in a former bulletin. Or...maybe you are just
doing some research. The “site search” feature at www.emcomm.org
may be just what you need!
• The “EMCOMMWEST BULLETIN” - Copyright (c) 2003 - D. W.
Thorne, K6SOJ
Permission is hereby granted to reproduce and re-circulate items from this
bulletin providing appropriate credit is given to the “EMCOMMWEST BULLETIN”
and/or the author or originator of the material. Send corrections, updates, etc.
to: k6soj@arrl.net
=== ECWB #179 END ===
