Month: October 2023

RI Section Manager Newsletter

Welcome to your October 2023 RI Section Newsletter

- by Nancy Austin

https://ri-arrl.org/welcome-to-your-october-2023-ri-section-newsletter  

Welcome to your October 2023 RI Section Newsletter

Announcing two RI Section Cabinet appointments 

Rhode Island Section Emergency Coordinator (SEC)

Jeremy Taylor, K1JST was appointed Rhode Island Section Emergency Coordinator (SEC) on October 25, 2023. Most recently Jeremy did an outstanding job leading RI’s official Section Emergency Test (SET) exercise, done in collaboration with MARS. Jeremy’s inspired momentum rebuilding RI ARES continues in November with a Winlink training scheduled for Wednesday November 1st at 7:30pm via Zoom; training on getting started with SSTV digital image messaging is planned for December. Links are available on the RIARES.org website calendar. All are welcome to join. 

A 41-year old Rhode Island native, Jeremy Taylor, K1JST brings 20 years of experience as a Technology and Management professional in a wide range of roles in Education, Broadcast, Public Safety, and Retail industries. He enjoys building and maintaining repeaters and other amateur radio infrastructure, and many will know Jeremy K1JST from his work supporting the state-wide NB1RI repeater network. Jeremy is Treasurer and Control Operator for the Narragansett Bay Amateur Radio Club (NB1RI), Managing Director of the RI AREC Foundation, Secretary for the NE Spectrum Management Council, and serves on the boards of several other local non-profits. Jeremy enjoys mentoring new hams and founded a radio club at Exeter-West Greenwich Regional School District. He is a member of several local radio clubs, and first licensed in 2017. 

Jeremy looks forward to meeting old and new hams ready to jump in and help collectively rebuild RI ARES as a reinvigorated state-wide team network of well-trained radio amateurs prepared to deliver on our Public Service mission. 

Jeremy Taylor, K1JST – Rhode Island’s new Section Emergency Coordinator (SEC)

Rhode Island Section ARRL Affiliated Club Coordinator (ACC)

John Brewer, N1SXB  was appointed Rhode Island Section Affiliated Club Coordinator (ACC) on October 18, 2023. A recently retired IT executive who has moved back to Rhode Island, John N1SXB is a current or former member of each of the state’s three largest radio clubs. An active ham, John has stepped up to be the ACC, as well as our Section representative reaching out to welcome and orient new hams to the various ways they might get involved, find mentors, and join the club or clubs that fit their interests. John will also be a liaison between the local clubs and the statewide skills training opportunities supported by RI ARES. We are a small state, and fostering this kind of information sharing and collaboration will help our entire RI amateur radio ecosystem. 

John Brewer, N1SXB – Rhode Island’s new ARRL Affiliated Club Coordinator (ACC)

Congrats to last month’s 2 new FCC licensed Rhode Island Radio Amateurs and 1 new FCC Extra License. 

(September 5 – October 5, 2023 report of 2 new RI hams and 1 license upgrade.)

  • Kevin McCarthy, KC1TLP – Pawtucket > New Technician

  • Robert Yates, KC1TJR – Cumberland > New Technician

Let’s welcome these 2 new RI hams and help them get active on the air in 2023-2024. 

  • Robert Hart, KC1NAB – Cranston > Upgrade to Extra  

Congrats to Robert, KC1NAB for earning your new Extra license!

