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Hello to all...

A reminder that the monthly ARES Net for December is rapidly approaching. The monthly ARES Net for December is Monday December 1st, 2008, at 8:30 PM on the MMRA Repeater system. This is after the RACES Nets earlier in the evening. For frequencies that will be linked into the ARES Net on the MMRA Network, please see the following link from the MMRA web site and the repeaters that will be linked in will be through Hub 1:

http://www.mmra.org/repeaters/map.html

In addition, if the Echo-IRLP node on the MMRA hub is available, we will likely link that to the New England Reflector system on IRLP 9123/Echolink Conference *NEW-ENG* Node: 9123.

Make the first Monday of the month, "Emergency Communications Night" and check into your local RACES Net and then check into the ARES Net on the MMRA Repeater System. We look forward to your participation and remember, we are always looking for Net Controls to run the ARES Net.

We will have several interesting announcements for the net that evening and we look forward to everyone's participation. Updates will be posted via email and on the Eastern Massachusetts ARES Web Site at http://ares.ema.arrl.org

Thanks for your continued support of ARES!

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
Pager #: (508) 354-3142
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)
Work Phone #: 1-800-445-2588 Ext.: 72929 (8 AM-5 PM)
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
http://www.wx1box.org
1

Hello to all....

North Shore ARES and Beverly Emergency Management are sponsoring the following workshop. See below:

Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Workshop Saturday November 22nd, 2008:

There will be an Emergency Communications Workshop on Saturday November 22nd, 2008 from 9:00 AM-4:00 PM at the Beverly Emergency Management Headquarters in Beverly, Massachusetts.

This session is being put on by the ARES Section Staff through the efforts of Essex County ARES District Emergency Coordinator (DEC), Eric Horwitz, KA1NCF, Essex County ARES Emergency Coordinator (EC), Jim Palmer-KB1KQW and the cooperation of Beverly Emergency Management. This Emergency Communications Workshop will provide the background and information to serve Amateur Radio Operators when they need to respond to a communications emergency or when supplemental communications via Amateur Radio is required. It will feature an Introduction and Conclusion to Emergency Communications, and five 1-hour training sessions on topics including:

Overview of Eastern Massachusetts ARES-RACES-SKYWARN Programs
Net Operations
NTS Traffic Message Handling
Basic Overview of ICS
Go Kits

This training will also feature a 1-hour lunch that will be provided at no coerced cost to any Amateur who attends the session.

The presentations will be given by other Amateur Operators well versed in the topics listed above. The training will be a worthwhile endeavor not just for emergency communicators but for anyone who is an Amateur Radio Operator, and wants to learn more about the hobby.

Preregistration is requested but is not required in case anyone would like to attend at the last minute. Please try to preregister by Monday November 17th, 2008 to assure the meeting place is setup properly and we have enough refreshments for breaks between lectures and for the lunch break. We will, however, accept any last minute preregistrations after that day or any walk-ins as long as space permits.

Directions to Beverly Emergency Management Agency (BEMA) Headquarters:

Take Route 128 North to exit 20A towards North Beverly. You will proceed a short distance to a set of lights where you will take a Left onto Conant Street. Follow the signs to the Beverly Airport - East Entrance which is off of Route 97 in Beverly. Once you reach the entrance on L.P. Henderson Road, be prepared to take a right into the Beverly EMA facility. If you enter the airport parking lot, you have gone too far.

There will be talk-in on the Danvers Repeater 145.47 PL: 136.5 and Beverly Repeater 147.390.

For any additional information and to preregister for the workshop, please contact:

KA1NCF-Eric Horwitz ka1ncf@nsradio.org
KB1KQW-Jim Palmer kb1kqw@nsradio.org
KD1CY-Rob Macedo rmacedo@rcn.com

This training should be a worthwhile endeavor for anyone interested in learning more about emergency communications and amateur radio in general. Please forward this on to anyone you feel may benefit from this workshop.

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
Pager #: (508) 354-3142
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)
Work Phone #: 1-800-445-2588 Ext.: 72929 (8 AM-5 PM)
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
http://www.wx1box.org 1

Hello to all...

