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April Meeting to Feature Field Day Presentation
The April membership meeting will take place at 7:30 pm, Wednesday, April 14, at Clonlara School, 1289 Jewett, Ann Arbor. Tim Prosser, KT8K, will discuss the ARROW’s plans for Field Day 1999. Field Day this year takes place June 26-27, 1999. I hope to see you there!
ARROW Aids Red Cross During Mock Disaster
by Rane L. Curl N8REG
The Washtenaw, Monroe, and Lenawee County chapters of the American Red Cross held a mock disaster exercise on Friday, March 26 and Saturday, March 27. Several ARROW members took part in this exercise, providing communications between the disaster headquarters, the service center, and emergency shelter.
The scenario was that a tornado touched down along a path from Ridgeway through Milan to Whittaker. The Red Cross mobilized their disaster action teams and made plans to open an emergency shelter in Milan and begin damage assessment.
Rane Curl, N8REG, contacted ARROW members who had volunteered for emergency service. They met with the Washtenaw Red Cross chapter volunteers around 6 pm at the Red Cross chapter headquarters for a briefing and assignments. Jim Wades, WB8SIW, the Communications Officer for the exercise, briefed the hams.
The ARROW members who responded included Rane Curl, N8REG, shelter communications supervisor; Patrick Furlong, KC8GDU; Ralph Katz, KB8ZOY; Ray Lewis, N8EHM; and Dan Romanchik, KB6NU. Also present were Chris Kania, N8FZT and Charles Romick, N8JVN of Wayne County RACES and KA8YKK, the ARL Michigan Section Emergency Coordinator. N8FZT and N8JVN set up and ran the packet stations which transferred messages between the shelter and headquarters.
The Washtenaw Red Cross was responsible for setting up the shelter and making arrangements for mass feeding. The Red Cross vans with shelter-kits proceeded to Milan with a ham in each vehicle. KB8ZOY was stationed at the Red Cross chapter headquarters and acted as net control for this phase of the operation. The original plan was to also have a packet radio station at the chapter headquarters, but not enough equipment was available to do so. During this phase of the operation, we used the ARROW 2m repeater (146.96-).
Milan High School was the location of the emergency shelter. The shelter communication center was first set up in a teacher's lounge, and the station included both a packet radio and a VHF radio. The packet radio equipment generated so much interference that the operator of the 2m radio was forced to move to the shelter registration area. This actually turned out to be a much better location. The registration area was the center of shelter activity, making it much more convenient to find and pass messages to shelter personnel.
The Red Cross disaster management job headquarters was located in the People's Presbyterian Church, about a quarter mile away. This location was outfitted with a packet radio for local communications as well as a HF station used for radiotelegraph communicatons with the State Lead Chapter in Kalamazoo and Red Cross National Headquarters in Falls Church, VA. WB8SIW operated this station during the exercise.
On Friday evening, we mostly provided communications between the job headquarters and the shelter. For this activity, we used 145.55 MHz simplex and 446.00 MHz simplex. Messages included requests for moving materials and providing the job headquarters with information on mock disaster victims registering for the shelter, feeding requirements, and other shelter related issues.
At the shelter, the Southern Baptist Conference Disaster Relief Team set up a field kitchen and served a meal to staff and shelter "victims." Lights-out was at 11 p.m. and the"victims", Red Cross staff, and some hams stayed overnight in the shelter or job headquarters.
On Saturday morning at 6 a.m., the disaster coordinators sent out damage assessment teams, each with an amateur operator. We used the ARROW 146.96- repeater to coordinate this function. For local command and control, we shifted to 446.0 simplex, which eliminated the packet radio interference and provided better propagation throughout the buildings.
At 9:00 a.m. the Red Cross service center was opened for interviewing and providing necessary assistance to the "victims" that had used the shelter. N8REG moved from the shelter to the service center, KC8GDU spelled WB8SIW at job headquarters, and KB8ZOY, N8EHM, and N8FZT covered communications needs at the shelter while it was being shut down. By 11:00 a.m., all "victims" had been processed, the shelter, service center, and local headquarters closed, and participants retired to the Campfire Restaurant for debriefing.
Analysis
The purpose of the exercise was to improve the ability of the participating Red Cross chapters to respond to an emergency. Amateur radio is an important support function, providing essential communication for the Red Cross activities. We certainly met the communication needs of this exercise, despite having very little experience in mock disaster exercises (except for WB8SIW and N8FZT), much less experience with real disasters.We did learn several lessons, though. One thing we learned was that it would certainly be beneficial to improve our ability to handle messages in standard NTS format. We also encountered--and overcame, for the most part--a variety of equipment malfunctions. We may have been inexperienced when this exercise started, but all the hams that participated are now better prepared to serve the Red Cross in the event of a real disaster.
As the ARROW liaison to the Washtenaw Chapter of the Red Cross, I would like to express my appreciation for the efforts put in by all the hams that participated in this exercise. ARROW can still use more volunteers for both public service and emergency communications support. Please consider volunteering. A brief questionnaire to be completed by volunteers is on the ARROW web site (http://www.cyberspace.org/~arrow/).
Public Service Events On Tap for 1999
Jim Reuter, our Public Service Officer informs me that two events have been scheduled for 1999:
- Walk America 1999, April 25, 8:00 am to 3:00 pm. Meet at One on One Athletic Club on Boardwalk. Jim would like to have ten volunteers for this event.
- One Hell of a Ride, Saturday, July 10, 7:00 am to 6:00 pm. This is a big event, requiring 15 to 20 people to cover it properly. We try to put an amateur radio operator in each of the sag vehicles, which provide support services and emergency transportation, as well as an operator at each food stop. Jim would like to find one volunteer with packet capability he can station at the Portage Lake lunch stop.
If you can help out with either of these events, or have any questions, phone Jim at 734-663-7876 or send him an e-mail at omni@cyberspace.org.