RECAP: In the seven months, April 7 – October 5, 2023 >

  • 31 new FCC licensed RI Radio Amateurs 

  • 30 FCC License Upgrades 

Don’t forget the new ARRL First Contact Certificate you can download here:

https://www.arrl.org/files/file/Awards/ARRL_First_Contact_Certificate.pdf

Get licensed! Upgrade? Upcoming Rhode Island In-person VE Sessions 

Many thanks to these RI Clubs offering in-person VE sessions during November and December 2023. https://www.arrl.org/find-an-amateur-radio-license-exam-session

W1AQ (Associated Radio Amateurs of Southern New England) on Saturday November 11, 2023 and Saturday December 2, 2023 at 9:30am (Rumford, RI)

Blackstone Valley ARC (BVARC) on Saturday December 9, 2023 at 9am  (Woonsocket, RI)

Newport County Radio Club (NCRC) on Saturday December 9, 2023 at 10am (Portsmouth, RI)

License Exam Prep via HamStudy.org. License prep has never been easier than with this transformational learning platform offering self-paced study and practice tests. Available on demand, for free. 

NEW RI POTA parks c. November 11th

Watch for the pile-ups this November 2023 when about six or seven new Rhode Island POTA parks are officially added to the list of POTA parks available to hunt and activate. (There are currently 53 POTA parks across RI, so the new total of RI POTA parks will be around 60.)

In October 2023, POTA HQ lifted its hiatus on adding new US (domestic) parks and invited each state’s POTA Mapping Representative to designate new parks to add.  

Jim Garman, KC1QDZ is our POTA Mapping Representative for RI. 

As of late October, Jim KC1QDZ is wrapping up the democratic process he used to solicit suggestions from the POTA community on what parks to add. (Subject to the POTA constraints about what was an eligible park.) After gathering the responses into a long list, Jim KC1QDZ worked with a team to test the conditions at each potential location and report back. This helped get the list shortened to about six or seven parks that will be announced around November 11th. 

POTA Hunters may have already noticed the recent pile-ups around the new 5-digit POTA parks just opened for activation in some other states. So, heads-up that these brand new RI POTA parks will likely prompt similar interest by mid-November. 

Jim Garman, KC1QDZ would like to thank the following activator team that helped in this vetting process: Briann Swann N1BS, Fran Kelly K1NDQ, Scott Toner N1SWT, Willy Maclean W1LY, and Jonathan W. Winokur KY1K. 

The new RI POTA sites are spread across our state, so plan a portable op road trip this November before the snow falls. 

Jim Garman, KC1QDZ – the POTA Mapping Representative for Rhode island

ALSO: Don’t forget to check out the ARRL’s own new book on POTA for beginners: 

The Parks on the Air Book

How would you help a POTA beginner get started? 

Contesting Season Update by W2DAN

Dave Neal, W2DAN – AVID contester and RI’s Representative for YCCC shares this write-up on Contesting Season:

“Well, we have been waiting for the CQ Worldwide DX SSB Contest, October 28, 0000Z to October 29, 2359Z. This is why they call this time of year Contesting Season! 

The CQ Worldwide DX Contest is the largest amateur radio contest in the world with over 35,000 participants. The challenge is to make as many contacts with as many DXCC entities and CQ Zones as possible, while competing against the world’s elite contesters. Not into SSB? The CW portion of the contest is next month from November 25 – 26. 

3830scores.com is a great place to see how well you did and check out the results of your fellow contesters. Personally I did not get to spend full time in the contest but did spend about 16 hours and worked 864 QSO’s, 82 Zones and 305 Countries working on 10, 15, 20, 40 and 80 meters. This is just my submitted scores, but others did much better. Contesting is a great way to add DX contacts to your log.” Go for it!

Here is the website for 3830scores:  https://3830scores.com

Here are the results for the regional Yankee Clipper Contest Club and the RI contesters among us:

http://www.3830scores.com/editionscores.php?arg=xBgmy6zBvvqvr&cs=27&loc=11

YCCC logo              

New England Mesh Networking Initiatives & Rhode Island Microwave Skill Building Opportunities

Rob Leiden KI1U, Assistant Director for Spectrum Protection & Utilization, continues to share important updates on the maturing collaboration underway across various New England mesh networking initiatives. Interested in joining the conversation?

