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STM Charles Pennington K4GK giving seminars on Traffic Handling



Given the importance of accurate traffic in any emergency, real or simulated, our STM Charles Pennington K4GK has been all over the state giving seminars on traffic handling. If your local organization is doubtful about doing this you might talk to Charles about it. As Barry Kanne W4TGA reports: "In anticipation of the upcoming SET, DeKalb ARES invited Charles Pennington (K4GK) to their August meeting to teach the proper procedures for passing messages using the ARRL Radiogram format. There were 20 students whose experience levels ranged from "old hand" to "newbie" and all gained knowledge from Charles' presentation. The class was held at the DeKalb Fire/Rescue headquarters building in Tucker, GA."
Team KK4PQ Operates Field Day From Their Sailboat  
   
This year Team KK4PQ operated out of our sailboat, Windezvous. Our team consisted of David KK4PQ, Lisa KI4ZFD, Dwight KJ4OVP, Wayne KC4ACT, and Gayle KJ4KRZ. We made a total of 101 contacts. 15 meters was our most active band.   
   
On Saturday, Dwight came over with "Big Papa", his father-in-law, and we anchored out behind Beachview Drive.  
   
It was very hot! Saturday evening, David & I chose to go back up the river and anchor at a sandbar our son named "San Diego" where we weathered a lightning storm, grilled some steaks, and made the majority of our contacts. Sunday, Wayne and Gayle, who just happen to be David's parents, came over and back up the river we went to a beach named "Bora Bora".   
   
We swam a bit, made a few contacts, had lunch, and ended field day with Gayle sailing us back home. All in all, we'd have to say it was a very successful field day for Team KK4PQ, and we are looking forward to next year. 
 
Central District shares some excellent footage of Middle Georgia's fun with Field Day 

Dave Stewart KN4DS, D.E.C. Central District shares some excellent footage of Middle Georgia's fun with Field Day.  You will enjoy it too.

Too good not to share.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMgFcKGsjSM

 

Then there was great news coverage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFtHZ8ZfZUs&feature=related

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blmXOrBr8Ys&feature=related

 

A few photos, too.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kn4ds/sets/72157624247968459/

 
Why We Practice

Late this morning DeKalb Watershed Management had a 1000 lb Chlorine gas leak at its wastewater plant in Lithonia, GA.  This caused a hazmat incident and while the gas reportedly dissipated the Public Safety Director requested the EMA have volunteers go door-to-door to check on the welfare of citizens that  may have been affected.  At about 1:20 p.m. I received a call from Mac McWhorter, Deputy Ops Director of DEMA requesting an ARES net to support this event.

    I contacted Steve Garrison, N4SEG, who acted as a temporary net control until I could reach the site of the command post that had been established near the wastewater facility.  I also notified Tom Fuller, KE4QCM our DeKalb Net Manager.  In the mean time, DEMA volunteers, many of which are newly licensed amateur radio operators, were notified and started to check in to the net on the 145.45 repeater, with Steve as net control.

    Upon arrival at the command post, at 2:38 p.m., I checked in with the Incident Commander, Captain Beth Burgess, and began gathering info as to what resources would be needed from ARES.  After the briefing and assessment I took control of the net for the balance of the event.  It was decided to field five teams of 2 person each, to go to assigned streets and to the door-to-door canvas.  Each team would have at least one amateur radio operator to communicate with the command post for reporting purposes.  The mission was completed at 5:00 p.m. and I closed the net at 5:04 p.m. local time.

   

Participating in the net were:
N4SEG; KE4QCM; W4TGA; KJ4NYM; KJ4CQJ; KJ4TZP; KJ4CNA; KJ4NYO; N4RHW; KJ4AKA; K4MCW

 

Submitted by:
Barry Kanne, W4TGA
EC DeKalb ARES
 

 

  

Annual HURREX (Hurricane Exercise) in Savannah, GA

Antenna Farm 

D-Star Radio 

Icom Radios 

Interop1 

Steve W4SKB 

Tent City 

    The annual HURREX (Hurricane Exercise) was held in Savannah, GA on June 28 through June 30, 2010. Here is a report on my experience with this exercise.

    Earlier this year I was appointed the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) District Emergency Coordinator (DEC) as liaison with the Georgia State Patrol. I work alongside a great team here in the Atlanta area consisting of Tom Holcomb, K5AES, the DEC working as liaison with the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA), Jan Jubon, K2HJ, the DEC for the Amateur Radio Emergency Service Mutual Aid Team (ARESMAT), Lowry Rouse, KM4Z, the Assistant Section Emergency Coordinator for Operations. I also had the full backing of our Section Manager Gene Clark, W4AYK, and our Section Emergency Coordinator Mike Brown, KE4FGF.

