Saturday, November 4, 2017 (8AM-1PM)
Goals:
1. Test message handling skills
2. Real time Weather Reports to the NWS in Gray Maine
3. Welfare messages from hospitals and shelters
4. Operation of the Section HF Traffic and Coordination net and local VHF nets
Exercise Scenario:
The scenario this year will be based on a hurricane similar to the 1938 storm (see detailed track below) that created widespread damage to interior New Hampshire . This year’s exercise will have two parts; to provide the National Weather Service in Gray Maine with current weather conditions from operator locations and to simulate welfare messages from operators at hospital and shelter locations. Nets to be utilized; HF Section, local VHF nets, NTS and Winlink.
Exercise Plan:
The exercise will utilize repeaters until 10:30a at which time simplex operation will commence due to simulated damage of repeater facilities. ARES groups should move to their local simplex frequency as listed on Attachment A on the NH State Communication plan.
Each ARES group should designate a station to upload weather reports via Winlink if that ability exists. The Winlink address for the NWS in Gray , Me. is wx1gyx@winlink.org. If Winlink is not available, messages should be brought to the NH Section net at 3945+-.
The SEOC or its designee will receive welfare messages through the Section Net. If hospital or shelter stations are Winlink capable they can send the welfare test message direct to the SEOC using the k1pjs@winlink.org
The SEOC will be operational and managed by the NH SEOC team. All weather reports from individual stations unable to be sent to the NWS by Winlink will be sent to the SEOC or its designee for upload to the NWS via the 75 or 40 meter circuit.
Weather reports, in Radiogram form, should contain the following if available; Temperature, Wind Direction and Speed, Barometric Pressure with tendency and precipitation if any has fallen on the day of the SET.
Weather report example: (In the preamble include your street and town in block 5)
NR 1 TEST K1PJS 15 GLADSTONE CONCORD NH NOV 4
NWS
GRAY MAINE
TEMPERATURE 71 X WIND SE/10
BAROMETER 29R92 AND FALLING
PRECIPITATION R15 INCHES SINCE MIDNIGHT
K1PJS
TEST
Welfare test messages, in Radiogram form, can include the hospital or shelter you are operating from, the number of ARES operators present and capacity of the shelter if applicable.
Welfare message example: (In the preamble include the hospital or shelter in block 5)
NR 5 TEST KB1RIJ 10 CONCORD HOSPITAL NOV 4
SEOC
ARES SET PARTICIPATION FROM CONCORD
HOSPITAL X 5 OPERATORS PRESENT
KB1RIJ
TEST
All stations are encouraged to operate on battery or generator power from 10:30am until exercise termination. Remember to begin and end all transmissions with “This is a test”
The SET will begin 8a and conclude at 1p unless sooner as directed by the SEOC.
Precipitating disaster and exercise review:
Large category 5 hurricane with the eye path traveling up the Connecticut river valley (like the 1938 hurricane) causing widespread damage to interior NH.
Local stations should provide current weather conditions such as the temperature, wind speed and direction, barometric pressure and any precipitation to be sent to the NWS in Gray.
To simulate welfare messages from hospitals or shelters, provide the number of operators in your ARES group and location of the hospital or shelter you are operating from. Include the capacity of the shelter if applicable.
Friday night, November 3rd, we will hold an Alert Roster drill to test the call tree.
All operators should review their local and NH ARES Communication plans.
When playing a role, think about it as though it were real and act accordingly. Don’t forget to begin and end each message and tactical exchange with “This is a drill.”
Please address any questions to the Section Manager peter@k1pjs.com
WS1EC/WX1GYX Plan:
We plan to have ops at both the CCEMA and NWS Gray stations to support New Hampshire in their SET exercise. The primary objectives will be to establish communications with the NH SEC, and county liaisons via HF on 3945 +/- kHz LSB for voice communications, and to connect to Winlink HF on occasion throughout the exercise to exchange messages and facilitate the collection of weather reports.
We will use this as a training exercise to test message handling skills and to get more experience using digital communications (Winlink and NBEMS). If anyone is interested in participating at either location, please let me know of your availability at: kb1hnz@yahoo.com
We will use the following frequencies during the exercise:
146.595 SKYWARN Primary Simplex (WS1EC Secondary)
146.655 (- / 100) Mt. Washington repeater (for coordination, if necessary)
3945 +/- kHz NH Section HF Traffic and Coordination Net
145.510 DMR Simplex
WS1SM Ham Radio Blog 