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The ARES Letter

Published by the American Radio Relay League
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January 17, 2024

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

IN THIS ISSUE

- ARES® Briefs, Links
- Letters: USGS Thanks Winlink Amateur Volunteers for Shakeout Service
- National Hurricane Center's WX4NHC SKYWARN Recognition Day Operations
Successful
- FEMA: Results of 2023 National Household Survey on Disaster
Preparedness.
- Ham Radio Comms Trailer Decisions
- Florida Pair Travel to Serve New York City Marathon
- K1CE For a Final: Subscribe to The NTS Newsletter
- ARES® Resources

==> ARES® BRIEFS, LINKS

The Digital Library of Amateur Radio & Communications
<https://archive.org/details/dlarc> (DLARC) is now archiving issues of
QST NFL, the newsletter of the Northern Florida ARRL Section. DLARC is
a project of the Internet Archive, the not-for-profit online library.
DLARC is growing to be a massive online library of the past and present
of ham radio and related communications. It is funded by a grant from
Amateur Radio Digital Communications <https://www.ardc.net/>, a private
foundation that exists to support amateur radio and digital
communication science and technology. - ARRL QST NFL, January 2024
issue, Marty Brown, N4GL, editor [After more than eight years as
editor, Brown is retiring with the gratitude of Northern Florida ARES
and other amateur interest communities across the section and state.
Well done, thank you and good luck, Marty. - Ed.]

Orlando HamCation® <https://www.hamcation.com/> -- the ARRL Florida
State Convention -- is next month, February 9 - 11, at the Central
Florida Fairgrounds. There are a number of forums and meetings of
interest to ARES and other emergency communicators: Disaster Response
Communications and Auxcomm Florida; Training for Net Operations;
SARNET; ARES Forum; New Directions in MARS; and What is SATERN. These
forums are conducted by nationally-recognized leaders and
practitioners. See you at HamCation!

==> LETTERS: USGS THANKS WINLINK AMATEUR VOLUNTEERS FOR SHAKEOUT
SERVICE

"We at the USGS really appreciate the work of the Winlink amateur
volunteers who contributed to the recent ShakeOut earthquake scenario
exercise as well as contributing to the USGS Did You Feel It? (DYFI)
system since 2020. Winlink volunteers have sent in more than 6,000
responses for exercises and actual events. We anticipate that your
contributions will help us provide critical situational awareness in
the minutes and hours after a significant earthquake. You have a rather
unique capacity to communicate after a damaging earthquake. Hence, the
connection between amateur radio operators and the USGS'
post-earthquake information tools is a natural yet impressive handoff.

"I've been really impressed with the enthusiasm and professionalism of
all the amateur radio operators we've worked with over the past few
years who have been ready and willing to develop the interface to
connect directly to USGS via the DYFI system and to the many operators
who have sent in felt reports. Fantastic!

"Lastly, I also want to thank Vince Quitoriano (USGS contractor) for
making all the connections between Winlink and USGS work so smoothly."
-- David Wald, PhD, Supervisory Research Geophysicist, U.S. Geological
Survey

==> NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER'S WX4NHC SKYWARN RECOGNITION DAY
OPERATIONS SUCCESSFUL

On December 2, 2023, Amateur Radio station WX4NHC operators at the
National Hurricane Center were on-the-air on HF (40 and 20 meters) for
the SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD) event from 9 AM to 6 PM EST. WX4NHC
was also on the VoIP Hurricane Net on EchoLink WX_TALK Conference (Node
7203)/IRLP 9219 from 4 PM until 6 PM EST. WX4NHC has participated in
this annual event since its inception more than 20 years ago.

This event is sponsored by the National Weather Service (NWS) and is
excellent practice for ham radio operators as well as NWS staff to
become familiar with the unique radio communications available during
times of severe weather. The event was open to all stations in the US
and worldwide.

WX4NHC total SRD contacts: 144

NWS Stations contacted: 19

Farthest stations contacted: Brazil (PY3BI)

Coldest Temperature reported: 15°F, AG9G, Wisconsin

Hottest Temperature reported: 88°F, 6Y5WW, Jamaica

WX4NHC station weather (in Miami, Florida): 77°F - 81°F and partly
sunny

Radio amateurs who made contacts with the NHC station can receive a QSL
card documenting the radio contact. (Please send SASE to WD4R (QRZ
address is OK). - Thanks, Julio Ripoll, WD4R, Assistant Manager, WX4NHC
station at the National Hurricane Center

==> FEMA: RESULTS OF 2023 NATIONAL HOUSEHOLD SURVEY ON DISASTER
PREPAREDNESS.

