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********************************************
The ARES Letter

Published by the American Radio Relay League ********************************************

December 20, 2023

Editor: Rick Palm, K1CE <k1ce@arrl.net>

IN THIS ISSUE

- ARES® Briefs, Links
- Successful ShakeOut 2023 Exercise and Winlink DYFI Reports
- SCARES Members Receive Awards for Tunnel 5 Fire Response
- Letters: Wilderness Heart Attack Emergency Handled by Winlink
- Neighborhood Radio Watch: Ideas
- Radio Room Dedicated to Veteran Emergency Coordinator
- K1CE for a Final: "ASAP" - Short Feed Lines Feedback
- ARES® Resources

ARES® BRIEFS, LINKS

In The ARES Letter for November 15, 2023, the Winter Field Day dates
are incorrectly listed as January 23-24, 2024. They are actually
January 27-28, 2024. - Thanks, Jesse Brumm, AJ7F

FEMA released its 2023 National Preparedness Report <https://lnks.gd/l/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJidWxsZXRpbl9saW5rX2lkIjoxMDIsInVyaSI6ImJwMjpjbGljayIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmZlbWEuZ292L2VtZXJnZW5jeS1tYW5hZ2Vycy9uYXRpb25hbC1wcmVwYXJlZG5lc3MjcmVwb3J0cyIsImJ1bGxldGluX2lkIjoiMjAyMzEyMDYuODY2ODU5MzEifQ.
IKzYSyWezElroj1UPXTyyMdepAuostysJPtAs2SWDFs/s/131030018/br/232335395041-l>, highlighting the state of the nation's preparedness at all levels of
government while examining the risks the nation faces and the
capabilities available to address them. With the cost and frequency of disasters increasing markedly over previous decades, emergency managers
must continue to adapt, forge new partnerships, and anticipate
challenges to help individuals and communities.

Climate change continues to increase the frequency and severity of
weather, which compounds the challenges that emergency managers face in addressing an increasingly complex risk environment. The report
highlights how to adapt and forge new partnerships to face those
challenges and achieve a more prepared nation.

This year's report provides a data-driven picture of national
preparedness and emergency management trends with focused discussions
on four core capabilities:

- Fire Management and Suppression.
- Logistics and Supply Chain Management.
- Public Health, Healthcare, and Emergency Medical Services.
- Long-Term Vulnerability Reduction.

This year's report provides concrete recommendations that partners and stakeholders across the whole community can take to increase the
nation's resilience.

SUCCESSFUL SHAKEOUT 2023 EXERCISE AND WINLINK DYFI REPORTS

The ShakeOut 2023 exercise was an extremely successful demonstration of worldwide amateur radio, CISA SHARES, and Air Force MARS operators
providing "ground truth" reports to USGS during a simulated earthquake.
Over 1,500 reports were submitted through the Winlink system using the
"Did You Feel It" (DYFI) form developed by the Winlink team in
cooperation with the United States Geological Survey (USGS.) Reports
were received from the US, several European countries, Philippines,
Australia, and New Zealand. The reports were sent directly to USGS and distributed to several other agencies including South Carolina
Emergency Management Agency, which generated maps and reports for FEMA.

The DYFI reports were processed by the Winlink Express program, which
has built-in capabilities for analyzing and mapping many types of
reports. The reports were displayed on a map generated by Winlink
Express with markers indicating the severity of the earthquake.

Winlink Express also wrote real-time updates to a comma separated value
(CSV) file which was used by ArcGIS® and other third-party GIS programs
to generate additional maps, charts, and reports.

The locations of reports shown on Winlink Express maps and passed to third-party GIS programs were very accurate. To achieve maximum
accuracy, Winlink Express uses a hierarchy of methods for determining
the position:

- The user explicitly specified latitude and longitude (not a default
value)
- GPS position from form or message header (inserted automatically by
Winlink Express)
- Google street address lookup to determine latitude and longitude
- If no user-specified or GPS location, and the street address is not
valid (for example, street address but no city or state), then user's
grid square.
Using the grid square is less accurate than GPS or address lookup, but
it shows the neighborhood where the report was submitted, rather than discarding the report due to lack of location.

Some additional checks were applied to reported positions. If a
user-specified location was provided by someone with a North American
call sign (US, Canada, Mexico), and the longitude was positive
indicating Eastern Hemisphere, an address lookup was used in preference
to the submitted position, because there was a high likelihood that the
user got the sign of the longitude wrong. This procedure corrected the
location of approximately a dozen reports.

An analysis was done of the positions determined by the hierarchical
processing to see how closely they compared to the street address
location. This is a summary of the distance between positions derived
by Winlink Express and the reported street address:

Distance ≤ 33 feet: 93.70%

Distance ≤ 50 feet: 95.19%

Distance ≤ 100 feet: 96.32%

Distance ≤ 200 feet: 97.95%

Distance ≤ 500 feet: 98.66%

In 93.7% of the cases, the position was within 33 feet (10 meters) of
the street address, and 98% of the time the difference was within 200
feet.