“As always, the New England Division of the ARRL will help to bring interested hams together to promote mesh network expansion. The nemesh group  (nemesh @ groups.io) meets every other month via zoom and you are invited to join and contribute to the discussion.”

  • Rob Leiden KI1U writes in a pending Beacon article: 

“Last October, we noted that the Maine and Rhode Island sections had received grants to expand their mesh networks.  Since then, New Hampshire has also received a grant to expand its mesh network including sites that position the network to grow into Massachusetts.  In particular, the partnership between the New England Digital Emergency Communications Network (NEDECN) has proven especially productive, providing both high sites for long haul mesh network backbones as an emergency facility but also providing a link between repeater sites independent of the commercial internet.  Rhode Island is also making use of mesh networks to link repeaters located on fire towers to enhance their emergency services utility.  Mesh networks can provide radio amateurs with our own “intranet,“ should the commercial internet become unavailable due to natural or man-made disasters. These networks offer served agencies tools that they already depend on using the commercial internet operated by hams that understand how best to use them.

The New England Division has made the growth of mesh networking a priority, both for these reasons and to make productive use of the frequencies to strengthen amateur radio’s position against encroachment by commercial interests.

We note that the progress made thus far is largely due to the efforts of a few dedicated individuals who have obtained grant funding and established partnerships to deploy new network nodes.  As the transition from building these networks to operating and maintaining them occurs, we need to answer some questions: …. “

  • On October 19, 2023 Rob KI1U shared:

The Merrimack Valley Amateur Radio Association has received a grant award of $46,125 from Amateur Radio Digital Communication, a California-based foundation, to expand its current 7-node microwave network in southern New Hampshire. The project includes extending the New Hampshire network into northeastern Massachusetts and southwestern Maine as a bridge between states towards the larger goal of a New England-wide network.

The project is a collaboration with the New England Digital Emergency Communications Network to provide microwave radio backup to DMR repeaters in New Hampshire that rely on the internet for primary connectivity between sites. Collaborating on DMR sites also increases MVARA’s capability to support local emergency management organizations with amateur radio operators and equipment. …

Jay, K1EHZ is available to answer any questions about the expansion plan and is a valuable resource for anyone looking to support further expansion of mesh networking in New England.”

https://nediv.arrl.org/author/k1ui/

https://nediv.arrl.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/NEMESH.pdf

See also the funded RI mesh experimentation by NCRC’s Paul Fredette K1YBE: “RI is experimenting with mesh network technology using backbones as high as 10 GHz.”

RI Microwave Skill Building Opportunities 

Don’t miss the ARTEN Microwave Grant’s upcoming build night at the Fab Newport [RI] Maker Space this November 3, 2023 from 5-8pm. 

For more information contact Paul Fredette, K1YBE at [email protected]

For more on the ARTEN experimental microwave mesh project see:

https://w1sye.org/?page_id=6690

Steve Day N3VHI, Rob White KB1ZZU, Sean Baker K1SDB with Paul Fredette K1YBE (right) at the NCRC’s May 15, 2023 Fab Newport Maker Space Microwave hands-on build event.
ARTEN (grant-funded) mesh demo at the recent 2023 HamXPO.

RI ARES SET & Situational Awareness

The National Incident Management System (NIMS) framework includes three major components relevant to amateur radio:

  • Resource Management
  • Command and Coordination > Incident Command System (ICS)
  • Communications and Information Management 
    • Situational Awareness – maintained through the flow of information

Hams are getting new attention for their skilled ability to accurately report real time, ground truth situational awareness information when other forms of communication may not be available. 

Partnering with the community to provide additional situational awareness underpins the National Weather System’s Skywarn program. It is central to FEMA’s new Community Lifelines. On October 19, 2023 at 10:19am, over 57 million people worldwide participated in the Great Earthquake Shakeout Drill; and this year’s drill included new ways for hams to contribute via Winlink in this global situational awareness exercise.

