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The ARES Letter

Published by the American Radio Relay League
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October 18, 2023

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

IN THIS ISSUE

- ARES� Briefs, Links
- Great ShakeOut Exercise is Tomorrow!
- Comment Deadlines Set on Proposed 60-Meter Band Changes
- Healthcare Coalition Conducts Interoperable Auxiliary Communications
Test
- ARRL Launches The NTS Letter
- Major Minnesota Marathon Canceled -- Amateur Radio Team was Ready
- K1CE for a Final: Personal Hurricane Idalia Notes
- ARES� Resources
- ARRL Resources

==> ARES� BRIEFS, LINKS

Attention: The ARRL website will be unavailable for scheduled
maintenance on Monday, October 23, 2023. Follow us on Facebook for
updates. - ARRL Administrative Headquarters

Alachua County (Florida) ARES - one of the leading groups in the
country -- has approved its After-Action Report/Improvement Plan
<https://qsl.net/nf4rc/2023/AARIPHurricaneIdalia.pdf> (AAR/IP) for its
Hurricane Idalia response. A spokesman for the group said: "We write
these up for almost every significant event or exercise. The
improvement plans have steadily made us grow. This 25-page report in
standard HSEEP format has 25 problems identified, each with improvement
plans. Nine of those are already 'completed.' Putting our problems in
writing so we can track our solutions has been key for us."

FEMA Publishes Unmanned Aircraft Systems Resource Typing Documents --
These updates integrate the latest best practices into the National
Incident Management System (NIMS) resource typing definitions library.

Remote Pilot-In-Command: Operates an unmanned aircraft platform in a
safe and secure manner according to all local, state, and Federal
regulations.

Technical Specialist - Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems: Provides
technical support to the UAS Team, including managing data recording
equipment and software, managing communications systems and
frequencies, and maintaining documentation in the appropriate chain of
custody.

Small Unmanned Aircraft System Team: An aircraft operations team
without a human pilot on board, also known as a drone. The pilot on the
ground has an FAA or military license to collect data for improved
situational awareness through remote sensing. The UAS Team operates
under the Air Operations Branch, as established by the requestor.

These resource typing documents enhance the interoperability and
effectiveness of mutual aid by establishing baseline qualifications.
This facilitates sharing deployable resources at all jurisdictional
levels. -FEMA NIMS Alert October 17, 2023

==> GREAT SHAKEOUT EXERCISE IS TOMORROW!

>From the October 1-15 2023 issue of the FEMA Disaster Emergency
Communications News Clippings and Topics of Interest newsletter: "The
Great ShakeOut is the world's largest annual earthquake drill and will
occur nationwide on October 19, 2023, at 10:19 AM local time. To
highlight the significance of accurate ground truth in the early stages
of a disaster event, Winlink and the United States Geological Survey
(USGS) are collaborating to provide radio operators an opportunity to
participate and train on process and procedure for information
reporting in the 'Did You Feel It' (DYFI) exercise; subsequently, this
drill will also underscore how the proficiency of Winlink facilitates
this sharing of information. USGS will use the Winlink 'Did You Feel
It' ground truth data to contribute to the calculations of their
earthquake intensity assessments when modeling the Modified Mercalli
(MMIS) Intensity Scale, a standard index used for earthquake severity.
Data will be leveraged to improve event response products, including
Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response (PAGER), a system
that provides fatality and economic loss impact estimates following
significant earthquakes. The secondary purpose of this event is to
illustrate to emergency management officials the ability of the Winlink
system to provide situational awareness information they may not
otherwise be able to obtain in the initial phases of disaster
response." For more detailed instructions on how to participate in the
Great ShakeOut DYFI exercise, please visit
https://winlink.org/content/shakeout or use the following link that has
specific "how-to" information ShakeOutWinlinkExercise_cm6.pdf
<https://www.winlink.org/sites/default/files/ShakeOutWinlinkExercise_cm6.pdf>.

