DELARANEWS

ARES

Stan Broadway, N8BHL Ohio SEC, Delaware EC

SET 2021 - Lots of movement in Delaware County!

Our goal was to activate, set up communications plan, then get people deployed to test communications, send messages and use fldigi to send digital messages. Here’s a report: The 2021 SET was a great success! We had 12 stations participating, and were able to provide radio coverage to 8 critical locations. We used 146.46 simplex to run most of the net and pass the messages, skillfully directed by K8MP. Each station was directed to send two messages. One said they were at their assigned location and how well they were hearing the net control station K8MP. The other message described the disaster situation at their location. All messages were sent in standard ARRL Radiogram form. Half of the stations have digital messaging capability, and they demonstrated how incredibly faster and error-free that mode is relative to voice mode. The lesson here is that everyone should get set up for digital radio. It is easy. Just download FLDIGI and FLMSG onto your PC. Then you can use acoustic coupling between your radio and PC, with no other equipment needed. The digital net we run every Tuesday and Thursday at 8 pm on the 19 repeater was very valuable in training our folks in using digital radio. You are all invited to participate! Bob W8ERD Big thanks and a “Well done!” to Bob and Joe and everyone who participated! As an example of how you do it right, Prez Mike, W8MDC actually scoped out Genoa Fire prior to the event, talking with firefighters about what we were doing and making sure he had both signal and permission to be there. After that test, Mike went to the ARC to test radios there. As mentioned in the “ARC” page, we did have a couple issues. It appears the fldigi isn’t decoding on others’ radios (sounds fine if you listen… but… ) so we’ll have to adjust something there. I’m of the opinion that it’s time to install the Signalink on the VHF station for both fldigi improvement and the addition of Winlink. The 7300’s are good directly plugged into their PC’s for HF work. At any rate, excellent work, everyone! I think all had fun and learned something to boot!