Since 2013, FEMA has conducted the National Household Survey on
Disaster Preparedness. This survey of people from across the United
States gauges the nation's disaster preparedness actions, attitudes,
and motivations. The 2023 survey conducted from February 1 through
March 14, 2023 included over 7,600 responses. Results from the 2023
survey indicate that slightly more than half (51%) of Americans believe
they are prepared for a disaster and 57% took three or more actions to
prepare for a disaster within the last year. The most common actions
people took to prepare for a disaster were assembling or updating
disaster supplies (48%) and making a plan (37%); the least common
actions were planning with neighbors (12%) and getting involved in
their community (14%). To review the survey results, download the
summary presentation
<https://lnks.gd/l/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJidWxsZXRpbl9saW5rX2lkIjoxMDAsInVyaSI6ImJwMjpjbGljayIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vZmVtYS1jb21tdW5pdHktZmlsZXMuczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS8yMDIzLU5hdGlvbmFsLUhvdXNlaG9sZC1TdXJ2ZXkucGRmIiwiYnVsbGV0aW5faWQiOiIyMDIzMTIyOS44Nzc3MDUxMSJ9.AiMpPycDyDf4pecotvn8shPrhIM2bCF000TzMD6IY_M/s/131030018/br/233943671422-l>.

Key Findings and Opportunities from the 2023 Survey

- There were big shifts in the way people prepared for disasters in
2023 compared to the year before. There was a large increase in the
percentage of people who assembled or updated supplies (from 33% in
2022 to 48% in 2023), but there was a large decrease in the percentage
of people who signed up for alerts and warnings (from 46% in 2022 to
36% in 2023). Emergency managers should remind people that there is
more to preparedness than just assembling supplies. When meeting with
your community, help people sign up for alerts and warnings right in
the moment. Walk them through the process of signing up to receive
local alerts while you have their direct attention, so they don't have
to remember to do it themselves later on.
- Only 50% of people believed that that taking steps to prepare for a
disaster would help them in getting through a disaster and were
confident in their ability to take those steps to prepare. To increase
preparedness efficacy, trusted local and community messengers should
provide outcome testimonials to demonstrate the value of preparing for
a disaster, especially for groups with lower rates of preparedness
efficacy.
- There was a strong association between having awareness of how to
prepare for disasters and taking action to prepare.89% of people had
read, seen or heard information in the last year about how to get
better prepared for a disaster. People who had received information
about how to prepare were five times as likely to take at least three
preparedness actions compared to people who had not received
preparedness information. Emergency managers should focus their
preparedness outreach efforts on communities with lower awareness of
preparedness information because the payoff could be big. Provide tips
and strategies for preparing based on a community's specific needs,
challenges, and environment. Leverage FEMA's preparedness resources
from Ready.gov
<https://lnks.gd/l/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJidWxsZXRpbl9saW5rX2lkIjoxMDEsInVyaSI6ImJwMjpjbGljayIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnJlYWR5Lmdvdi8iLCJidWxsZXRpbl9pZCI6IjIwMjMxMjI5Ljg3NzcwNTExIn0.O-CjMkg53u-ZTx7DfV3tjcCQ_At7MscG7n4IszF8LQM/s/131030018/br/233943671422-l>.
- There was a disconnect between the 60+ community's perceived
preparedness and their preparedness actions.People who were 60 years
old and older were about as likely as people between the ages of 18 and
59 to feel prepared for a disaster (52% and 51% respectively). However,
people ages 60 and older were less likely to have taken many
preparedness actions compared to people between the ages of 18 and 59.
To increase the preparedness of the 60+ community, emergency managers
should develop preparedness programming and materials that take into
consideration the unique challenges facing older adults and empower
them to prepare.
- Cost barriers may prevent people who are socioeconomically
disadvantaged from taking important preparedness actions.They were less
likely than those who are not socioeconomically disadvantaged to have
taken higher-cost preparedness actions but were about as likely to have
taken low- or no-cost preparedness actions. Emergency managers should
leverage community resources to help those who are socioeconomically
disadvantaged overcome the cost barriers to close the gap in taking
higher-cost preparedness actions.
- People living in areas at higher risk of flood and wildfire impacts
had lower levels of risk perception for those hazards. Only 43% of
people reported that riverine flooding was 'likely' or 'very likely' to
impact them, despite living in areas that are at higher risk of
experiencing the impacts of riverine flooding. For higher risk wildfire
areas, only 49% perceived their risk of being impacted by wildfires.
However, hurricane risk perception (96%) was much higher for people at
higher risk of experiencing hurricane impacts. Emergency managers
should apply the tools and messaging techniques that effectively
communicate risk for hurricanes to build a similar culture of risk
perception for floods and wildfires in communities at greatest risk.