This August, Tom Kinehan, the US Army Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) Region One Director, reached out to New England ARRL Section leaders to see if any Section might be interested in working together with MARS on an Airport Weather situational awareness SET, or Simulated Emergency Test, scheduled for October. MARS recognizes that experienced, motivated radio amateurs could be a “force multiplier” passing structured traffic. Let’s see what’s possible in post-pandemic 2023. 

Under Jeremy Taylor’s leadership as then Assistant Section Emergency Coordinator, RI ARES stepped up to the challenge. Within days of discussing this with the new and pre-occupied Section Manager and getting the green light, K1JST had completed the necessary administrative documentation and met with key stakeholders. Early communication was sent out here:

https://ri-arrl.org/join-the-ri-ares-mars-airport-weather-exercise-starting-this-weekend/

Jeremy K1JST then planned and led the RI ARES team and anyone interested in a practice exercise over the weekend of October 7-8, 2023. He followed up promptly to implement changes based on some of the challenges reported. Some lessons learned were posted here:

https://ri-arrl.org/rx-on-the-aviation-band/

Two weeks later, the actual SET took place over the weekend of October 21-22, 2023. 

An interim report was posted here:

https://ri-arrl.org/ri-ares-mars-set-underway/

The final SET net closed Sunday at 10pm. The first October 2023 RI-ARES & MARS SET was a resounding success.

  • 50 net check-ins 

  • 35 reports for 8 unique airports 

  • 2 airports out of state in CT and Worcester, supporting regional situational awareness

  • Team building success

    • Among RI hams across the state.
    • New and old connections fostered
    • RI ARES – MARS relationships renewed or begun. Many thanks to Tom Kinehan N1CPE, Matt Hackman KB1FUP and John E. Miller N1UMJ.
    • Opportunity to assess RI ARES’ baseline capabilities as of October 2023 to provide situational awareness to a served agency – and how to set a path forward.

  • Outreach and communication will take time. RI ARES is a statewide organization where hams can connect on the mission, get a certain kind of training, and bring this all back to help support their local community. 

  • Counties are not an ideal organizational unit for RI ARES. 

    • The final SET participation by RI County looks like this (not counting MARS members):
      • Kent County: 39%
      • Newport County: 28%
      • Providence County: 17%
      • Washington County: 17%
      • Bristol County: 0%

  • Jeremy Taylor, K1JST – our new RI SEC – has proposed other RI ARES organizational structures, and welcomes your suggestions. 

    • How can we come together to support a state-wide, relevant RI ARES training program that will deliver value to our communities in 2023, no matter where in RI we live? No matter how many different radio clubs or radio interests we also care about?
    • What would you prioritize? 
    • Please join the conversation. Step up and get involved. Take action and help us all succeed. 

Rhode Island’s amateur radio community makes a difference. And we can do more. 

From FEMA IS-0700.b – An Introduction to the National Incident Management System (NIMS). Nationwide, ARES members are introduced to situational awareness, ICS and other fundamentals in the course sequence: FEMA IS-100, 200, 700, 800. These courses are available for free, on-line, on-demand. See, for example: https://training.fema.gov/is/courseoverview.aspx?code=is-700.b&lang=en

 

73, Nancy Austin KC1NEK

RI Section Manager

 

ARES / Operating / Public Service

RI ARES & MARS SET Underway

- by Nancy Austin

The October ARES Simulated Emergency Test (SET) is a longstanding ARRL opportunity for Sections to come together and evaluate how hams can contribute value to statewide preparedness efforts. Are we organized, reliable, disciplined? A supportive and inclusive team able to problem solve in real time, and collaborate with a sincere interest to provide a public service? Is this a team served agencies can trust to turn to?

Each July QST issue has, for decades, highlighted each Section ARES and other teams that have come together to participate in the annual October SET challenge. It is one measure of a Section’s preparedness maturity to be able to follow up in this way and self-report their own progress year over year.  RI ARES has not been in a place to report results for at least a decade. But the good news is that is changing in October 2023.

