If you get the ARRL messages from Joe Phillips, SM, you may already know that John Chapman, WB8INY is stepping down as Section Emergency Coordinator in order to devote more time to his newly established business. He took over following the death of Larry Rain about three years ago.

Those interested in emergency communication may wish to subscribe to the ARRL E-comm newsletter. You may sign up on the ARRL web site. Those of us who mentor emcomm classes are on the list. It comes with news of emcomm deployments around the country with lessons learned, etc.

Lessons learned from Katrina:

* ARRL has established a National Emergency Response Planning Committee to develop plans for responding to large scale disasters like Katrina.

* They are looking at appointing Assistant DECs and SECs to assist with such things as training, coordination and planning.

* Self-registration for response to Katrina was full of problems since it was impossible to verify any prior emcomm experience. Some people who responded had only been licensed a few weeks. They are talking about establishing a national response database of operators with information about their affiliation and experience with ARES, very much like the Red Cross DSHR system.

* ARRL is lookiing at a fairly complete update of the ARES program, possibly with a name change to more clearly reflect the mission and role of the organization.

* ARRL is seeking recognition as a full Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) participant for the communications function within various levels of emergency plans. Again, this would be much like the Red Cross is responsible for the shelter and mass care function.

* The point was also made that anyone responding to a disaster whether locally or larger scale may need to have completed some of the FEMA courses which are available free, by Independent Study. Suggested courses are IS-100 and IS-200 on the Incident Command System and IS-700 on the National Response Plan. Some of this training my be tracked in the national database mentioned above.

LINK: http://www.training.fema.gov/emiweb/IS/crslist.asp

The new line of ARRL "When All Else Fails" products was discussed and how they can be used to promote ARES and the emcomm function while meeting with served agencies and during other public events (Field Day, JOTA, etc.)

The OH Section ARES is currently divided into NINE districts, originally linked to divisions within the SKYWARN program and the National Weather Service field offices. It is proposed to divide the section into EIGHT districts following the current Homeland Security and Regional Medical Response System (RMRS) regions. Each HS region would become two ARES districts. The following counties would be a part of our district: Athens, Ross, Pike, Scioto, Lawrence, Gallia, Meigs, Hocking, Perry, Vinton and Jackson.

There was much discussion on the pros and cons of following these divisions during some group breakout sessions. Those present were mostly favorable although one region in the West Central area is very long and narrow which might present coordination problems. Some people wondered about losing current coordination relationships with countiies that will go to another district and problems of coordinating with two or three NWS offices for SKYWARN. The new districting will probably take place before John Chapman turns over the reins to his successor.

Hamvention: ARES forum wil be Friday, May 19 in room 1 from 11:!5-1:15. The Red Cross and other emergency response organizations will be represented on the panel. Another Disaster Communications Overview forum will be on Sunday May 21 in room 1 at 8:30 AM.

The ARES association with the Ohio Citizen Corps was discussed. OCC oversees Neighborhood Watch programs, Civilian Emergency Response Training (CERT) - which is just getting started in this area, Volunteers in Police Service and the Medical Reserve Corps. ARES personnel may be needed to provide comm for an "unaffiliated volunteer reception center" which OCC is being charged with opening during emergencies to deal with spontaneous volunteers who are not affiliated with a regular response organization. They will interview volunteers and try to match their skills with the needs of responding organizations.

The Regional Medical Response System (RMRS) was discussed, emphasizing ARES response to provide backup communications to hospitals and responding medical teams in a large scale disaster.

We viewed a couple of PowerPoint presentations on the new ARRL campaign and a nice ARES presentation from Washington state that could be used for informing served agencies. I got copies of the presentations and will revise them to include local information. Some materials are available at www.hello-radio.org.

The web site www.emcomm.org was mentioned as having information on typing of resources for response teams. This refers to levels of response, numbers of personnel and their skills and equipment for Rapid Response Teams (RRTs). They also have info on developing high speed multi-media groups for transmitting large amounts of data during a response. On this mode, there was some discussion of whether FCC rules may be suspended or changed to allow the encryption of data such as shelter lists, casualty lists, etc. Many agencies will not allow such traffic over normal packet systems.

The 2006 Simulated Emergency Test (SET) will be the first or second Saturday in October. This is a statewide drill to test emergency communications, passing traffice, establishing nets, etc. We may need to talk with Jill Harris about our participation with them.

Joe Phillips, K8QOE, OH Section Manager:

* Reported that he wants to have John Chapman's successor appointed by Hamvention in order that attendees may get to meet him/her and get a report on how they will run ARES.

* He announced the OH Section Conference will be on Saturday, September 16, 9 AM at the Ohio EMA.

* Discussed the importance of the Official Observer program for seeking out those causing interference in our bands. This has increased interest in programs such as fox hunting which help develop skills for seeking out interference sources.

The new Legal/State Government Liaison, Nick Pittner, WB8TMF was introduced. He does not function as our legal counsel, but discussed his role as our eyes and ears at the State House where he will monitor legislation regarding amateur radio. His goal is to see a PRB similar to the federal one that will help keep deed covenants and restrictions or local zoning laws from interferring with our rights to put up antennas, etc. on our property He has several representatives and state senators who are working with him to develop the legislation. He is a long time ham and was one of the lawyers who argued the case which declared the state education funding plan as unconstitutional.

There was some discussion of the SCAMP sound card protocol which is being evaluated as a replacement for PACTOR. PACTOR is a proprietary protocol that doesn't lend itself to modification or open source experimentation. Developers are trying to make the protocol more robust which is a major limitation of the current version.

A second breakout session looked at how to improve training, motivation and interest of ARES members. One point was to have regular classroom training and nets and exercises, maybe with other ARES counties.

A pizza lunch was provided by Joe Phillips, SM where some networking time was available along with tours of the Ohio EMA "War Room." The ops center is a very interesting tour if you haven't had a chance to see it. They also have several rooms set aside with ham equipment for operating in several bands and modes.

Respectfully submitted,

Paramedic Jeff Slattery, N8SUZ

Athens, Ohio

SARA Vice President

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