==> COMMENT DEADLINES SET ON PROPOSED 60-METER BAND CHANGES

A public period is open until October 30, 2023 for radio amateurs to
comment on proposed changes to the 60-meter band. ARRL is asking all
radio amateurs to join it in urging the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) to continue the existing use of the band. ARRL is
encouraging expressions of support to the FCC for the current 100 watt
ERP power limit (instead of reducing the power limit to 15 watts EIRP)
and continuing secondary access to the current channels. An opportunity
to reply to comments ends on November 28.
Currently, radio amateurs in the US have use of five discrete channels
on a secondary basis, on which they are permitted an effective radiated
power (ERP) of 100 watts. In the NPRM the Commission solicits comment
on reducing the secondary allocation to 15 kHz of contiguous spectrum
between 5351.5 - 5366.5 kHz with a power limit of 15 watts EIRP
(equivalent to 9.1 watts ERP). The lesser spectrum and reduced power
limit was adopted by the 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference
(WRC-15).

The federal government is the primary user of the 5 MHz spectrum. The
National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), the
federal government's spectrum regulator, has argued that the WRC-15
proposals should be implemented as written. Doing so would result in
amateurs losing four of the discrete channels they have been using on a
secondary basis and having the maximum permissible power reduced by
more than 10 dB, from 100 watts ERP to 9.1 watts ERP.

In 2017, ARRL petitioned the FCC to keep four of the current five
60-meter channels -- one would be within the new band -- as well as the
current limit of 100 watts ERP. "Such implementation will allow radio
amateurs engaged in emergency and disaster relief
communications, and especially those between the United States and the
Caribbean basin, to more reliably, more flexibly and more capably
conduct those communications [and preparedness exercises], before the
next hurricane season," ARRL said in its petition.

ARRL said that years of amateur radio experience using the five
discrete 5-MHz channels demonstrated that amateurs coexist well with
the primary users at 5 MHz. "Neither ARRL, nor, apparently, NTIA is
aware of a single reported instance of interference to a federal user
by a radio amateur operating at 5 MHz to date," ARRL said in its 2017
petition.

ARRL will continue to advocate to maintain the 100 watt limit for 60
meters, continued authorization for the four channels outside the WRC
allocation that are being used today, and adoption of the new 15 kHz
allocation with the same 100 watt power limit.

In the NPRM, the FCC recognizes that Canada adopted rules equivalent to
those proposed by the ARRL. "Finally, we note that Canada has
essentially implemented the same rules as ARRL has requested," the
Commission wrote.

The FCC seeks comment on the proposed 15 kHz of contiguous spectrum,
but also on whether the existing channels should remain allocated to
amateur radio on a secondary basis, and whether the maximum power
limitations should be reduced from 100 to 9.1 watts ERP. The FCC also
requested comments on whether the power limitation should be expressed
as EIRP as the WRC-15 recommends, or as ERP as in the current rules.

==> HEALTHCARE COALITION CONDUCTS INTEROPERABLE AUXILIARY
COMMUNICATIONS TEST

The Eastern Healthcare Preparedness Coalition (EHPC) in conjunction
with the North Carolina Auxiliary Communications Eastern Region
(AUXCOMM) conducted an interoperable Communication Exercise (COMMEX) on
May 4, 2023. This is the fourth modified Functional Exercise conducted
to better improve communication and information sharing across the
region.

This exercise was opened to all statewide partners along with federal
agencies located in North Carolina. The exercise was later opened to
all FEMA Region 3 and 4 Auxiliary Communications and SHARES stations.
The sole goal of this exercise was to ensure preparedness for the 2023
hurricane season.

Overview

EHPC conducts monthly VIPER - Voice Interoperability Plan for Emergency
Responders -- radio checks with all of its regional hospitals and State
Medical Assistance III Teams (SMAT III). While North Carolina is a
leader in tactical communications, gaps still exist between various
disciplines with radio and information sharing platforms. EHPC
leadership wanted to take regional communication testing a step further
with functional exercises.

The EHPC COMMEX is designed as an all hazards exercise, but is
particularly focused on healthcare across the region. Various exercise
play lanes were developed to challenge players with real life examples
of problems encountered in their fields.