The location difference does not imply an error: The GPS position may
be 50 feet from the street address location, but the GPS position may
give a more precise location of the sender. A difference of 50 feet
could be due to which room in a house the report was submitted from.

Some participants may have experienced the earthquake while away from
home, but specified their home address on the report.

In conclusion, the ShakeOut 2023 exercise was a huge success. Several
goals were accomplished:

- Many ham operators were motivated to submit DYFI reports, and there
was exceptional cooperation between amateur radio organizations
worldwide, CISA SHARES, Air Force MARS, state agencies, and FEMA.
- Hams learned about the DYFI form and practiced using it.
- The procedure for submitting reports via Winlink was successful using
both Winlink Express and third-party Winlink client programs such as
RadioMail and PAT.
- The processing and mapping of reports by Winlink Express and 3rd
party GIS programs worked well as it has for previous FEMA and
state-driven exercises.
- The hierarchical processing done by Winlink Express to derive the
most precise location was successful. GPS positions gave greater
accuracy than street address lookup, and several user entry errors were corrected automatically.
- The ability of hams to submit timely ground truth information was demonstrated and noted by FEMA and state agencies.
- During an actual earthquake where the infrastructure is damaged, the
ability to submit DYFI reports via Winlink using HF radio will be
essential.

The Winlink Development Team is grateful for the cooperative effort of
USGS, CISA SHARES, Air Force MARS, FEMA, their stakeholders, ARRL and
the many other amateur radio organizations for the roles they played to
make this exercise successful. An AAR will be forthcoming. -- Winlink Development Team (WDT)

SCARES MEMBERS RECEIVE AWARDS FOR TUNNEL 5 FIRE RESPONSE

As previously reported in the July edition of the ARES Letter <http://www.arrl.org/ares-el?issue=2023-07-19#toc01>, Skamania County
Amateur Radio Emergency Service (SCARES) was activated for 4 intense
days in July 2023 during the Tunnel 5 Fire along the Columbia River in Washington. Members augmented the EOC staff and also provided lifeline communications to a small isolated community west of Underwood,
Washington, when landline phone lines were not operational. Eight
SCARES members donated their knowledge, skills, and abilities for a
total of 189.2 hours.

On December 5, 2023, SCARES and those eight participants were honored
with awards from ARRL Western Washington (WWA) Section Manager Monte
Simpson, W7FF. These were presented by WWAAS EC Mike Montfort, KB0SVF,
with the assistance of the DEC for Washington District 4, Michael
Barnhart, AE7GQ. Both Skamania County Sheriff Summer Scheyer and
Undersheriff Tracy Wyckoff attended the presentations to honor the
recipients.

Sheriff Scheyer said "The incredible, selfless efforts made by our ARES
members provides a valued service to our community and to our Sheriff's
Office. As both a community member and Sheriff of Skamania County, I am
forever grateful for those who have donated their time to provide such
an integral service."

The inscription on the plaque to the group reads "The Western
Washington Section commends the exemplary performance of Skamania
County Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) for providing emergency communications to the Skamania County Sheriff's Office and the people
of Skamania County during the Tunnel 5 fire July 2023. The actions of
this team reflect highly upon the Amateur Radio Service, the Western
Washington Section and ARES." In addition, each participating member
received a mounted Emergency Communications Commendation certificate
from the ARRL.

Recognition of outstanding efforts is a key tool in helping EmComm
leaders retain their valued volunteers. -- Steve Aberle, WA7PTM,
Assistant Director, ARRL Northwestern Division

LETTERS: WILDERNESS HEART ATTACK EMERGENCY HANDLED BY WINLINK

A while ago my ham radio friend and I went camping along the Jemez
River, New Mexico, in one of the many Jemez Campgrounds. It was a
perfect place for ham radio operators to be, as there is absolutely no
cell phone access there at all. There was no FM repeater reachable from
that area either, which was fine by us. We busied ourselves with FT8
and FT4 as well as phone operation. We sent several Winlink messages
earlier in the day utilizing stations in Wickenburg, Arizona and
Framingham, Utah. We sent SMS text messages to our grandchildren, as
they don't like email.

As the evening wore on, my friend started having symptoms of a heart
attack. He was familiar with the symptoms, as he had several stents and previous heart problems. We needed an ambulance, but there was no cell
service, and it was miles to another phone. It was late at night and,
being unfamiliar with the area, we were at a loss as to the best way to proceed.

