St. Mary's County, MD - ARES

Hams with a plan...

Category: General Notes

General Notes and Information

2023 SHAKEOUT – DYFI?

October 20, 2023 /

Ok, I am not a huge fan of unnecessary acronyms, but Did You Feel It, or DYFI (diff-ee) just seems fun.

So yesterday (October 19th) was the nationwide Earthquake Exercise. To demonstrate the usefulness of WINLINK in such events, the WINLINK Development Team sponsored the Did You Feel It event where Hams were asked to fill out a new template in WinLink Express documenting their experience in an earthquake event. Based on those answers a magnitude estimate was generated and the USGS address was automatically populated.

Rachel and I sent the forms in via Packet and found it quite easy to use.

You can view the nationwide results of all that checked-in and even zoom in to just St. Mary’s County by going to the Live Map here:

https://www.winlink.org/ShakeOut–LIVE

CALVEX 2023 After Action Report

September 20, 2023 /
  1. Objectives of the Exercise
    • Bring all gear online and convey information from the EOC to ARES/RACES members using:
      • Amateur Radio Repeaters (HAM)
      • General Mobile Radio Service Repeaters (GMRS)
      • Send/Receive Radio Mail Messages over the air (WINLINK VHF Packet)
    • Review Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and interactions with other County Stakeholders during an activation.
  2. Accomplishments
    • Successfully activated a Resource Net and communicated with ARES/RACES members on 147.390 Leonardtown Repeater
    • Updated programming on Icom-910 with UHF/VHF Repeaters in accordance with STMA ARES ICS-205
    • Successfully transmitted and received Radio Mail messages via WINLINK VHF Packet
    • Reviewed Calvert Cliffs Response SOP and witnessed stakeholder actions during an activation.
  3. Areas for Improvement
    • Attempt to contact ARES/RACES members via GMRS unsuccessful due to a faulty microphone connection.
      • Radio was removed from service, bench tested, repaired, and will be returned to service end of September 2023
    • Maintaining situational awareness of events within the EOC is impossible from the COMM Room.
    • Further review of the SOP is needed, and training must be conducted with ARES/RACES members well in advance to ensure a smooth activation/shift change.
    • Resource Net activation script needs to be drafted and practiced by ARES/RACES members.
  4. Summation
    • Overall, this event was a success. Most objectives were met and ares for improvement have been identified.

Fox Hunt @ Newtowne Neck Park

August 20, 2023 /

            A huge thank you to all that were able to make it out to Newtowne Neck Park yesterday! We learned a thing or two about how far a 15 milliwatt 2m FM Transmitter will really go! After hiding the ‘Fox’ down one of the trails a little ways, the group set out to find it with a variety of HT’s and antenna combinations. At the end of the day the homemade Styrofoam box that Jim {KB1YZ} made was the winner in locating the ‘Fox’! Congratulations Jim and great job on coming up with the most unique setup!

            I setup the KM4ACK End-Fed Half-Wave antenna we are going to be doing as a workshop to show how it deploys and works and Chris W4NRG setup his Wolf-River Coil and activated the park (twice actually – once on 20m and then again on 40m).

            I know there were some who were disappointed in not being able to attend this past Saturday, but fear not! We’ll look at doing more of these type of events in the near future!

After Action Report – April 29th Drill Net

April 30, 2023 /

At 0900L on 29 April 2023, a Net was started by KB2SKP acting as NCS for the purpose of practicing the passing of messages using the ARRL Radiogram format and NTS best practices. KB1YZ, KC3RWE, AC3CU, W3OST, N3AK, AC3FE each generated, passed, and received one message via voice. Three messages (from AC3CU, KB1YZ, and KC3RWE) were also sent via WINLINK to the tactical callsign STMAEC.

The following questions were brought up:

  • Does the ‘X-Ray’ in the text count in the CHECK?
    • Yes it does
  • What should the sending station say when complete with a section?
    • For our purposes we will use the word ‘OVER’
  • Where should we write the SIGNATURE?
    • There is not a ‘box’ for the SIG so it should be written under the body of the message and above the “Recv’d” box.
  • Is it necessary to say the box title for the boxes in the Preamble?
    • No it is not; enough of a pause should be employed by the sender and the actual entry or value should be enough so as to make it clear which block is being populated. However if there is doubt on the part of the receiver or the sender is more comfortable saying them it is permissible.
  • How do you include a decimal point such as 1.5″ of rain reported?
    • The decimal point is said as “decimal” and written as a capital ‘R’ on the Radiogram form. For the rain report above it would be:
      • Spoken: Figures One Decimal Fiver Inches Of Rain
      • Written: 1R5 Inches Of Rain

Overall the exercise went very well and the net was closed at 1016L.

Coming Together

March 12, 2023 /

Thank you to all those who have sent in your “applications” and expressed an interest in taking on some of the roles within the organization; I will be posting a list of the positions shortly.

Library, Contacts, & Positions

February 27, 2023 /

I have begun populating the library section and have posted the main points of contact for the ARES Organization. I also created a page of the positions I am looking to fill within the county. These are based on previous experiences and potential areas that we will need personnel to coordinate.

Netiquette for Emergency Nets

February 21, 2023 /

Emergency Nets are different than your average net. They are much more structured and, in addition to a Net Control Station (NCS), normally have an Alternate Net Control Station (ANCS) to be ready to stand in should the NCS go off the air.

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