A reminder that the monthly ARES Net for November is rapidly approaching. The monthly ARES Net for November is Monday November 3rd, 2008, at 8:30 PM on the MMRA Repeater system. This is after the RACES Nets earlier in the evening. For frequencies that will be linked into the ARES Net on the MMRA Network, please see the following link from the MMRA web site and the repeaters that will be linked in will be through Hub 1:

http://www.mmra.org/repeaters/map.html

In addition, if the Echo-IRLP node on the MMRA hub is available, we will likely link that to the New England Reflector system on IRLP 9123/Echolink Conference *NEW-ENG* Node: 9123.

Make the first Monday of the month, "Emergency Communications Night" and check into your local RACES Net and then check into the ARES Net on the MMRA Repeater System. We look forward to your participation and remember, we are always looking for Net Controls to run the ARES Net.

We will have several interesting announcements for the net that evening and we look forward to everyone's participation. Updates will be posted via email and on the Eastern Massachusetts ARES Web Site at http://ares.ema.arrl.org

Thanks for your continued support of ARES!

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
Pager #: (508) 354-3142
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)
Work Phone #: 1-800-445-2588 Ext.: 72929 (8 AM-5 PM)
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
http://www.wx1box.org
1

Hello to all....

Manager of Preparedness and Response at ARRL HQ, Dennis Dura-K2DCD, noted a relatively new FEMA Online Independent Study Course on Emergency Support Function (ESF) #2 online class on communications. See info from Dennis below:

Many of you may already be aware of this course, or have taken it. Nevertheless, here is information on a relatively new FEMA online independent study course that presents the concepts of Emergency Support Function #2-Communications. For those that have heard my presentations around the country, I strongly encourage integrating ARES in the local, county, regional or state government emergency operations plan. This presents us a variety of mission options, not beholding to any one specific group, and we become more aligned with the emergency management structure.

The course will take approximately 30 minutes to complete. Please distribute this information as appropriate within your Section.

http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/IS802.asp

73
Dennis

Dennis C. Dura, CBRM
K2DCD
Manager, Emergency Preparedness & Response
ARRL, The national association for Amateur Radio

1 1

The following information came from MEMA Region 1 Communications Officer, Terry Stader-KA8SCP and I have added a press release from Peter Judge at MEMA Headquarters:

The Seabrook Power Station will be conducting a "demonstration" of their emergency siren system beginning at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 25.

This demonstration means the Power Station will be simultaneously sounding all 121 of their emergency sirens for a time frame of 3 to 5 minutes on that day. There are 27 sirens in Massachusetts and 94 in New Hampshire.

MEMA will be working in conjunction with Seabrook and FEMA on this demonstration. More information will be available through local cable TV, newspapers, the fire and police radio frequencies and electronic signboards on highways.

Local safety officials are hoping to notify as many people as possible about the demonstration so that the public is aware that there is no emergency taking place at the power plant and to prevent an influx of calls to 911 from concerned citizens wondering why the sirens are sounding.

The Press Release in Word Document format can be seen at the following link:

News Release Seabrook Sirens Demonstration

Hello to all....

Many ARES/RACES/SKYWARN/MARS and EMCOMM Amateurs are aware that traditionally in the Fall of each year, the ARRL sponsors a Simulated Emergency Test on the first weekend in October with the Simulated Emergency Test taking place in many sections in New England between early October through mid-November of each year. In August 2008, we conducted the Hurricane Matt Massachusetts Statewide Hurricane Exercise which went quite well. After coordination with ARRL Manager of Preparedness and Response, Dennis Dura-K2DCD, he has agreed to allow that drill to count for our Simulated Emergency Test for 2008 understanding the extremely high level of SKYWARN Activations that have occurred in the region and the large overlap in Amateurs that support both SKYWARN and ARES along with the fact that an exericse was completed roughly 2 months prior to the traditional SET timeframe. We appreciate Dennis allowing us to make this count as our SET for the Eastern and Western Massachusetts sections.

Local ARES groups within the Eastern Massachusetts section that plan or intend to plan and execute a more localized exercise scenario are encouraged to do so. Please send any information on any localized exercises to me so it can be made known on the Eastern Massachusetts ARES web site as well as the various email lists for EMCOMM in the section. Also, we encourage Hams within our section to participate in neighboring section Simulated Emergency Tests where possible.

