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The ARES Letter

Published by the American Radio Relay League
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February 21, 2024

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

IN THIS ISSUE

- ARES� Briefs, Links
- Takeaways from the 2024 Orlando HamCation� Forums
- Tips for Writing an Effective Emergency Drill
- ARES� Resources

==> ARES� BRIEFS, LINKS

The Amateur Radio Workshop for the 2024 National Hurricane Conference
<https://hurricanemeeting.com/> in Orlando, Florida, will be conducted
on Tuesday, March 26, 1:30 - 5:00 PM, at the conference venue, the
Rosen Centre Hotel. The primary goal of the National Hurricane
Conference is to improve hurricane preparedness, response, recovery,
and mitigation in order to save lives and property in the United States
and the tropical islands of the Caribbean and Pacific. In addition, the
conference serves as a national forum for federal, state, and local
officials to exchange ideas and recommend new policies to improve
Emergency Management.

The perennial Amateur Radio Workshop has been included in the
conference breakout sessions for over 25 years. It is always well
attended, with a panel of hurricane communications veteran experts and
leaders from the community, including the National Hurricane Center's
Amateur Radio Station WX4NHC volunteers, led by Julio Ripoll, WD4R, the
station's assistant coordinator, representatives from the Hurricane
Watch Net, the VoIP Hurricane Net, and other luminaries. Rob Macedo,
KD1CY, of the VoIP Hurricane Net and ARRL Field Organization, is one of
the masters of ceremonies. ARRL Director of Emergency Management Josh
Johnston, KE5MHV, will present on ARRL HQ's support for the field
during hurricane disaster situations. Your ARES Letter editor Rick
Palm, K1CE, will speak on his personal Hurricane Idalia experience,
lessons learned, and solutions implemented since that devastating
storm. Hope to meet and greet readers there!

The 2023 Great ShakeOut Multi-Agency Exercise After-Action Report
<https://winlink.org/content/2023_great_shakeout_multi_agency_exercise_after_action_report>
is now available. Since 2020, Winlink Global Radio Email� has supported
and participated with the US Geological Survey (USGS) in the world's
largest earthquake exercise. Past participation had been primarily
concentrated within California. The 2023 Great ShakeOut exercise
Winlink participation included an expanded effort by FEMA and their
stakeholders, designed to highlight the utility of the Winlink system
for emergency management. With Winlink, participants can provide
accurate, timely situational awareness -- or "ground truth" -- in the
early stages of any casualty event. Thus, the USGS, the Federal
Emergency Management Agency's Regional Emergency Communications
Coordination Working Groups (FEMA RECCWG), and stakeholders
collaborated with the Winlink team to provide both agency and volunteer
radio operators an opportunity to participate and train on the
procedures of information reporting and delivery with the option of not
having to depend on conventional communications.

The APCO 2024 90th Annual Conference and Expo
<https://www.apco2024.org/> is August 4-7, in Orlando. An ARRL partner
entity, the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials
International, Inc., and ARRL have had a memorandum of understanding
for decades, sharing the common bond of communications in the public
interest. APCO International is made up of Emergency Medical, Law
Enforcement, Fire, and other Public Safety Communications personnel
whose primary responsibility is the management, design, maintenance,
and operation of communications facilities in the public domain.

The ARRL Foundation is now accepting grant applications
<https://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-foundation-accepting-applications-for-grants-in-february-1>
from amateur radio organizations for eligible amateur radio-related
projects and initiatives.

Echolink now has a web interface
<https://www.echolink.org/faq_webapp.htm>. The service appears to be a
welcome addition for users. As always, after setup, users are
encouraged to connect to 9999 -- the Echotest server -- to adjust their
transmit and receive audio before connecting to other users. - Lloyd
Colston, KC5FM, FEMA Reservist, Retired Emergency Manager, All-hazards
disaster planning, response, mitigation, and recovery; Incident Command
System Trainer [Colston's service has included the Joint Information
Center at the Utah Olympics, and Fire Management Assistance for the
Grant fire response, among many others. - Ed.]

