Events, Exercises and Etcetera
Madison Amateurs - Doing what is needed when Needed
3 days ago by WA1TCCEvents, Exercises and Etcetera
The Madison County ARES group participates in several
activities to sharpen our skills and hone our equipment. We do
random field testing on communications efficiency of various
locations in Madison County and test the quality of our
transmissions with our current equipment. We also participate
in local and regional simulated emergency exercises concerning
different disasters such as Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Natural and
Man made disasters and accidents. This can involve the local
region, county wide, state wide or national participation
depending on the scenario. Many of our local Amateurs have
assisted in the past and are continuously training for the
future.
Upcoming Events River Run
A trip up the Withlacoochee to test radio connectivity
back to Madison and our repeaters.
River Connections
Test to check points on roads where connectivity to Madison
and our repeaters are enhanced. This will allow us to have
standard relay locations established before an emergency.
Our Outside Connections
A test from each corner of Madison County to test connectivity
to our neighboring Amateurs. This will allow us to establish
the connectivity in our radios before an emergency.
Simplex Testing
This is done on a regular basis to establish the use of the
bands and the connectivity to each of the ARES members and
establish locations where the best connectivity can be had
when no repeaters are available.
November 19, 2015
AMATEUR RADIO OFFICIAL VISITS MADISON
Madison County Emergency Management hosted a meeting on
Thursday, November 19, 2015 between local Ham radio operators
and Strait Hollis, the North Florida Section Emergency
Coordinator. Mr. Hollis lives in Eustis, Florida and has the
responsibility to coordinate amateur radio emergency
communications for forty-three counties from Orlando to
Jacksonville to Pensacola. He is new in this position and
wanted to visit with members of Amateur Radio Emergency
Services (ARES) as he traveled to Jackson County.
At the Emergency Operations Center in Madison, Strait was
able to discuss his vision of how amateur radio operators can
help in times of disaster when ordinary communications are
either out of service or overloaded. He encouraged the local
ARES group to build positive relationships with like groups in
adjacent counties and provide public service communications to
test the ability to communicate under various conditions. He
said "all emergencies are local" and radio operators need to
have a response plan that is tested on a regular basis.
Alan Whigham, Madison County Emergency Manager, works closely
with the local Ham radio operators and considers them an asset
to the Madison community.
Photo: Left to right: Carter KJ4JIG, Suwannee County CERT
Dan, W1JXG, Madison County ARES
Pat, K4NRD, Madison County Emergency Coordinator for ARES
Strait, KT4YA, North Florida Section Emergency Coordinator for
ARES
Sarah, KD4SMA, Madison County ARES Alan, KI4IFH, Madison
County Emergency Manager Jim, W4FAO, Madison County ARES Bob,
WA1TCC, Madison County ARES
Not Pictured: Junior, KC4VPJ,
Madison County ARES
Nov 8-10 2015
MARS Stimulated Coronal Ejection Test
Madison Amateur Radio Club was proud to serve as a North
Florida connection with the Military Auxiliary Radio Service (
MARS) in the first of quarterly tests to connect the Amateur
community to the Military community to assist in the event of
an emergency. Our Sunday night net was set as a sign in for
the test and a relay was made to our MARS contact Ron Downes
KK4DWE . We will continue to work with MARS in these exercises
to provide emergency services to Madison County.
http://qrznow.com/mars-amateur-radio-exercise-an-overall-success/
October 10, 2015
Capital District Simplex test All bands
This exercise started in the morning with stations going
mobile with HT and Mobile units in various locations in the
Tallahassee area to test the capability of using simplex
connections in the event that repeaters were unavailable.
Madison members also decided to support the test with many
other Amateurs located in the surrounding counties. Our first
tests were with 2 meters which provided great information on
the coverage with communications from Madison being received
throughout the area. We found that simplex would be operable
in a relay between Madison and the other counties. After
testing extensively on the 2 meter band the testing provided
results from bands up to 160 meters with mixed results. We do
have much information for North Florida with the connectivity
tested daily on the 3950 and 7242 nets morning and nightly.
Madison will continue to test simplex through the year on the
2 meter and 70 cm bands and map out our results and document
for an emergency use.