The RI ARES official SET started this Saturday October 21 and will run until Sunday at 10pm. We held two nets so far this weekend, with this summary of Saturday reports to date:

  • 15 check-ins
  • 8 airport weather traffic reports for 4 RI airports
  • accurately passed to at least 2 MARS members
  • via 80m and 2m voice, and so open to all license classes,
  • including a new Technician ham licensed less than 2 months. (wow!)

The Sunday SET nets will begin October 22nd at Noon, with the last one at 10pm.

Want to join the momentum? Please see RIARES.org and the Incident Action Plan put together by A-SEC, Jeremy Taylor, K1JST.

For more on the Practice Exercise held  two weeks ago , please see:

Join the RI ARES MARS Airport Weather Exercise starting this weekend

 

 

 

Public Service

2023 Li’l Rhody Run Around

- by Phil Temples

Jim Creamer, KB1MAO, writes on the ri-ares list:

We are in need of several Hams for another Trail Run. This run, the Li’l Rhody Run Around, is in the Burlingame State Park in Charlestown RI on Sunday 19 November 2023.

There are 2 courses, a 4 mi and an 8 mi. Both courses start and end in the vicinity of the Burlingame Picnic Grove.

Course Description: The terrain of the course is primarily dirt trails, with some dirt and asphalt roads. In order to minimize bunching up at the trail entrance, the race will first run just under one mile on Sanctuary Road, a quiet dead-end dirt road with very little traffic.

The 8-mile course will branch to the right and follow single-track trails counter clockwise around Watchaug Pond, finishing back at the picnic area parking lot. The 4-mile course will continue straight on Sanctuary Road, before branching off to trails in the DEM-owned Kimball Preserve, making a loop through Burlingame State Park campground, and returning to same start/finish via Sanctuary Road.

Hams will be providing safety communications along the course and will need to walk or ride a bicycle short distances carrying their equipment to their posts. The area is heavily forested and has multiple elevated areas that dan disrupt radio signals. Good radios, antennas and power supplies are essential. We are still testing radio coms on the course. The Info sheet has the current comm plan, which may change with further testing.

Please let me know if you are available or not.

Requirement:

Each participant and volunteer must wear at least 200 square inches of orange. Anyone not wearing orange will not be allowed to race per State of RI DEM mandate.

Thank you,

Jim Creamer, KB1MAO

Westerly Amateur Radio Team
2 David Ave.
Westerly, RI 02891
P: 401-596-2720
C: 401-864-4510

ARES / Ham Outreach / Public Service

RX on the Aviation Band

- by Nancy Austin

23 radio amateurs contributed 26 results during last weekend’s RI ARES MARS Airport Weather Practice Exercise. Thank you! 

It was open to all anytime from 10am Saturday to 10pm Sunday October 7-8, 2023. As noted, 23 hams joined in. Two of these reported hearing nothing and one of the 26 submissions was a landline verification report. These are not shown in the data summary charts below. 

Given this generous 36-hour window of time in which to submit results from home, 23 hams participated. Is this a large turnout, or less than expected? Too early to say. For comparison, the 2m RI ARES VHF Simplex net last night lasted about 45 minutes and had 15 check-ins from across 4 of the 5 RI counties. The month before, the RI ARES Simplex net had 20 check-ins across all 5 counties. Just FYI as we seek to understand baseline interest and commitment – and work to build aligned skill-development opportunities and continued outreach. 

Top Challenge: AM Aviation Band (108-137MHz) awareness & solutions for your FM radio, scanner, or SDR

The Practice Exercise asked hams to listen on their radios and report what, if anything, they heard when tuned to 5 specific frequencies between 120-135 MHz, on the AM Aviation Airband. 

Listed below are two of the FM radios used by this weekend’s practice exercise participants. These familiar ham radios do include the ability to receive on the aviation band. 