==> TAKEAWAYS FROM THE 2024 ORLANDO HAMCATION� FORUMS

The 2024 Orlando HamCation�, held February 9-11 at the Central Florida
Fairgrounds, served as the ARRL Florida State Convention this year.
It's the world's second-largest ham radio event, and is sponsored and
conducted by Florida's oldest amateur radio club, the Orlando Amateur
Radio Club. I attended the event. Here are a few key takeaways.

First, I was amazed at the sheer volume of attendees: the fairgrounds
were packed with vendors, the forums were well-attended (some with
standing room only), and the flea market was being picked clean of a
wide variety of new, old, and vintage items that evoked memories of ham
radio in the 1950s and later. It was so much fun. But the main takeaway
was the evidence that amateur radio remains a cosmically popular
avocation and widely embraced venue for public service, especially
emergency communications.

AUXCOMM Forum SRO

I attended the AuxComm Florida forum on Friday morning, conducted by
Roger Lord, Statewide Interoperability Coordinator (SWIC), Florida
Department of Emergency Management; Justin Waters, Functional Manager,
Planning and Training, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security
Agency, US Department of Homeland Security; and Dave Byrum, KA4EBX,
DHS/OEC COML Instructor, Department of Homeland Security, Office of
Emergency Communications. Byrum is a veteran AUXCOMM instructor out of
St. Petersburg, Florida.

It is now official: the state of Florida has adopted AUXCOMM. Just
prior to the convention, 20 students were taught by the panel of three
instructors in the AUXCOMM training course at a local public safety
facility. All 20 passed this rigorous, demanding program.

This was the third year in a row that the AUXCOMM forum was conducted
at the convention, which has grown along with the vitality of AUXCOMM
itself in the state. The panelists discussed two deployments during
2023: Hurricane Idalia, and a spate of tornadoes, when the radio room
at the State EOC in Tallahassee was stood up by vetted/trained radio
amateurs.

Over the course of the year, six AUXCOMM candidates had their AUXCOMM
Position Task Books signed off on. (There are now four instructors in
the state). The state EOC is the primary served entity. Primary
communications systems include SARNET (a dedicated 70-centimeter FM
repeater network that links all counties in the entire state); the
SHAKES - the ShakeAlert System; and Winlink.

Waters reported on his agency's efforts to update the COML
(Communications Unit Leader) and AUXCOMM courses. He also told the
crowd that Florida has the strongest AUXCOMM program in the country.
For deployment to other states, Florida AUXCOMM operators will be
required to have passed the course and have their AUXCOMM task books
signed off on by the Florida Statewide Interoperability Coordinator.

The question-and-answer session followed, with the panelists answering
a wide range of questions. Roger Lord explained the FDEM's SERT TRAC
<https://trac.floridadisaster.org/trac/loginform.aspx> program - the
State Emergency Response Team Training Resources and Activity Center.
Created primarily as a calendar and registration tool, many additional
needs were identified and added, such as tracking attendance and
completion of courses; issuance, uploading, and archiving of course
completion certificates, career path tools; and other features. For
example, radio amateurs wishing to be deployed must have registered
their primary, required FEMA independent study (IS) courses, the now
ubiquitous IS-100, 200, 700 and 800 courses, online at the SERT TRAC
repository.

I asked about the status of the "AUXC" position - the Auxiliary
Communicator. Lord essentially said that the state conveys the title to
those who have completed the 20-hour AUXCOMM Course and the AUXC
Position Task Book (PTB). The PTB is checked off by leadership at the
local served agency such as a COML, or other ICS head, or by a State of
Florida SWIC-approved exercise evaluator who must be the applicant's
incident supervisor.

Florida's SWIC must approve in advance any exercises at which PTB tasks
are being evaluated for signoff. Once completed, the packet and
application go to Florida AUXCOMM Coordinator David Byrum, KA4EBX, for
review. It then is reviewed and approved at FDEM by the SWIC.

Florida AUXC regional coordinators have the best awareness of events
and exercise opportunities to complete official recognition, and are
also a good resource for mentoring, other opportunities, and questions.
The State of Florida recognizes the national Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) PTB document -- other organizations' PTBs cannot be
accepted for recognition.