    Over the past several months I have worked on developing a good working relationship with the Georgia State Patrol and GSP Trooper SFC Jamie Sullivan. Jamie is the individual responsible for interoperability of radio communications during disaster recovery situations. Jamie is also an Amateur Radio Operator, KJ4OPY.

    I left Atlanta on Monday to meet up with Jamie and the Mobile Communications Unit (MCU), identified as “Interop-1”, in Dublin, Georgia for processing into the system prior to going to the operations area near the Savannah International Airport.

    Our group was first on scene at the operations area where we met with GEMA personnel to tell us where the MCU was to be located. As this was a full-scale exercise GEMA had living quarters set up, which included feeding stations, sanitation facilities, and showers, so that critical personnel would not need to leave the operations area.

    Once the location was determined for the MCU, we started the process of deploying the Public Safety Radio antennas, which had to be setup prior to the installation of the amateur radio antennas. Our initial plan was to deploy a 75-meter inverted-V antenna for operation on 3975 kHz. The antenna went up and we made all the connections through the MCU back to the Icom IC-706MKIIG radios. The MCU contains two Icom IC-706MKIIGs so we designated one for HF operations and the second unit for VHF/UHF local area repeaters.

    As part of the planning process for this exercise, I had emailed Guy McDonald, K4GTM the DEC for the Southeast District as well as the Emergency Coordinators for each of the coastal counties giving them a heads up on what was going on. Most indicated that they had not heard from the local Emergency Management Agency (EMA) directors that this exercise was taking place. On finding this out, I was glad I sent the emails out to make sure the ARES folks were aware of the exercise.

    We immediately ran into an antenna problem that appeared to be a bad coaxial cable connection between a grounding block in the equipment cabinet and the bulkhead connectors on the roof of the MCU. The local ARES folks told me that they would be monitoring the 146.970 repeater, as well as the 442.700 repeater. We had good signals on both repeaters but stayed on the 146.970 machine as more people had VHF capability and this gave us the advantage of more easily finding someone when we needed them.

    I gave a call on the 146.970 repeater to let them know we had an antenna issue. The response I got was great. Mac, KF4LMT, had a G5RV-mini, Ralph, W4REQ, had a section of coaxial cable. and Heyward, KT4RW, had an MFJ-949C manual antenna tuner.

    At this point I was getting a little tired as I had been up since 5 AM and it was now 8 PM that evening. But these local amateurs said go ahead and lockup the MCU and they would finish getting the antenna up and ready for Tuesday. I cannot begin to express my sincere thanks for all the area amateur radio operators who helped out and made it possible to be on the air and the 9 AM Tuesday 3975 net.

    On Tuesday, a GEMA rep asked if amateur radio could establish communications from Hutchinson Island back to the Savannah Command Center. I put out a call on the 146.970 repeater and immediately got a call from Guy McDonald and I told him of the GEMA request. He went to the remote location and we found that not only could we work HT to HT via the 146.970 repeater, but we could also work mobile to MCU via a simplex path. GEMA was impressed and told me they would bring this up in their after-action report.

    Tuesday was the primary exercise day, and we made contacts via HF, VHF, UHF, Winlink, D-Star, and DV Dongle. For D-Star, we worked through the Pembroke D-Star repeater which was connected to Reflector 30B and the W4DOC D-Star repeater in Atlanta. We had good solid copy between the State Operations Center (SOC) in Atlanta and the MCU in Savannah.

   The only item we did not complete was the transmission of digital images from Savannah back to the SOC. This was due in part to some interconnect cables not being available in Atlanta and Savannah. We’ll know better next time what to bring.

   There were some technical and logistical challenges but most were overcome by the willingness of local ARES members and other amateur radio operators to step forward and do what needed to be done to make it all come together.

   My brother Jim Millsap, WB4NWS always talks about relationships. When we come together, without worrying about who is getting the credit or the glory, we can and do make things happen.

   As DEC-Georgia State Patrol, my first priority is to support the GSP operation in any way needed and that may or may not include Amateur Radio operations. But the relationship between GSP and ARES keeps getting better each time we work together.

   Taking the time to contact the local amateur community prior to my arrival helped pave the way for all the assistance that we needed to pull things together, even when it seemed like they were falling apart all around me.

   Again, I want to extend my thanks to the great Amateur Radio Operators who live in Coastal Georgia. I know when we have the real thing and I go back with the GSP MCU, that I will have all the backup I need, and then some.

    Thank you all so very much for all your help and support.

 

Steve Bramham, W4SKB

DEC-Georgia State Patrol

Proclamation by the Cherokee County Board of Commissioners

    The Cherokee County Amateur Radio Society (CARS) and Cherokee County Amateur Radio Emergency Service (CCARES) groups have been issued a Proclamation by the Cherokee County Board of Commissioners and Commission Chairman L. B. (Buzz) Ahrens declaring the week of June 21-27th as, "Cherokee County Amateur Radio Week" (see attached). news/Cherokee_County_Amateur_Radio_Week_Proclamation.pdf

Pictured on June 21, 2010, presenting the Proclamation to Jim Millsap, WB4NWS, Emergency Coordinator-Cherokee ARES, is Cherokee County Commissioner Jim Hubbard.

