Oregon Section ARES

S.E.T.

“It’s A Bug’s World”

October 2009

GENERAL INFORMATION

OPERATIONAL TIME PERIOD FOR EXERCISE

The time period for this S.E.T will be from 0900 hrs Sat Oct 17th to 1400 hrs Sat Oct 17th.

The purpose of the October 2009 S.E.T. is to provide members of Oregon ARES units an opportunity to practice their skills in operating the equipment necessary to accomplish the ARES mission in their county, and to support the overall ARES program in the state. Additionally, the S.E.T. will provide ARES units and Emergency Manager Staff an opportunity to formulate a Declaration of Emergency (DOE) and subsequent Situation Reports (SITREP) using the standard, non-modified ICS 213 form, work together as a team, and share information about the S.E.T.

One of the primary elements for this event will be to utilize the installed governor’s grant equipment at the county EOC.  This will insure the equipment is operational and allow more training in its use for personnel.

S.E.T. GOALS & OBJECTIVES

The primary focus for this event will be simple and to the point:

• Support the ARES mission in Oregon.
• Gain access to and activate OADN equipment at the county EOC per agreement
• Introduce, train, and evaluate new personnel on the EOC amateur radio equipment
• Each county shall identify two county needed goals or ARES unit specific goals that they would like to see accomplished. Report these goals to your DEC prior to the S.E.T. Complete those two goals/objectives during the S.E.T.
• To help radio amateurs gain experience in communications using standard procedures and a variety of modes under simulated-emergency conditions.
• Exercise, test, and properly use the governor’s grant equipment, as well as other amateur radio components or capabilities to meet S.E.T. objectives
• Setup and operate from various field sites in support of the S.E.T. operational plan. This will allow hands-on training in setting up required communications equipment based on the tasks at specific locations
• Work with county EM to work up Declaration of Emergency (DOE) for S.E.T.
• Properly utilize the appropriate non-modified ICS forms for operational needs as listed in this document
• Test WinLink connections, computer software, and message handling procedures 
• Test OEM’s ARU’s ability to handle to a volume of message traffic, insure that their equipment is operational, and the ability to get message traffic responses back out the to other Districts within the state
•  

 These objectives will be explained in more specific detail further in this document.

ORIENTATION

The primary focus for this event is to exercise the governor’s grant equipment, and other installed amateur radio equipment.  To accomplish this, we need to have as many of the county EOCs activated as possible, and make contact with other stations in other counties and districts.

SCENARIO SITUATION

The event scenario will be a H1N1 swine flu pandemic and the county’s response. The S.E.T. will start at day number #2 of the actual event.

Since 1999, response exercises and actual experiences have revealed that the traditional, clinical model is insufficient in dispensing prophylactic medication to affected populations in time to minimize disease outbreak and death. Additionally, computer modeling has shown that morbidity and mortality decreases substantially if prophylactic medications reach an affected population within the first 1–2 days after exposure to such biohazards or various diseases.

Counties have developed emergency plans to rapidly distribute life-saving medications, vaccines and other medical supplies to the public during a major disease outbreak or terrorist incident.

Our plan calls for setting up Points of Dispensing (POD) clinics at strategic locations. This exercise will test our procedures for operating at a POD clinic and our ability to S.E.T. up the needed amateur radio equipment under temporary field conditions.

County Emergency Managers’ Offices have requested ARES assistance in providing communications for their county Public Health Point of Dispensing (POD) activations, under standard ICS protocol, as they begin to setup inoculation and screening stations for this event.

The Oregon State Office of Emergency Management (OEM) will be gathering information and monitoring the situation as this event takes place.

MISSION

The mission for ARES personnel is to provide effective multi-mode communications from and between the county EOC, the POD staging area(s), and the actual POD site, utilizing various modes amateur radio in order to cover the operational needs of the served agencies.

The operational needs could include passing verbal or written message traffic, packet traffic, traffic to adjacent governmental agencies, real time point-to-point communications for operational command and control, and contacts with other counties and districts within the state of Oregon.

