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| Emergency Communications |
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| Fred AB9LV, Polk County ARES/RACES Emergency Coordinator |
| Simulated Emergency Test (SET) 2009 |
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| October 3, 2009 - Fred AB9LV, Polk County ARES/RACES EC, reported a total of 202 points were recorded in this years Simulated Emergency Test. 15 hams answered the call to participate in the "surprise" event. Other than the coordinators, none of the ARES/RACES members from Polk County knew exactly what the SET would consist of. However, typical of dedicated ham radio operators, the SET was well attended and the event went off smoothly. Rick W9WS (above) operated the net control station. |
- 2009 PCARA EC SET Report
- 2009 PCARA NM SET Report
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"The whole day was fun and educational"
-Mark KC9GHQ |
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| Sept. 12, 2009 - Dan KB9OBF at the Net Control position during the Grantsburg Simulated Forest Fire exercise. Several members of the Polk County RACES group volunteered their services to the Burnett County OEM and RACES in support of the training event. Below are reports from a few of the participants. |
"Great participation from the Polk County RACES!! It was a very good learning experience for me, hope all
of you got something worthwhile out it. And a beautiful day to boot."
-Kathy Poirier, Polk County EOC |
"The exercise went quite well. Being net control was a bit of a challenge due to wanting to verify each message that was sent or received. I do need to thank K9KRH for his assistance and instruction during the event.
I felt the event was well planned at all levels. Even though we were not sure of our abilities to take on this task on the radio communications level, I think that skeptics had a change of mind once the event got on the way.
With all of the agencies that were involved, I was surprised at the interoperability of all that were involved. This was a great experience and I do look forward to more exercises like this.
I thank the PCARA members that participated and were patient with my net control operations."
-Dan KB9OBF
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"This was the first exercise like this I'd been to. I spent the day with Greg N9CHA at the Memory Lake fill site. We saw how handy a dual band radio was for monitoring both the local repeater and the designated simplex frequency.
One of the experiments I wanted to try was packet radio. We found that my TNC produced a lot of RF noise on 2 meters, so we decided to try Greg's D700 Kenwood. It worked well! I was able to send packet mail to our packetteers back home. A highlight for me was when I operated packet while mobile during our return trip to Polk County. I was able to leap from node to node and make several connections. The whole day was fun and educational."
-Mark KC9GHQ |
"I was setup at the farthest fill site, approximately 5 miles from net control. I set up a tripod with a dual band antenna and was able to get back into net control both on simplex and through the repeater. The fire fighters at our fill site were amazed that we were able to communicate so well to net control."
-Chris KC9NVV |
"The fire drill went well. I used my Yaesu FT-7800 mobile rig, and my FT-60R handheld. The FT-60R was attached to a "J" pole antenna which I hung in a nearby tree. We had 2 trucks come to our fill site. I think Dan did a real good job as net control."
-Mark KC9PJJ |
"Our operations were set up at the North edge of Memory Lake in Grantsburg. Mark KC9GHQ and I were prepared to set up a mast and antenna if needed, but since we were so close to the net control it was not necessary. We were able to use a Kenwood TH-F6A handheld set at 2 watts to communicate via simplex, and my van mounted IC-2820 was used for repeater operation. Both Mark and I brought large gel-cell batteries for emergency power backup. It was nice to receive additional drinking water for the fire fighters. Our van was supplied with a cooler and several bottles of water and a few snacks. We both had rain gear and boots should the day have been nasty. As it was, the weather was great."
-Greg N9CHA |
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| Simulated Emergency Test (SET) 2008 |
October 4, 2008
Hi Guys,
Thanks so much for participating in the SET. Chris and Dan have weighed in with comments about it. i'd appreciate comments yea or nay on it also. We'll share them with each other, and they will go in the file for next year.
My thoughts are that we did well. We had some glitches and stuff, but we really don't have much experience in this. Maybe we can change that. The more we practice, the better we will be.
Dan and Chris have wanted to do joint exercises with county agencies. My thoughts on that are that we should continue to drill on our own before we jump in with people that DO drill regularly. What are your thoughts? I still feel pretty green.