    Also pictured is Jim Millsap presenting a 2010 ARRL Field Day shirt to Commissioner Jim Hubbard for his excellent support to our groups and participates with us on Field Day. Field Day will be open to the public beginning Saturday, June 26th at 2pm and run 24 hours through Sunday, June 27th at the Cherokee County Community Room, 100 Ridgemill Ct., Acworth, GA. 30102, located on Hwy 92 and Ridgemill Ct. For more information, please see www.cherokee-ares.org. Come and join us!

Jim Millsap-WB4NWS
 

June 14, 2010
Amateur Radio Operators Appreciation Week, Walton County
April 28, 2010
Amateur Radio Operators Support Bike MS: Deloitte

Amateur Radio Operators Support Bike MS: Deloitte

In Bike MS: Deloitte, a bicycle ride raising funds for the Georgia MS Society, bicyclist covered paths up to 100 miles between downtown Atlanta and downtown Athens and return on April 10 and 11.  A number of amateur radio organizations supported the ride in a display of cooperation and capabilities.  There were over 40 amateur radio operators representing the Clarke, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Jackson, Rockdale and Walton County ARES groups, the Oconee County RACES group as well as the Athens Radio Club, Gwinnett Amateur Radio Society, the LaGrange Amateur Radio Club, and the Northeast Georgia Amateur Radio Club. The Atlanta Radio Club allowed the use of their D-STAR 2 meter repeaters W4DOC and WX4GPB, the Tri-County Amateur Radio Club allowed the use of their 70 CM D-STAR repeater WJ4FD, and WA4YIH installed a portable 70 CM D-STAR repeater to support the primary communications for the operation.  The Alford Memorial Radio Club and the Lanierland Radio Club allowed the operation to use their FM repeaters for operations.

    The bicycle ride provided an opportunity to demonstrate the capabilities of D-STAR operations and primary operations were conducted using D-STAR.  All the participating repeaters were connected to reflector 30B, a reflector designated for use by Georgia ARES.  Georgia Emergency Management Agency loaned 20 Icom IC-2820 radios to the operation.  These radios were equipped with Power Pole connectors and programmed by John Davis, WB4QDX, and Scott Hartlage, KF4PWI.  A standard single mode configuration was used to make operation by participants new to D-STAR equipment as simple as possible and a simple two page instruction sheet was prepared by WB4QDX for the operators. All the SAG vehicles used to support the race had their GPS units active so positions were reported each time the microphone was keyed.  In addition, break points and the lunch points had operators stationed to coordinate needed information flow including getting food to break points and the operations center.

    Net control and bike ride officials were able to keep tabs on the riders as they traversed the course from downtown Atlanta to downtown Athens on Saturday and return on Sunday.  The use of D-STAR provided a novel approach to tracking vehicles using the same radio as used for voice.  Previously it was necessary to operate two radios: one for voice and one for traditional APRS.  With the integration in D-STAR’s data channel and integrated GPS, one radio was all that was needed.  The ability to link all repeaters digitally provided a uniform operation without all the variables normally encountered in analog linked repeater systems.  Having a seamless network allowed ride break point managers and the operations center to maintain a view of the entire course, even though the various locations might be on different repeater systems.  The projected display of vehicles over the mapped route proved helpful to visualize what was transpiring, even getting a wayward SAG van back on course 

    In summary, the event provided an initial look at the wide scale application of D-STAR in an event requiring multiple repeaters and operators unfamiliar with the technology.  While some problems were encountered, they were rapidly resolved, including relocation of the portable repeater twice to improve coverage of a segment of the course without normal access.   It also educated a large group on the operation of and benefits of D-STAR in certain applications.

   
March 26, 2010
Gordon County ARES Team

With the financial assistance and support of the Gordon County EMA Director Richard Cooper, WG4OEM, who is also a fellow Amateur Radio Operator, the Gordon County ARES Team, has assembled a communications trailer that the team has named ARES 1. It is for the use by Gordon Co. ARES to support both the local community and surrounding area. ARES 1 was put into service during the 2009 SET after much work by the team with Assistant EC Josh Townsend, W7TJT, leading the way. The air conditioned 6' x 12" trailer is well equipped and is continually being upgraded with other equipment and modes of operation. It is equipped with HF, VHF, UHF, and public service band capabilities. There are also two onboard computers, which can link into the Internet via a wireless air card. It is powered by battery and generator power. There are two 40' masts to mount antennas to along with other miscellaneous equipment needed to keep ARES 1 on the air.

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