MISSION CONCEPT

Each county shall complete the following   tasks or elements during this S.E.T.:

• Setup at least three (3) sites for this S.E.T. and one (1) of the sites shall be operated with emergency power (batteries, solar, or generator) only
  • County EOC
  • POD staging area
  • Primary POD site
• Contact and exchange message traffic with at least two (2) other counties in their ARES District
• Contact and exchange message traffic with at least two (2) counties in an adjacent ARES District per the below listed table
• Formulate an exercise message that will be transmitted to a station outside of the state of Oregon to be relayed to the OR OEM in some appropriate manner
• Formulate and send copies of the Declaration of Emergency (DOE) to the OEM, the state SEC and their District Emergency Coordinator (DEC) using the plain text short form DOE from the airmail address book via any workable amateur radio mode
• Utilize appropriate non-modified ICS forms (as listed in this document) for all activities as needed to accomplish the S.E.T. goals & objectives

OPERATIONAL SITE REQUIREMENTS

The following operational procedures shall apply to the various sites as listed in the Mission Concept statement:

• County EOC: You are to activate your full EOC capability, to include the governor’s grant equipment, in order to insure completion of goals and objectives of this exercise
• POD Staging Area: You will work with your county EM to work out an actual site that might be used in an event as stated in the scenario. This will allow for propagation checks, equipment setup needs, and actual hands-on setup experience at that location
• Primary POD Site: You will work with your county EM to work out an actual site that might be used in an event as stated in the scenario. This will allow for propagation checks, equipment setup needs, and actual hands-on setup experience at that location

LIMITATION OF AMATEUR EQUIPMENT OR NORMAL INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES

The below listed items, conditions, or materials shall not be used during this event:

• Electrical power restrictions at one of the designated operational sites will be in effect. Emergency power only will be used at one site.
• The Internet usage will be limited to one piece of traffic using Airmail. This will allow   training on how it works and how to use it, while at the same time insuring that the HF portion of our capability is utilized properly and everything doesn’t rely on the internet
• The use of any RMS gateway within the same county by the ARES teams is restricted/prohibited. Counties must use either a neighbor county’s   VHF Gateway or use HF Pactor
• UHF and VHF voice repeaters.
• Commercial telephones
• Cellular telephones
• Satellite telephones

MANDATORY MESSAGE TRAFFIC ANNOUNCEMENT

During this event ALL messages shall start with THIS IS AN EXERCISE MESSAGE and end with END OF EXERCISE MESSAGE. The ICS-213 shall be the standard message form for this event. The only exception will be if a real life emergency takes place, the exercise will stop until such time as the emergency is handled with tactical radio traffic as needed. This is an important issue since people monitor scanners, police & emergency radio frequencies, and could over hear our traffic handling during radio transmission.

A good example of what can happen if you don’t use the THIS IS AN EXERCISE MESSAGE was on 9/11/09. While conducting a routine monthly exercise which the U.S. Coast Guard intended as "normal" and "low profile", because of hearing information on the radio, it wound up instead triggering concerns about the security of the president on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks. This resulted in bridges being closed to traffic, Ronald Reagan airport being totally shut down, and the air corridors around D.C. were closed.  President Obama was evacuated from a 9/11 ceremony at the Pentagon. This was all because people didn’t hear the part of the message stating it was an exercise. The U.S. Coast Guard is investigating the incident.

MESSAGE TRAFFIC CLASSIFICATION INSTRUCTIONS

Exercise messages should carry the word " EXERCISE " before the precedence; that is, " EXERCISE Routine" ," EXERCISE Priority", or " EXERCISE Emergency" on phone and " EXERCISE R, P, or E" as appropriate on CW. The text of such messages should also begin with the words "EXERCISE MESSAGE."

EMERGENCY OR REAL TIME EVENT

In the event of a real time emergency, the EC shall be notified by whoever first becomes aware of the situation, who in turn will notify the EM. From that point on, all exercise operations shall cease and the emergency shall be the primary operation in order to reduce the real threat to life, property, or hazardous situation.

