ARES

Stan Broadway, N8BHL Ohio SEC,

Delaware EC

Coming this storm season: “Delco Weather”

Members of DELARA and ARES have been asked to take on the responsibility of spotting for severe weather in Delaware County. This is an important, life-saving function that invites ALL amateur operators in and near to Delaware County to participate, regardless of membership in either organization. In brief, during the approach or presence of severe weather we will launch the Delaware County Severe Weather Net (“Delco Weather”) to report conditions to net control. Significant reports will be relayed to the Central Ohio Severe Weather Net on 146.76 for delivery to the NWS office at Wilmington, OH. By operating our county-level net we will be able to concentrate on conditions specific to our county and provide a better more localized service to our agencies as well as the NWS. It is recommended that you use a radar app (My Radar, or Radarscope). All hams should stay aware of pending weather conditions and begin to listen for activity on the designated repeater. When it appears definite that severe conditions will affect Delaware County, one of the designated Weather Net Control Operators will activate the Delaware County Weather Net on the 145.29 (123) repeater. Fallback will be to the 145.19 (123) repeater, then to 146.46 simplex. Notices will also go out on the ARES “group.me” paging. Net control will place the repeater in “net mode”. Net control will usually be from that operator’s home station unless another location is chosen. The Assistant Director or Director of EMA will confirm with the EC the need for an on-call person who reports to the EOC, turn on the VHF radios there to check into the weather net and monitor 145.29 and 146.76. Telephone contact is made with Delcomm upstairs, to notify the supervising dispatcher of our presence. The idea is that we feed pertinent information upstairs to the 911 center, and they feed information back to use so we can notify NWS. Should conditions suggest to you that a communications emergency might exist, you are encouraged to monitor the various repeaters to hear any relevant messages. Weather Net Duties The Delaware County net will watch for and report severe or potentially severe weather conditions. Net control or a designated liaison station will relay significant reports to the 146.76 COSWN weather net, for transferal to the NWS office in Wilmington, OH. • Severe weather: o Winds in excess of 50 mph o Rainfall rate greater than one inch per hour o Hail ½ inch or larger o Wall cloud with rotation o Funnel cloud (rotation not touching the ground) o Tornado • Damage o Damage reports as requested by net control - or- o Damage within the last 10 minutes • Substantial damage • Damage with a life threat Reports will be carefully logged and those warranting further attention will be send to 146.76 by net control or the designated liaison station. Weather Spotter duties The primary concern before even starting to participate is safety- the safety of your family, and your own safety. ALL amateur operators in and near to Delaware County are welcomed to the net- you do not have to be formally associated with ARES. Your purpose as a weather spotter is to watch approaching weather systems, and report any severe conditions produced by that system. In order to do that you must be able to ~see~ the approaching weather! If you can see for a long distance from your residence/workplace that’s fine. If your vision is routinely blocked by trees or buildings, consider finding a spot to which you can drive and safely park to perform your service. The net will be tightly controlled, so use your best discipline! Call “Delco Weather” with your callsign and wait for recognition before saying anything further. When recognized, provide your report as succinctly as you can. Here are the elements of a good report: • This is [your call]. • I am located at [precise location such as Rt 42 at Walker Rd. not “West of Delaware”] • I am looking southwest, and I see fast rotation in the clouds. It has not yet formed a funnel. • The rotation is moving to the northeast around 30 mph [your best guess] • General wind speed is estimated at 30 mph, moving northeast [use standard estimation tools] In other words, be as precise as possible and include as many details as are pertinent to the report. Weather Net Control Duties Net control stations have the added responsibility to constantly stay aware of weather conditions. Daily monitoring of various forecasts which might include those from the Storms Prediction Center (SPC). We also recommend becoming familiar with standard weather radar apps for basic interpretation. Experience in storm spotting, and spotter training (advanced training if available) will also help. The net control operator may be able to use WebEOC or other specific computer apps if available. Net control stations will coordinate amongst themselves when the potential of activation presents, in order to see who is available and arrange coverage. Specific weather conditions may also be shared so all are current. Net Activation Activation of “Delco Weather” will vary based on conditions and threats. Watch When the SPC issues a watch of some type, net control ops will coordinate, and net control will announce the watch on 29 and 17. Typically, no net would be activated at that time as watches are generally issued well in advance of weather arrival. Conditions Pending or present The net may be activated under several conditions. First, if NWS issues a warning for Delaware County. Second, if western spotters or radar indicates the approach of a potentially severe system covered by the watch. The need for the net may be confirmed by warnings upstream as the system approaches. Third, if requested by our EMA partners or by COSWN. Fourth, if COSWN activates 146.76 weather net for Central Ohio counties. Starting a net Delco Weather can have two different ‘startup’ modes. First, an ordered checkin where net control is able to ask for your checkin, location and any other pertinent information to plot the availability of coverage across the county. Once checkins have been completed, the net will go into reporting, where only stations with actual severe conditions will report. The other startup can take place when conditions deteriorate rapidly or present as a surprise. In this case, the net would be activated and go to “reports only” mode with no routine checkins. In either case, once net control calls for “reports only” ALL operators are asked to be on watch, stay off the air until you personally see a severe condition. At that time, request recognition from net control and provide your report. Closing a net When weather conditions have moved past Delaware County (they may still be present downstream) net control may call for any damage reports. If none are offered, the net will be closed. Logs and a summary of reports can be emailed to COSWN (or if requested, NWS Wilmington). Practice/Readiness net We have a number of nets already active in Delaware County, including a nightly informal net on the 145.17 repeater. We will consider whether to hold a bi-monthly weather readiness net on the 145.29 repeater as the classic storm season approaches. The benefit is that all operators can test their signal into the 29 repeater, and net control operators can get familiar with you and your location. Gang, this is a big deal - it could literally be a life- saving effort for our Delaware County neighbors. We ALL can participate, and to work correctly it will take as many as we can muster. We’ll be putting out more information as the winter progresses so that we can be ready for Spring severe weather. (Or, as we see this year, maybe even the middle of December!)