Fred, you heard our performance today. As EC, you will probably be organizing this next year, and possibly having some drills and stuff before then. You have some people that want to help you. Keep the big MO going........
I saw where the digital strengths and weaknesses were today. I'm going to work to make our network redundancy and abilities better. As soon as those computers come, Fred, I want to switch the shack one out. Our old one is loaded to capacity. When we stuck WIN XP on it, it got way full.... runs pretty slow now.... Old one would make a nice RMS packet node at someone's house. We have a radio and TNC to go with it......
There were thoughts from some about our abilities and method for communicating with the REAL EOC across the street. Winlink and a guy with a handheld? hmmmmmmmmmm......... as we get better, maybe we could have a guy over THERE..... Thoughts? Look over today and share your ideas....
Mark KC9GHQ
Here are several supporting documents for the 2008 SET:
- 2008 PCARA EC SET Report
- 2008 PCARA NM SET Report
- 2008 PCARA SET Scenario
- 2008 PCARA SET WD9GWG Timeline
- 2008 WI ARES Fact Sheet
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| Simulated Emergency Test (SET) 2007 |
I'd like to thank those folks who participated in the Simulated Emergency Test today. It was another new experience for me, and I know we learned some things and maybe had some fun.
Rick W9WS brought the County mobile command center out to the dump site, set it up, took it back, and was there with me during the exercise.
Dan KB9OBF was a rover and gave damage reports by voice from various places.
Chuck WD9GWG operated from home and gave weather reports by voice and passed those reports by packet to our club packet BBS. He also came afterwards and snapped some pictures.
Jim K0KFC I believe operated from home and gave damage reports by voice.
I (Mark KC9GHQ)was at the mobile EOC learning how to be a net control operator, and at the end passed packet email reports via Chucks telpac station to Dave Kaun N9KMY, the EC in St. Croix County who we trust sent them on to the State by HF. I also sent copies to Kathy Poirer, our County emergency manager.
It was a good learning experience.
Kathy, thank you and the county for the use of the mobile unit. Now to fill out the forms.....
Mark KC9GHQ
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| Simulated Emergency Test (SET) 2006 |
| On October 7th, 2006, members of the PCARA participated in an Simulated Emergency Test (SET). Several radio stations were utilized throughout the County. Rick W9WS manned the net control duties (at the club ham shack at the Polk County Government Center) on VHF as well as HF communications to Madison. Steve N0XC and son Ben manned the Emergency Communications van where cross-band repeat and packet messages were handled. Chuck WD9GWG served as the Rover Station utilizing his home equipment in Osceola, backing up HF operations as well as providing an IRLP link. Mark KC9GHQ set up a portable ham station at the St. Croix Regional Medical Center. His duties included passing messages from the Medical Center to designated served agencies. He utilized both voice and packet radio modes. |
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| County participation included the Polk County Sheriff's Department as well as the St. Croix Falls Fire Department. This type interdepartmental assistance is valuable during times of emergencies. The Simulated Emergency Test is an opportunity to test communication procedures, be sure the activation plan works, and to provide training to all those involved. |
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Mark KC9GHQ is at his packet radio keyboard during the 2006 Simulated Emergency Test. His station was powered by battery, thus proving that ham radio can fill in when necessary and provide reliable communications until normal services can be reestablished.
There are two documents which provide further insight to the 2006 SET:
- PCARA 2006 SET Plan
- ARRL 2006 SET EC Report
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CLUB
EVENTS |
August |
2nd - 9pm Net
14th - Meeting
9th - 9pm Net
16th - 9pm Net
23th - 9pm Net
30th - 9pm Net
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September |
6th - 9pm Net
11th - Meeting
13th - 9pm Net
20th - 9pm Net
27th - 9pm Net
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October |
4th - 9pm Net
9th - Meeting
11th - 9pm Net
18th - 9pm Net
25th - 9pm Net |
CLUB
OFFICERS |
President
Rick W9WS |
Vice President
Mark W9GWG |
Secretary
Mark KC9GHQ |
Treasurer
Carlos N9GIM |
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