October 3, 2015
I was there but I don't remember what I did. Old age wins
again!
August 22, 2015
Madison Fire Services Test
Pat K4NRD and Jr participated in this event which tested
connectivity between the fire stations in Madison County on
154.400 151.4375 The fire departments used simplex to test
connectivity when the repeaters are down.
May 30
Capital District Emergency Hurricane Test
May 20
Florida State Emergency Test
20 Meters - 14.305
70 Cm - Sarnet
May 19, 2015
Madison Security Expo
The Madison Amateur Radio Club under our ARES duties manned a
table at the annual security expo. This has become an annual
event to teach the community about the available services for
Madison County in any emergency and to provide resources and
information for any future emergencies. ARES will provide
emergency communications for any event or emergency in the
county and we displayed some of the equipment we would use for
emergency communications and provided copies of ARES support
literature and past issues of QST magazine. We anticipate this
event growing each year and are looking forward to next years
event.
Exercises:
May 21, 2005: Red Cross Hurricane Drill.
May 13, 2006: Madison County Simplex communications drill.
June 3, 2006: Red Cross Hurricane Drill.
April 17, 2007: Local Hospital Drill
April 28, 2007: Madison 5K Run
May 12, 2007: Red Cross Hurricane Drill
March 15, 2008: Madison County Simplex Test
Jan 4, 2007: Local Communications Emergency: written up in QST
May 2007.
March 2006: Sponsored a General Class Study Group that lasted
several weeks.
April 2006: Photo ARES ID Cards for all members.
Nov 2006: Skywarn Weather Spotter Training for all ARES
members by NWS.
Most members have their NIMS 100, 200, 700 and 800
certificates.
Remainder of 2008:
Developed an exercise with Suwannee County and Columbia County
ARES for a simplex exercise from county EOC's.
Developed a similar exercise with Brooks County and Lowndes
County Georgia.
Participated in the Capital District and Red Cross Hurricane
exercises.
WHAT IS A SET? (Simulated Emergency Test)
To give an example of such an exercise, this is one of such an
exercise:
“PLANE DOWN, SEARCHERS NEEDED!”
2009 SET
MADISON COUNTY, FLORIDA ARES
OCTOBER 3, 2009 Madison County, Florida ARES Emergency
Coordinator Patrick Lightcap, K4NRD, was notified by Georgia
Section Emergency Coordinator Mike Brown, KE4FGF, that South
Georgia Airlines Flight 1003 overshot it's landing at the
Valdosta Municipal Airport and is considered down some where
in South Georgia or North Florida. The aircraft is a McDonnell
Douglas DC-9 with crew and passengers totaling 42. The ELT
beacon is functioning and the FAA requests assistance in
locating the crash site. This was the challenge facing Amateur
Operators in a very rural area of North Florida between Lake
City and Tallahassee north of I-10.
This was the scenario for the Simulated Emergency Test that
was designed by Georgia officials with the goal of erasing the
State line and practicing cooperative emergency communications
by
two states.
The notification came at 8:34 AM and the first signal from
the ELT was detected at 8:39 AM on 147.420 MHz. K4NRD
contacted Madison County ARES members KI4IFD, KJ4AOU, KC4VPJ,
W4GNA and KD4EKS (AEC). KI4TRR the EC in Suwannee County,
Florida just to the east of Madison County gave a signal
strength report on the ELT from his location. That information
coupled with the beam heading from KC4VPJ showed the crash
site possibly in the northeast quadrant of Madison County,
Florida or the southwest quadrant of Lowndes County, Georgia.
W4GNA was asked to coordinate the search for the crash site
on 146.550 MHz while K4NRD went on the 9:00 AM North Florida
AREC Net on 3.950 MHz requesting assistance from stations
where major hospitals are located. Telephone service out of
Madison County was not possible because of a compromised fiber
optic cable. North Florida Section Emergency Coordinator W2DWR
who happened to be Net Control for the AREC Net sent available
stations to 3.955 MHz where K4NRD became net control for the
SET exercise.
Simultaneous Holt (Okaloosa) Florida nets on 146.550 and
3.955 resulted in the following stations assisting:
Jacksonville (Duval) Florida: W4BXT (acted as asset net
control).