  • 5w Yaesu FT-60R (c. $190) w Diamond wide receive SRHF40A
  • 50w Icom 5100 base 

Add to the mix: reviewing how to program a new frequency, the benefits of a wideband receive antenna, and making time and effort to participate within the timeframe. 

Location still matters: Nancy, KC1NEK used the Yaesu HT to clearly hear 4-5 airport weather stations over the last week from Middletown, RI. But then heard nothing when testing from the grounds of the New England Wireless & Steam Museum in East Greenwich.

This Practice Exercise was also an opportunity to learn about FM modulation/demodulation and slope detection.  (Thank you, Steve, WA1GVM from Coventry!) Some people got creative with police scanners and planned SDR solutions. Yes, it was a good practice exercise. Stay tuned!

Join us tonight, Wednesday October 11, 2023 at 7:30pm on Zoom to share your experiences and tips. (For the Zoom link and more events, please see the RIARES.org calendar.)

What changes, if any, do you plan to put in place before the actual Simulated Emergency Test planned for Oct 21-22?

County [ham entries] TF Green Newport N. Central Block Island Westerly
Bristol* [0]
Kent [5] 5 1 1
Newport [9] 5 9 3 3 1
Providence* [2] 2 1
Washington [6] 1 1 2 4
Outside RI [1] 1

*Requesting ambassadors especially for Bristol and Providence Counties. ARES looks to the team-building leadership role of the DEC and ECs to build this prepared capacity. This is a great opportunity to encourage, mentor, and learn while supporting a state-wide shared mission. 

For more, see:

Join the RI ARES MARS Airport Weather Exercise starting this weekend

 

Youth

ARISS Contact With Covenant Christian Academy, West Peabody MA, October 13, 2023

- by Phil Temples

ARISS logoFrom ARISS.org:

October 9, 2023—Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) has received schedule confirmation for an ARISS radio contact between an astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and students at the Covenant Christian Academy (CCA) in West Peabody, MA. ARISS conducts 60-80 of these special amateur radio contacts each year between students around the globe and crew members with ham radio licenses aboard the ISS.

CCA is a private school that serves over 430 students, Pre-K through12th grade. To prepare for this ARISS contact CCA integrated space-themed aspects into its STEM program and STEM-related activities. The physics and chemistry students hosted “Space Week” where they put together interactive displays on everything from the physics of black holes, Doppler shift, life on the ISS, to the chemistry of astronaut cuisine. STEM-related activities engaged students in their newly instituted Rocketry Club, Women in STEM Club, and a robotics lab. Amateur radio activities, such as learning about ham radio and radio communications, are being provided during after-school programs by members of area amateur radio clubs.

This ARISS contact will allow students to ask their questions of Astronaut Loral O’Hara, amateur radio call sign KI5TOM. The downlink frequency for this contact is 145.800 MHz and may be heard by listeners within the ISS footprint that encompasses the amateur radio ground station in West Peabody, MA.

Amateur radio operators using call sign N1DQF will operate this radio station to establish and maintain the ISS connection.
The ARISS radio contact is scheduled for October 13, 2023 at 9:47 am EDT (MA) (13:47 UTC, 9:47 am EDT, 8:47 am CDT, 6:47 am PDT). The public is invited to watch the live stream at: https://vimeo.com/event/3761617.
_______________________________
As time allows, students will ask these questions:

1. What happens with all the trash on the ISS?
2. What is the best part and worst part about living in space?
3. Is the wifi and internet connection better in space?
4. How do you get your supplies delivered to the space station?
5. Do you play games in space? If so, how are they different from the games you play on earth?
6. What is your favorite workout to do for two hours each day to keep your muscles in shape?
7. What has been one of your hardest or scariest moments on the ISS?
8. How do you train your bodies to fall asleep on the ISS since your circadian rhythm can’t be regulated to the earth’s rotation on its axis?
9. Does time feel different on the ISS?
10. Is there any research that you are currently involved in? If so, how does it benefit the earth?
11. What is your favorite meal or snack to eat in outer space?
12. What types of jobs do you do while on the International Space Station?
13. How do you fix the solar panels on the space station?
14. Do you have any animals on the ISS right now? What are they?
15. What happens when someone gets sick on board the ISS?
16. When you come back to earth from space, do you feel the pressure of gravity, and if so, how much does this affect you?
17. What was the most challenging part of your training that prepared you to work on the International
Space Station?
18. What’s the most amazing thing you have seen from space?
19. Has living on the ISS changed any of your perspectives on life?
20. Is all the training, preparation, and hardship you endure to be an astronaut on the ISS worth it?

About ARISS:

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station (ISS). In the United States, sponsors are the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC), Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation program (SCaN) and the ISS National Lab—Space Station Explorers.

The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics topics. ARISS does this by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students. Before and during these radio contacts, students, educators, parents, and communities take part in hands-on learning activities tied to space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see http://www.ariss.org.

Media Contact:

Dave Jordan, AA4KN
ARISS PR

Find us on social media at:

X: ARISS_Intl
Facebook: facebook.com/ARISSIntl
Instagram: ariss_intl
Mastodon: [email protected]

ARES / Ham Outreach / Public Service

Join the RI ARES MARS Airport Weather Exercise starting this weekend

- by Nancy Austin

All interested RI licensed radio amateurs are welcome to join RI ARES Members for a MARS situational awareness practice exercise this weekend.  We will be discussing this further on the RI ARES 1st & 3rd Tuesday night repeater NB1RI network nets, and in a Zoom meeting. (Details below.)  This marks the beginning of RI ARES  training exercises and monthly Zoom meetings scheduled for the rest of 2023. We welcome your participation.

Introduction

The following is the Simulated Emergency Test (SET) for the Rhode Island Section for the calendar year 2023.  

We appreciate the leadership and support provided by Chuck Chandler, WS1L, the Western Massachusetts (WMA) Section Emergency Coordinator (SEC) and Tom Kinahan, N1CPE, US Army MARS Region One Director as your new RI Section and ARES leadership put together a SET/Practice Exercise in time for ARRL’s SET. 

 We will run: 

1) a Practice Exercise open to all interested RI licensed radio amateurs 

from Saturday, October 7, 2023 beginning at 10:00 local (14:00 UTC), through
Sunday, October 8, 2023 at 22:00 local (10/9/23 02:00 UTC).

2) the RI ARES Simulated Emergency Test will be held two weeks later: 

from Saturday, October 21, 2023 beginning at 10:00 local (14:00 UTC), through
Sunday, October 22, 2023 at 22:00 local (10/23/23 02:00 UTC).

Separate Instructions will be sent for the Simulated Emergency Test.

Rhode Island’s five Airport Surface Weather Observation Stations (ASOS/AWOS)

SITUATION

Repeated patterns of wet weather have been experienced throughout New England, leaving soils saturated and incapable of absorbing additional rainfall. Several instances of flooding have already led to road washouts impacting the transportation sector. 

The first arctic cold front of the season approaches with a large pressure differential producing a sudden onset of high winds. With root systems already weakened in soft soil, large numbers of trees are felled throughout the region. Multiple roads become impassable.  Wire and cable damage has led to degradation of the Public Switched Telephone, internet and cellular networks. Calls placed without GETS/WPS are taking up to one hour to complete. Limited internet access is available in some areas, with other areas suffering extended outages. High demand has made VoIP communications impossible.

Resource requests for high priority items are ready to transport via air to local airports but with no ability to receive local weather conditions at those airports ARES has been tasked with reporting local airport weather information.

MISSION

RI Radio Amateurs interested in participating will attempt to receive local airport weather broadcasts in the VHF-AM Aviation Band from 119-136 MHz.  A list of local airport weather frequencies will be provided. Any weather reports received will be transcribed for later reporting.