Keep in mind that a real emergency event takes priority over the exercise. The phrase “THIS IS A REAL EMERGENCY” shall be the designated phrase that indicates there is an actual emergency in the exercise area requiring immediate attention.

The EC shall notify the DEC of the situation as soon as possible by any means available.

DATE / TIME

The date/time format used by the state plain text ICS format of YYYYMMDDHHMM shall be used for this exercise. EXAMPLE:  200909171234. This format will allow for sorting in a standard ICS-213 and other ICS forms.

CREATURE COMFORTS

Do not rely on your served agency to provide to provide food, beverages, or other creature comforts. Make sure you have supplies with you for this event, to include medicines, for at least a 24-hour period. And be sure to have weather related clothing on hand for possible use.

PHONETICS

Standard ITU phonetics shall be used during this exercise when needed. All voice transmissions shall be in plain English.

SAFETY

Safety is paramount at all times and is the key responsibility of each individual. Any person can declare a safety issue. All safety issues shall be reported to the EC by any means necessary to insure personnel safety at all times. ECs shall report any safety issues to the DEC as soon as possible, document the incident in the AAR, and debrief county personnel with 48 hrs of S.E.T. completion. And if you can’t find the right forms you need you can do a Google search for the specific fillable ICS form by number. Example: Fillable ICS-305 form. All ECs should have copies of these forms available for use at all times. It is also suggested that they be stored on a thumb-drive for future use or need.

SPECIFIC MESSAGE TRAFFIC INFORMATION

Each DEC shall make up a packet of at least five (5) messages pertaining to event related to district level needs. Each EC shall make up a packet of at least five (5) messages pertaining to event related activities that will be sent to OEM and adjacent counties for information. Both the DEC and EC requirements will be in addition to the message requirements listed in the Attachments D-1 to D-3.

Each DEC shall compile all message traffic and keep records of sent and received message traffic from all modes. This means that the DEC will have to be cc’d on all message traffic.

All the counties shall circulate all their message traffic and other tasks among themselves only on VHF simplex, or VHF Airmail peer to peer, or HF SSB or HF Pactor.

Message traffic shall be sent by whatever means available due to propagation, band, and mode conditions. Please keep in mind that the primary emphasis will be by utilizing WinLink and Airmail while keeping in mind the limitations of amateur radio equipment or normal infrastructure services as listed in this operational order.

The OEM ARU shall respond to all received message traffic before they secure from the S.E.T. This will allow the sending station to confirm their message traffic did in fact reach OEM and that they are capable of receiving message traffic from OEM.

MODES OF OPERATION

The below listed amateur radio modes of operation shall be utilized in conjunction with proper operating procedures and FCC rules & regulations. Other modes can be used at the discretion of the EC:

• UHF/VHF simplex – primary voice capable radio usage for command & control
• HF voice – good mode for contact between counties and districts within the state using NVIS capable antennas
• Packet – solid means of communication for passing lists of information and point-to-point contact
• WinLink – HF/VHF capable system for message handling
• Airmail – familiar email type message capability and capable system for message handling

Other modes to consider and try out for more training, equipment experience, and actual fun will be:

• Slow Scan TV – great & easy means to show an actual site, damage, or other need pieces of information
• CW – tried and true means of communications when band conditions are at their worst even though it is not currently recommended for OR ARES use. (Know that there still are people that do CW quite well)
• APRS – excellent tracking capability, static position plotting, and a good command & control tool
• D-STAR – another good mode of operation to get large documents, attachments, and other files through

• KEY COMMENT: Utilize any mode that is suitable for this event so long as the message and the urgency of the message are considered.

GPS USAGE

For this S.E.T. all GPS coordinates will be in UTM format with a datum of NAD-27. This is the standard datum used for all OR search & rescue operation and it will be good practice for us. However, any county can use Lat/Long, NAD-27, if that is the county policy for this event. Make sure you have a cheater card or your GPS manual with you when operating your GPS. When you give coordinates it should be the main entrance to a building. If it is a linear object such as a field, bridges, or another area object, use either the north or east side for GPS coordinates.