Ohio SET Results 2021

Overview Each year, the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) sponsors a Simulated Emergency Test (SET) for all ARRL Sections across the country. The purpose is to reinforce our training, exercise our ability to set up and operate temporary/portable amateur radio stations and to pass simulated emergency messages much as we might be tasked in a real emergency. Each Section (ours is the entire state of Ohio) then submits a ‘score’ for its activities from September through December. While exercises can take place at any time during that period, the national date set aside for the activity was October 2, 2021. Ohio has consistently placed in the top three nationwide with our SET efforts. This year, the scenario was a derecho with large scale wind damage followed by days of extreme sub-zero cold which resulted in loss of power and communication services including Internet. Our amateur radio stations were then tasked with deploying, setting up portable/mobile stations, and passing message traffic within their county, to surrounding counties and to the Ohio EOC station, W8SGT. Ohio Design and Activity Previous SET exercises have been “top down” where the structure and design was fed out to counties from management. These included participation in several “Black Swan” operations. This year we elected to reverse the process and impose on the EC the responsibility of designing and executing their own local-oriented exercise. The EC will be far better at recognizing potential disaster operations in their own counties and should therefore be a better source for exercise design. Within Ohio, our goals were as follows: 1. Activation: We want county and district units to practice activating, checking in and staging operators. That includes notifying your DEC (as described in OSERP) and SEC (see below). 2. Deployment: We intend for operators to be deployed to various key places in their county where they should set up radio communication and originate some messages. 3. Communication: Our goal is that basic messages be sent as would happen in a real emergency. Each EC (County Emergency Coordinator) should construct the following: a. Messages from stations to stations within your county (as many as possible) b. Messages from your county to three neighboring counties (resource, status, or H&W) c. Messages to “The Sarge” in Columbus i. First required: “My county is participating with __ number of operators” ii. Second, desired: Generate 3 resource requests to the state iii. Third, extra points: Send a 205 to your District and The Sarge (digitally) iv. Send these via any form available: district net, digital, voice, direct or through traffic nets Our exercise was set to operate within the hours of 0900 to 1300 October 2, 2021. We requested each participating EC to work up activities that would fit into our scenario, putting operators into the situation for the minimum period of time with challenges to overcome. 1. EC’s should create realistic situations that would face operators in the scenario- a. Extended power loss in severe cold b. Repeaters without backup are gone c. Repeaters with backup are available (unless they fail…hint) 2. You may want to insert cold weather challenges: a. Battery failure b. Frozen equipment/locks c. Transportation problems requiring substitutions d. Generator failure (personal or at shelters- requiring a MOVE of people) 3. Follow the OSERP (Ohio Section Emergency Response Plan) structure in your response and net structure a. EOC (real or simulated if you don’t have access) b. County Control Station c. Various typical warming shelters d. Hospitals and medical facilities e. Police/Fire/dispatch centers (real or simulated) 4. If you are able to obtain prior permission, operate out of actual locations 5. If no access is available, use a parking lot. Otherwise, select a park or some other location to “simulate” the assignment. (We would prefer it NOT at your home- the idea is to deploy! Set up a portable operating position and send messages/communicate!) The following messages were suggested: 1. Send a message to W8SGT: “My county, ___, is active in the SET with ___ operators participating.” Send by any means available. 2. (Extra points) Send an ICS-205 for your county’s net structure to District and W8SGT Send digitally. 3. Deploy to a minimum of five locations within your county. 4. Send messages between your operators a. Resources needed, problems encountered, status reports, etc. *Keep a log!* 5. Contact three adjoining counties (can be a status report, request, etc.) 6. Send 1 formal message to a neighboring county. (can mix with above) 7. Generate 3 resource requests over the exercise period to State via W8SGT (any mode). W8SGT operation The Ohio EOC amateur radio station, callsign W8SGT (and referred internally as “The Sarge”) was fully active for the SET. We also made use of the Ohio Digital Emergency Net (OHDEN) to transmit forms and messages digitally. We operated on two local VHF repeaters, one to collect ARRL messages from the Central Ohio Traffic Net, the other to monitor ‘weather conditions’ from the Central Ohio Severe Weather Net (Skywarn). We had four operators for the period. In addition to voice, our digital data transmissions made use of “fldigi” software which allows us to converse and send pre-designed ICS/ARRL/Red Cross forms digitally. We also used Winlink, in which remote stations can send official forms and normal emails across radio frequencies to access the Internet. Voice net operation: 3.902 MHz Digital net operation: 3.584.5 MHz COSWN: 146.76 repeater COTN: 146.97 repeater Winlink: Loaded over Internet from radio-generated messages (Not tested) WebEOC would typically be in use at the station as well (Not tested) We have access to FEMA and SHARES for interoperability Results Counties active: 31 There were several more who were committed to providing communication for local events, or who had scheduled exercises on other dates. Amateur Operators Involved: 200+ Message Totals: (Messages that were sent to the Ohio EOC’s station.) WINLINK FORMS (205, 213, other requests) 35 ARRL MESSAGES (by voice) 31 Tactical (unformatted) messages (Winlink) 11 (Digital) 6 Total messages received: ` 83 Exercise Evaluation The results of our SET for 2021 are encouraging. We had fewer counties participating than last year but there were several who were otherwise committed this year. Their exercises will count toward Ohio totals. Unlike some exercises in the past, this year’s involved operators actually deploying to the field and setting up operating stations to pass messages. The leading county in the exercise was Montgomery, which fielded 36+ operators and set up stations at 9 hospitals and 6 shelter locations. New to SET this year was the Queen City Emergency Net (QCEN) which is a longstanding organization primarily service Cincinnati area Red Cross. Also new was the Central Ohio Severe Weather Net, which took advantage of our scenario to exercise their own operators. Use of Winlink for forms transmission has become the ‘gold standard’ for emergency communication worldwide. We were impressed with the strong showing for Winlink messaging from around Ohio. This capability will continue to grow to be our strongest resource for Ohio. Internally, the station operation was flawless, with a proven ability to reach across all portions of Ohio. A huge “Thank you!” to everyone who participated! This is your organization, and as each of you participates, has fun, learns a little and gets more prepared for an actual activation, you make our entire group better!

Amateur Radio is more than

a hobby- it becomes an

important service when

other forms of

communication fail. It’s up

to all of us to stay ready,

stay trained, and stay

available. We could be

required on a moment’s

notice.