Gainesville (Alachua) Florida: N4AYS, KG4LQK.
Lake City (Columbia) Florida: WA5RKR, KE4BQI (Columbia County
EC).
Tallahassee (Leon) Florida: AI4GF, AG4UU, WQ4M, KI4HGO
(Capital District EC), K4MVL, W1ABT (Leon County EC).
Monticello (Jefferson) Florida: KI4JOO (Jefferson County AEC),
KA3FZO, KI4AGD, N0TW. Moultrie (Colquitt) Georgia: K4BEE
(Colquitt County EC), KJ4HII (SWGA ADEC). Thomasville (Thomas)
Georgia: N4KGT, AI4CW (Gadsden County AEC).
Cairo (Grady) Georgia: KI4RGD.
Live Oak (Suwannee) Florida: W2DWR (North FL Section EC).
Port St. Joe (Gulf) Florida: W4NFG.
Crawfordville (Wakulla) Florida: KI4PRX.
Crestview (Okaloosa) Florida: N4GXX.: N4CU
(West Panhandle District.)
On the VHF Net the following stations participated:
K4NRD: Madison County EC and Net Control,
KD4EKS: Madison County AEC and RDF consultant,
KJ4AOU: RDF local team,
KC4VPJ: Madison County Hospital station,
KI4IFD: Traffic handling going east
W4GNA: RDF coordinating station,
KI4JOO: RDF coordinating station – VHF relay to Georgia,
WD4CJI: Georgia RDF team and Brooks County Georgia hospital,
KJ4GON: Georgia RDF Team and Brooks Hospital
KJ4GOJ: NWS-DEC and Brooks Hospital,
W4FWL: Tallahassee RDF team,
KJ4KUK: Georgia RDF team,
KI4TRR: Suwannee County, Florida EC,
KE4FGF: Georgia SEC and ELT transmitter team,
KJ4LOO: NWS ADEC and ELT transmitter team.
While the HF Net identified available medical response
resources throughout North Florida and South Georgia the local
VHF net on 146.550 continued coordination of RDF (radio
direction finding) activities. W4FWL from Tallahassee, WD4CJI,
KJ4GON, and KJ4KUK from South Georgia and KJ4AOU from Madison
County, Florida combined their efforts to locate the “crash
site.” The ELT transmitter was finally located at 11:47 AM and
W4FWL assumed on-site Incident Command. His report indicated 8
fatalities, 18 burn patients, and 16 additional trauma
victims.
Resources identified on the HF net were called upon to
respond including medical helicopters, ambulances, and
hospitals to receive the injured as well as FAA notification.
The nets were closed down at 12:30 PM after all needed
contacts had been made. A total of 23 operators were on the
3.955 HF net and an additional (unduplicated count) 15
operators on the 146.550 local VHF net. The two nets worked
cooperatively and without using any local VHF repeaters. A
Georgia Net on 3.975 was also involved but no count of
operators was taken by the Florida units.
The objectives of the exercise were accomplished. RDF teams
found the “crash site” transmitter within 3 hours of
notification. Communications to critical treatment centers
within 120 miles of the rural incident were established.
Stations from multiple ARES Districts in Georgia and Florida
were directly involved. VHF communications used primarily
simplex frequencies with relay stations rather than repeaters.
As HF propagation changed, HF relay stations filled in the
gaps. All stations participating maintained good discipline
and demonstrated a high level of good emergency communications
protocol.
Special thanks go to Mike Brown, KE4FGF (GA-SEC) and Zack
Chandler, KJ4LOO (NWS-ADEC), for setting up the exercise and
driving to Florida to install and monitor the ELT transmitter
and “crash site.” Thanks also to Gina McCulley, W4GNA for
offering her north Florida property as the “crash site.”
Left: Ivan (W4WFL), Rich (KJ4AOU), Right: ( ) Ivan (W4WFL)
Left: ( ) Right: KC4VPJ setting up homemade 2 Meter 3 element
“Tape” beam and Ground Plane antennas.
Left: Homemade “Tape” beam for direction finding and ground
plane for communication.
Bottom left: KC4VPJ’s “operations” desk.
Right: KC4VPJ taking a break in the action.