Addition:

ARES personnel can use any GPS coordinate datum necessary to get the information across to the intended user. This shouldn't be a major issue since all it takes is a push of a button on the GPS unit or computer to change over from one datum system to another.

Please make sure that when you are out checking coordinates, using your GPS, or trying to get a location fix use extreme caution, park clear of any roadway, and remember safety around adverse terrain.

ANTENNA USAGE

You will have better reception, area coverage, and message handling capability if you use the same types of antenna system between connecting stations. This is most important when using NVIS type antennas. It shall be the main focal point for this exercise since a properly positioned NVIS antenna will give the best statewide coverage and increase our capability to pass message traffic, have positive command and control, and allow us to work within our districts as well as other districts within the state.

FREQUENCY USAGE

In order to make things simpler, the following frequencies will be used during this S.E.T. This will allow a call frequency that will enable units to know where to find other units, to make initial contact, and move off to another frequency to conduct their business.

All counties are encouraged to monitor these call frequencies on the hour and half hour in order for people to know when and where to find another station/county band conditions permitting.

    UHF/VHF Frequencies

• 440 - (? MHZ) internal county use per county communications plan or SOP
• 2m – (? MHz) internal county use per county communications plan or SOP
• 6m – (50.125 MHz) ground wave effect could prove to be useful for short range communications and is worth trying

HF Frequencies

• 10m - (28.375 MHz) ground wave effect could proved to be useful for short range communications and is worth trying
• 15m - (21.300 MHz) SSTV – (21.340 MHZ) 
• 20m - (14.275 MHz) SSTV – (14.233 MHZ)
• 40m - (7.200 MHz)   SSTV – (7.171 MHZ)
• 60m - (5.346.5 MHz)            Power Restrictions: 50w ERP
• 80m - (3.964 MHz)   SSTV – (3.845 MHZ)
• 160m - (1.978 MHz) SSTV – (1.845 MHZ)
•  
• Pactor frequencies tha we will be using during the SET.
• 40m Pactor 1 & 2 - 7069.5
• 40m Pactor 3 - 7163.5
• 80m Pactor 3 - 3595.0

COMMAND & CONTROL

The below listed requirements are for the DECs and ECs to accomplish during the S.E.T. These tasks shall be completed as a major component of this exercise in order to train, evaluate, and provide leadership training at both levels.

• SEC shall or has:
  • Be in overall control of the OR Section
  • Delegated exercise authority to NB7O
  • Monitor activities as appropriate for a good over view of Section activities

• DECs shall:
  • Monitor all county activities within their district
  • Complete all tasks listed in this operational order
  • Utilize the chain of command to insure the ECs are properly briefed for this exercise
  • Notify the SEC of any safety issues
  • Notify the SEC of any OADN equipment or served agency issues
  • Be prepared to give direction or guidance to insure the counties perform their tasks appropriately
  • Insure that all counties within the district participate in the S.E.T.
  • Justify to the SEC why any county within the district does not participate

AFTER ACTION REPORTS

Each EC shall complete the following reports by October 31^st 2009 as indicated below.

• ARRL Public Service Activity Report to ARRL
• S.E.T. After Action Report (AAR) (attached)
• S.E.T. After Action Report (AAR) on a standard ICS-213 to be completed by each EC that will list the following:
  • (3) Positive aspects of the S.E.T.
  • (3) Negative aspects of the S.E.T. with solutions to correct the issue
  • Any identified safety issues
  • Any identified equipment issues
  • Ideas to increase ARES operational capabilities
  • A brief status report on the ARES and county Emergency Manager’s Office relationship
  • A brief description of how the ARES personnel felt about the S.E.T.
  • A report of total man-hours worked by each county ARES unit (# of hrs worked X # of personnel = man-hours)

CROSS-DISTRICT CONTACT INFORMATION

Each OR Section District shall attempt to contact an adjacent District as indicated in the table below. Each District can contact additional Districts if possible. Remember this is a good opportunity to check propagation, NVIS capabilities from various locations, and allow for training experience in S.E.T.ting up antennas and plotting contacts and propagation. Each District shall contact at least two of the listed three Districts in the below table.