Delaware County ARES is part of the national ARRL program. We rely on our volunteers. We operate during several large public events including the national-level Ironman competition. We hold a radio net on the 145.19 repeater (no tone) on the first Thursday of every month at 8PM. We hold a training meeting on the second Thursday of every month at 7:30 usually at the Red Cross building. All amateurs are invited! For information, contact Stan, N8BHL the Delaware County Emergency Coordinator, or Joe, K8MP or Craig, W8CR.
DELARANews

ARES

Stan Broadway, N8BHL Ohio SEC,

Delaware EC

SET 2021 - Lots of movement in Delaware

County!

Our goal was to activate, set up communications plan, then get people deployed to test communications, send messages and use fldigi to send digital messages. Here’s a report: The 2021 SET was a great success! We had 12 stations participating, and were able to provide radio coverage to 8 critical locations. We used 146.46 simplex to run most of the net and pass the messages, skillfully directed by K8MP. Each station was directed to send two messages. One said they were at their assigned location and how well they were hearing the net control station K8MP. The other message described the disaster situation at their location. All messages were sent in standard ARRL Radiogram form. Half of the stations have digital messaging capability, and they demonstrated how incredibly faster and error- free that mode is relative to voice mode. The lesson here is that everyone should get set up for digital radio. It is easy. Just download FLDIGI and FLMSG onto your PC. Then you can use acoustic coupling between your radio and PC, with no other equipment needed. The digital net we run every Tuesday and Thursday at 8 pm on the 19 repeater was very valuable in training our folks in using digital radio. You are all invited to participate! Bob W8ERD Big thanks and a “Well done!” to Bob and Joe and everyone who participated! As an example of how you do it right, Prez Mike, W8MDC actually scoped out Genoa Fire prior to the event, talking with firefighters about what we were doing and making sure he had both signal and permission to be there. After that test, Mike went to the ARC to test radios there. As mentioned in the “ARC” page, we did have a couple issues. It appears the fldigi isn’t decoding on others’ radios (sounds fine if you listen… but… ) so we’ll have to adjust something there. I’m of the opinion that it’s time to install the Signalink on the VHF station for both fldigi improvement and the addition of Winlink. The 7300’s are good directly plugged into their PC’s for HF work. At any rate, excellent work, everyone! I think all had fun and learned something to boot!