For the Practice Exercise, participants will report their information via a Google Form located at: 

https://forms.gle/rnEGgsEWhqvYhJfdA

EXECUTION

A Simulated Emergency Test is a structured excercise.  RI Radio Amateurs will attempt to receive local airport weather broadcasts in the VHF-AM Aviation Band from 119-136 MHz.  A list of local airport weather frequencies in scope will be provided. Participants may elect to establish a temporary station at an advantageous position in order to improve their chances of receiving one or more airports.

For the Practice Exercise, participants who are able to receive these reports will transcribe the weather reports so that they may be reported to US Army MARS via the Google Form.  

Participants who are unable to receive airport weather reports are requested to report that fact, along with their location, in order to alert authorities to any airports that may not be operational, or may have degraded weather reporting capabilities. Participating in this exercise also helps to build baseline awareness about who can hear what Rhode Island airport weather stations under good conditions. For the Practice Exercise, this should all be reported via the Google Form.

Two weeks later, the Simulated Emergency Test will involve passing this airport weather traffic over the air via one or more radio nets, or via WinLink. 

ADMINISTRATIVE & LOGISTICS

This SET will require the following ICS forms:

  • ICS-202 Incident Objectives (summarizing this operations plan)
  • ICS-217 Communications Availability Worksheet (listing the five Rhode Island airport weather channels in scope)
  • ICS-213 General Message (printable Information Gathering Template) 

The Assistant Section Emergency Coordinator will notify ARES members of this exercise in advance and solicit their participation. Any licensed amateur who expresses an interest is encouraged to take part.  

An after-action review will be conducted soon after the conclusion of the Practice Exercise.  Lessons learned will be implemented for the SET planned for two weeks later, October 21-22, 2023.

COMMAND & SIGNAL

The Assistant Section Emergency Coordinator has submitted this SET + Practice Exercise Operations Order to the Section Manager for their approval. Once approved, it will be disseminated to RI ARES members and those who have expressed interest in RI ARES for whom we have email addresses on file. It will also be announced on the RI ARES Repeater Net and posted to the RI section website: https:ri-arrl.org

The actual SET is anticipated to run for a 36-hour period from 1000 local on Saturday 21 October 2023 until 2200 local on Sunday 22 October 2023.  This will allow participants to have sufficient time to monitor airport weather broadcasts and to report them. Participants may submit their Google Form at any time during the exercise period. 

Participating in the Basic Practice Exercise is an important first step designed to be accessible for any interested radio amateur.  All are welcome to give this a try. 

Additional challenges and MARS crossband exercises are possible. The ARES Standardized Training Plan Task Book for Level 2 presumes annual participation in a Simulated Emergency Test, such as RI ARES is offering this October 2023. Please join in!

VFRmap.com of Rhode Island airports.

NOTES

You are invited to review additional documents at:

https://riares.org

Please join the RI ARES 2m repeater nets on Tuesdays Oct 3rd and 17th at 7:30pm on the NB1RI repeater network, ie Exeter 146.985 (-0.6 MHz) PL 67 Hz

Please join a scheduled RI ARES Zoom meeting to discuss this other 2023 ARES training opportunities further. 

RI ARES General Meeting, Wednesday October 4, 2023, 19:30 Local

ZOOM Meeting Link: https://ewg.zoom.us/j/81260554381?pwd=NGlyVFQ1d1ZaQmdEZnVUSGplU1EyQT09

For the Practice Exercise, participants will report their information via this Google Form: https://forms.gle/rnEGgsEWhqvYhJfdA

(The form will be available for practice before hand, but only data reported during the exercise will be utilized.)

Congratulations to Jeremy Taylor, K1JST for stepping up to put much of this together on short notice. Many thanks for contributing additional capacity to take on the new role as your volunteer RI Division Assistant Section Emergency Coordinator.