I knew that Winlink has the ability to send SMS text messages, and my
son was on call that week so he would answer a text message. I composed
a message giving my location, including the GPS coordinates and the
urgency of the situation. I sent the message via Winlink VARA HF to a
station in Wickenburg. I waited for what seemed to be an eternity (in
reality, only 10 minutes) and checked for a response. He had replied
with a message that he had contacted the state police -- they would
take care of the situation. In approximately 20 minutes, an ambulance
arrived and my friend was on his way to the hospital. He is alive and
well today.

Being a Technician licensee is a wonderful start to the world of
emergency communication, but when real emergencies occur, having
General- or Extra-class privileges and an HF radio is even better. --
John Mocho, KC5QOC, Albuquerque, New Mexico (with thanks to Jay Miller,
W5WHN)

NEIGHBORHOOD RADIO WATCH: IDEAS

The purpose of a Neighborhood Radio Watch <https://www.cerafund.org/neighborhood-radio-watch> (NRW) program is to
promote safety and cohesiveness of the neighborhoods of our community
by using radios to communicate. When normal communications are lost,
radio comms can save lives, or at least, reduce fears. When times are
tough, the ability to communicate with others can be calming. In normal
times, scheduled radio nets for the purpose of radio training and
practice can help neighbors get to know one another. That tends to make
life better for those involved. For neighborhood communications, CB,
General Mobile Radio Service <https://www.fcc.gov/wireless/bureau-divisions/mobility-division/general-mobile-radio-service-gmrs>
(GMRS) and Family Radio Service <https://www.fcc.gov/wireless/bureau-divisions/mobility-division/family-radio-service-frs>
(FRS) radios are options.

We've tested out CB. I have a 4 W mobile CB radio used as a base (a
President Walker III) and an Antron 99 antenna up about 18 feet. The
other rig was a Midland 75-822 with an MXTA26 antenna. In spite of the excellent antennas, CB contact dropped off after about 2 miles. I did
hear a friend once at about 2.5 miles, but he was so far down in the
mud that he could have been a genuine mud duck. I had to open the
squelch all the way, and still his voice could not have been more
faint.

GMRS proved to be better. My base station is a Midland MXT400 (40
watts) with an N9TAX Labs Slim Jim up in a tree about 20 feet off the
ground, fed by LMR-400 coax. The other rig is a Midland MXT115 (15
watts) with a tiny 7" mag mount on the hood of my Jeep. We communicated
on channel 16, using maximum power. Coverage was about 3 miles,
maximum. A better antenna on the MXT115 would more than likely mean
better coverage. Plus, FM gives a good signal until it starts to die.
First it starts to crackle, but still remains copyable, then nothing.

We'll be testing 5-watt Radioddity GM-30 handhelds as soon as they come
in. For most neighborhoods, 1 mile of coverage would do it. We're
hoping these handhelds can do the trick for us, even with just the
rubber duck. At $35, that's a pretty good price point.

The FRS radios we've tried are good for about half a mile. Since GMRS
and FRS can talk on the same frequencies, FRS can be a decent option
for those who don't want to spend the $35 to get a GMRS license. --
Reid Tillery, K9RFT <reidtillery@gmail.com>, Alachua County (Florida)
ARES

RADIO ROOM DEDICATED TO VETERAN EMERGENCY COORDINATOR

Oregon City, Oregon - The newly established Emergency Communication
radio room was named in honor of long-serving Emergency Coordinator for Clackamas County, David Kidd, KA7OZO.

In a ceremony held on November 21, the emergency communications radio
room in Clackamas County's Disaster Management offices on the Red Soils
Campus was named in honor of Kidd, a longtime amateur radio volunteer
who stepped down as the county Emergency Coordinator for radio amateurs
in May, after 20 years of service in the position.

Kidd became the Emergency Coordinator for the Clackamas Amateur Radio
Emergency Service <http://www.clackamasares.org/> (CARES) in 2002.
Under Kidd's leadership, CARES formally signed a memorandum of
understanding with Clackamas County Disaster Management (then Emergency Management) in 2005, putting in place a strong working relationship
between dedicated amateur radio volunteers and county disaster
management.

Steve Jensen, Kidd's successor as Emergency Coordinator, said, "David
built CARES from just a few people to one that has strong cooperation
with Clackamas County, city subunits, and a large, active, trained and committed membership."

Jamie Poole, Interim Deputy Disaster Manager for Clackamas County,
announced at Kidd's retirement that the newly established radio room
for the county would be named in honor of Kidd and his service to the
county.