Ohio ARES - Things new, things revived

I have a new project for you! I have heard often (and recently) seasoned hams say things like, “We don’t have disasters here,” and “Call me if you need me but I don’t need that silly training.” I see hams who skip training meetings because they don’t need to go over that same stuff again. Do I need to say anything more than just, “Kentucky” at this point to disprove those comments? I get it. I racked up 50 years in emergency service before finally putting the fire boots away. I don’t know how many times I have been through “refresher” classes of some sort. But you know, EVERY time I managed to learn something, or I discovered that over the years I’d turned some concept sideways. Every time I emerged better able to do my job and keep others (and myself) alive. I also learned in the 1980’s that if I wanted to get in on “the big one” I had better respond ~every~ time the alarm sounded because there was no difference in the basic alarm one over the other. And you know, the more “little ones” I ran on the better I got when the big one came around; the better I could function under NIMS and Incident Command; the more my crew knew they could depend on me; the better I could serve my department and my neighbors! If you’re reading this you are already showing that you’re interested in providing service through amateur radio, and I commend you for that! I can’t thank you all enough for the time you invest. Now- my project for you: work to make it better. Take some of your time to help, now before the help is required. Pretty simple concept but it applies evenly across the board- from the newest ham to the old head with years of experience working disasters. New hams need to hear from the old heads how it was when they had the big one. If the old heads aren’t around anymore, how are they to hear? So please consider not letting all your years of service go to waste- stay involved, get re-involved, and kick the “rookies” into shape (figuratively, of course.) We never know when…but we know at some time it will come. The December 10-11 tornado outbreak was not a surprise. The Severe Storms Forecast Center began alerting the Midwest early that severe storms were likely in the overnight period. The danger stretched from near the Gulf all the way to the Ohio Valley. One historic tornado ran on the ground across four states for around 250 miles- setting historic records as it destroyed a vast area of several states. Around 91 people were reported killed. Ohio’s elite Task Force 1 was among the Search and Rescue (SAR) teams called to stricken parts of Kentucky to help search for victims. (Photos OHTF1) There was one tornado reported in Ohio from this system – an EF1 tornado touched down briefly at Ada, in Hardon County around 3 AM. It was on the ground for 1.6 miles at 260 yards wide. Several roofs were damaged. Otherwise, Ohio was just north of all the excitement. ARES and ham radio Skywarn operators were ready. First word to the Section of the pending situation came from ASEC Bryan Hoffman, KC8EGV, who was concerned about the likelihood of Cincinnati getting involved in damaging storms. Indications of the severity of these storms were such that the “Watch Desk Project” would have been activated on word that the system was actually continuing into Ohio. Under that procedure, DMR and Fusion systems are bridged together giving static-free coverage over 225 repeaters across Ohio – allowing those with reports to easily reach the Ohio EMA, and those yet upstream to listen and evaluate their own actions if the system continued. As it was, Ohio ARES sent a quick message to the KY Section Manager Steve Morgan, W4NHO, offering any help he needed. So we dodged a bullet in Ohio but that certainly doesn’t lessen our concern for those suffering in states south of us. We will keep those people in our prayers, of course. And we will take a close look at what WE would have required had this system continued only a few miles further north! An important addition! I am enthusiastic about a new addition to our ability to communicate! Keith Burnette, KB8GYB, has confirmed that Ohio ARES is absolutely welcomed to use the renewed wide-area-repeater system on 145.11 (67 tone). The system has been brought back from the doldrums by the West Central Ohio Amateur Radio Association on two meters and at 224.160. Keith was gracious in reconfirming their agreements begun in 2000 that offer the system for use by W8SGT in support of the Ohio EMA. The system was first put together in the mid- 1980’s but fell out of use when supporting agencies changed or discontinued funding. After a series of donations and securing repeater sites the system is now being brought back. This ability to cover a wide area of Central and Southwest Ohio as well as portions of Indiana and Kentucky will prove critical under just such conditions as mentioned above! It will allow regular FM communications in the wider area which regularly sees storms and storm damage that would funnel to The Sarge. I have programmed my own rigs with this, and the repeater is active and friendly! Well done, WCOARA and thanks for service our many communities! I wish you all the best over the holidays – remembering why we have these holidays – and I hope to be able to see you (yes, actually SEE you) for a Spring ARES Conference in 2022. We don’t have a date firmed up yet, but we’re enthusiastic that we will be able to gather in early April!

ARES

Stan Broadway, N8BHL

Section Emergency Coordinator - Ohio Emergency Coordinator - Delaware County