Ohio SET Results 2021

Overview Each year, the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) sponsors a Simulated Emergency Test (SET) for all ARRL Sections across the country. The purpose is to reinforce our training, exercise our ability to set up and operate temporary/portable amateur radio stations and to pass simulated emergency messages much as we might be tasked in a real emergency. Each Section (ours is the entire state of Ohio) then submits a ‘score’ for its activities from September through December. While exercises can take place at any time during that period, the national date set aside for the activity was October 2, 2021. Ohio has consistently placed in the top three nationwide with our SET efforts. This year, the scenario was a derecho with large scale wind damage followed by days of extreme sub-zero cold which resulted in loss of power and communication services including Internet. Our amateur radio stations were then tasked with deploying, setting up portable/mobile stations, and passing message traffic within their county, to surrounding counties and to the Ohio EOC station, W8SGT. Ohio Design and Activity Previous SET exercises have been “top down” where the structure and design was fed out to counties from management. These included participation in several “Black Swan” operations. This year we elected to reverse the process and impose on the EC the responsibility of designing and executing their own local-oriented exercise. The EC will be far better at recognizing potential disaster operations in their own counties and should therefore be a better source for exercise design. Within Ohio, our goals were as follows: 1. Activation: We want county and district units to practice activating, checking in and staging operators. That includes notifying your DEC (as described in OSERP) and SEC (see below). 2. Deployment: We intend for operators to be deployed to various key places in their county where they should set up radio communication and originate some messages. 3. Communication: Our goal is that basic messages be sent as would happen in a real emergency. Each EC (County Emergency Coordinator) should construct the following: a. Messages from stations to stations within your county (as many as possible) b. Messages from your county to three neighboring counties (resource, status, or H&W) c. Messages to “The Sarge” in Columbus i. First required: “My county is participating with __ number of operators” ii. Second, desired: Generate 3 resource requests to the state iii. Third, extra points: Send a 205 to your District and The Sarge (digitally) iv. Send these via any form available: district net, digital, voice, direct or through traffic nets Our exercise was set to operate within the hours of 0900 to 1300 October 2, 2021. We requested each participating EC to work up activities that would fit into our scenario, putting operators into the situation for the minimum period of time with challenges to overcome. 1. EC’s should create realistic situations that would face operators in the scenario- a. Extended power loss in severe cold b. Repeaters without backup are gone c. Repeaters with backup are available (unless they fail…hint) 2. You may want to insert cold weather challenges: a. Battery failure b. Frozen equipment/locks c. Transportation problems requiring substitutions d. Generator failure (personal or at shelters- requiring a MOVE of people) 3. Follow the OSERP (Ohio Section Emergency Response Plan) structure in your response and net structure a. EOC (real or simulated if you don’t have access) b. County Control Station c. Various typical warming shelters d. Hospitals and medical facilities e. Police/Fire/dispatch centers (real or simulated) 4. If you are able to obtain prior permission, operate out of actual locations 5. If no access is available, use a parking lot. Otherwise, select a park or some other location to “simulate” the assignment. (We would prefer it NOT at your home- the idea is to deploy! Set up a portable operating position and send messages/communicate!) The following messages were suggested: 1. Send a message to W8SGT: “My county, ___, is active in the SET with ___ operators participating.” Send by any means available. 2. (Extra points) Send an ICS-205 for your county’s net structure to District and W8SGT Send digitally. 3. Deploy to a minimum of five locations within your county. 4. Send messages between your operators a. Resources needed, problems encountered, status reports, etc. *Keep a log!* 5. Contact three adjoining counties (can be a status report, request, etc.) 6. Send 1 formal message to a neighboring county. (can mix with above) 7. Generate 3 resource requests over the exercise period to State via W8SGT (any mode). W8SGT operation The Ohio EOC amateur radio station, callsign W8SGT (and referred internally as “The Sarge”) was fully active for the SET. We also made use of the Ohio Digital Emergency Net (OHDEN) to transmit forms and messages digitally. We operated on two local VHF repeaters, one to collect ARRL messages from the Central Ohio Traffic Net, the other to monitor ‘weather conditions’ from the Central Ohio Severe Weather Net (Skywarn). We had four operators for the period. In addition to voice, our digital data transmissions made use of “fldigi” software which allows us to converse and send pre-designed ICS/ARRL/Red Cross forms digitally. We also used Winlink, in which remote stations can send official forms and normal emails across radio frequencies to access the Internet. Voice net operation: 3.902 MHz Digital net operation: 3.584.5 MHz COSWN: 146.76 repeater COTN: 146.97 repeater Winlink: Loaded over Internet from radio-generated messages (Not tested) WebEOC would typically be in use at the station as well (Not tested) We have access to FEMA and SHARES for interoperability Results Counties active: 31 There were several more who were committed to providing communication for local events, or who had scheduled exercises on other dates. Amateur Operators Involved: 200+ Message Totals: (Messages that were sent to the Ohio EOC’s station.) WINLINK FORMS (205, 213, other requests) 35 ARRL MESSAGES (by voice) 31 Tactical (unformatted) messages (Winlink) 11 (Digital) 6 Total messages received: ` 83 Exercise Evaluation The results of our SET for 2021 are encouraging. We had fewer counties participating than last year but there were several who were otherwise committed this year. Their exercises will count toward Ohio totals. Unlike some exercises in the past, this year’s involved operators actually deploying to the field and setting up operating stations to pass messages. The leading county in the exercise was Montgomery, which fielded 36+ operators and set up stations at 9 hospitals and 6 shelter locations. New to SET this year was the Queen City Emergency Net (QCEN) which is a longstanding organization primarily service Cincinnati area Red Cross. Also new was the Central Ohio Severe Weather Net, which took advantage of our scenario to exercise their own operators. Use of Winlink for forms transmission has become the ‘gold standard’ for emergency communication worldwide. We were impressed with the strong showing for Winlink messaging from around Ohio. This capability will continue to grow to be our strongest resource for Ohio. Internally, the station operation was flawless, with a proven ability to reach across all portions of Ohio. A huge “Thank you!” to everyone who participated! This is your organization, and as each of you participates, has fun, learns a little and gets more prepared for an actual activation, you make our entire group better!

ARES

Stan Broadway, N8BHL

Section Emergency Coordinator - Ohio Emergency Coordinator - Delaware County