CARES is a group of licensed amateur radio volunteers in Clackamas
County who provide critical communication links during disasters and
major events. CARES works closely with Disaster Management in the
county. -- Jeremy Tanzer, KI7BDP <ki7bdp@gmail.com>, Assistant
Emergency Coordinator, Oregon City; Assistant Emergency Coordinator,
Training, Clackamas Amateur Radio Emergency Service (CARES)

K1CE FOR A FINAL: "ASAP" - SHORT FEED LINES FEEDBACK

The following are two responses I received on last month's item on
keeping feed lines as short as possible:

Changing from 40 feet of RG-58 to RG-8 or -213 should not have made
that much of a difference. Assuming these are HF dipoles and not a VHF
or UHF antenna, the difference in loss should only be about 1.2 dB/100
feet, which is only a change of about 1/2 dB from removing 40 feet.
(See the graph of loss vs. frequency for various cables in The ARRL
Antenna Book). If you had a change of "epic proportions," then the
RG-58 run (or the connectors) was seriously defective. I'd take a close
look and test that old feed line! -- 73, Ward Silver, N0AX

I am the EC for Jones County, Iowa, and as such, I read the ARES Letter
on a regular basis. Of particular interest to me was your "final"
comments about keeping your antenna feed lines short. My comments:

- I was surprised that you had been using RG-58 to your HF dipole. Just changing to either RG-213 or LMR-400 would have automatically increased
your received signal levels, especially on 20 meters and up, and given
you a bit more output.
- Moving antennas closer to the shack (house) can have the unintended
effect of coupling more noise into your dipole from electronic devices
in the house or radiated power line noise from the house wiring. You
can also end up with your RF output coupling into devices in the house
and causing RFI that was not noticeable before. That is an effect that
too many hams with "postage stamp" lots get dragged into, especially
when they have antennas (anything from simple dipoles to tri-band
beams) located adjacent to or above the house.
In my installation, which is on acreage, all HF antennas are located
at least 50 feet away from the shack, with my main HF antennas fed
through about 250 feet of LMR-400 to their support tower that is a bit
over 200 feet from the shack. The main HF wire antenna is a 160-meter
OCF and it works very well on several HF bands with just 100 watts
applied. (I do have a Collins 30L-1 amp to increase the power to 500
watts when necessary.) I realize that all too many hams do not have the
luxury of having that much space to allocate for antennas, but they do
need to consider the consequences of trying too hard to pack too much
into too little space. Note: I lived on a "postage stamp" lot until I
moved to Iowa in 2000.

Rick, I am a retired EMC engineer who has had the opportunity to review
and contribute to both editions of the Bonding and Grounding for the
Radio Amateur book by Ward Silver, N0AX. I have three towers, the
tallest of which is 77 feet and which has taken two direct lightning
hits. I have had several antennas blown apart and RF relays on the
tower with welded contacts, but zero damage to anything in the house or
shack because I applied the principles covered in the book.

Keep up the great work on EmComms and how various groups handle their emergencies and simulated event tests. Thank you. -- Dale Sventanoff,
WA9ENA

ARES® RESOURCES

- Download the ARES Manual [PDF] <http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Public%20Service/ARES/ARESmanual2015.pdf>
- ARES Field Resources Manual [PDF] <http://www.arrl.org/files/file/ARES_FR_Manual.pdf>
- ARES Standardized Training Plan Task Book [Fillable PDF] <http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Public%20Service/ARES/ARRL-ARES-FILLABLE-TRAINING-TASK-BOOK-V2_1_1.pdf>
- ARES Standardized Training Plan Task Book [Word] <http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Public%20Service/ARES/ARRL-ARES-STANDARDIZED-TRAINING-TASK-BOOK-V1_2_2.doc>
- ARES Plan <http://www.arrl.org/ares-plan>
- ARES Group Registration
<http://www.arrl.org/ares-group-id-request-form>
- Emergency Communications Training <http://www.arrl.org/emergency-communications-training>

The Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES) consists of licensed
amateurs who have voluntarily registered their qualifications and
equipment, with their local ARES leadership, for communications duty in
the public service when disaster strikes. Every licensed amateur,
regardless of membership in ARRL or any other local or national
organization is eligible to apply for membership in ARES. Training may
be required or desired to participate fully in ARES. Please inquire at
the local level for specific information. Because ARES is an amateur
radio program, only licensed radio amateurs are eligible for
membership. The possession of emergency-powered equipment is desirable,
but is not a requirement for membership.

How to Get Involved in ARES: Fill out the ARES Registration form <http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Public%20Service/fsd98.pdf> and submit
it to your local Emergency Coordinator.

SUPPORT ARES: JOIN ARRL

ARES is a program of ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio <https://www.arrl.org>® . No other organization works harder than ARRL
to promote and protect amateur radio! ARRL members enjoy many benefits
and services including digital magazines, e-newsletters, online
learning (learn.arrl.org <https://learn.arrl.org>), and technical
support. Membership also supports programs for radio clubs, on-air
contests, Logbook of The World®, ARRL Field Day, and the all-volunteer
ARRL Field Organization.

Join ARRL or renew today! arrl.org/join <http://www.arrl.org/join>

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