At a recent meeting with the Southeast Massachusetts Emergency Management Directors Association that I attended and presented, they are quite interested in a possible exercise which would potentially involve hospitals that are interested in Amateur Radio Emergency Communications. With the acceptance of the August 2008 exercise as the SET for Eastern Massachusetts, this should allow time to investigate this further and plan for a potential exercise in the February to March 2009 timeframe. In addition, it will allow for proper reporting of the August 2008 Hurricane exercise as the extremely high number of SKYWARN Activations, some of which prompting localized ARES activations or stand-by activations, has prevented the reporting from taking place sooner. It will also allow for other administrative and planning work to be completed.

We thank everyone for their support of Eastern Massachusetts ARES, the August 2008 Hurricane Matt exericse, and the tremendous support given with the extremely high number of SKYWARN Activations in the May through October 2008 timeframe. Thanks again for your continued support of Eastern Massachusetts ARES!

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
Pager #: (508) 354-3142
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)
Work Phone #: 1-800-445-2588 Ext.: 72929 (8 AM-5 PM)
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
http://www.wx1box.org
1 1

Hello to all...

A reminder that the monthly ARES Net for October is rapidly approaching. The monthly ARES Net for October is Monday October 6th, 2008, at 8:30 PM on the MMRA Repeater system. This is after the RACES Nets earlier in the evening. For frequencies that will be linked into the ARES Net on the MMRA Network, please see the following link from the MMRA web site and the repeaters that will be linked in will be through Hub 1:

http://www.mmra.org/repeaters/map.html

In addition, if the Echo-IRLP node on the MMRA hub is available, we will likely link that to the New England Reflector system on IRLP 9123/Echolink Conference *NEW-ENG* Node: 9123.

Make the first Monday of the month, "Emergency Communications Night" and check into your local RACES Net and then check into the ARES Net on the MMRA Repeater System. We look forward to your participation and remember, we are always looking for Net Controls to run the ARES Net.

We will have several interesting announcements for the net that evening and we look forward to everyone's participation. Updates will be posted via email and on the Eastern Massachusetts ARES Web Site at http://ares.ema.arrl.org

Thanks for your continued support of ARES!

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
Pager #: (508) 354-3142
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)
Work Phone #: 1-800-445-2588 Ext.: 72929 (8 AM-5 PM)
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
http://www.wx1box.org
1 1

Hello to all...

A reminder that the monthly ARES Net for September is rapidly approaching. Due to the Labor Day holiday, the Monthly ARES Net for September is on the second Monday of the month. The monthly ARES Net for September is Monday September 8th, 2008, at 8:30 PM on the MMRA Repeater system. This is after the RACES Nets earlier in the evening.

Make tonight, "Emergency Communications Night" and check into your local RACES Net and then check into the ARES Net on the MMRA Repeater System. We look forward to your participation and remember, we are always looking for Net Controls to run the ARES Net.

We will have several interesting announcements for the net that evening and we look forward to everyone's participation. Updates will be posted via email and on the Eastern Massachusetts ARES Web Site at http://ares.ema.arrl.org

Thanks for your continued support of ARES!

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
Pager #: (508) 354-3142
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)
Work Phone #: 1-800-445-2588 Ext.: 72929 (8 AM-5 PM)
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
http://www.wx1box.org
1

Hello to all...

..Updated Participants Manual to correct the title page, remove a paragraph on regional simplex that will not be done to this drill and corrected the Winlink Frequencies and added a link to the Winlink Documentation on the ARES web site. Remainder is unchanged..

In lieu of the RACES and ARES Nets for Monday August 4th, 2008, there will be a Massachusetts Statewide Hurricane Drill on Monday August 4th, 2008 starting at 7 PM. The drill will follow a similar format as past hurricane drills that have occurred in June of past years. The reason the drill is occurring later this year is because Region Two held a more concentrated/localized drill on the Cape Cod Emergency Traffic plan back in mid-May of this year.

The drill will follow a similar format seen in past statewide hurricane drills. The scenario has been finalized and the participants document can be seen via the link below:

Hurricane Matt 2008 Mass Statewide Hurricane drill

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
Pager #: (508) 354-3142
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)
Work Phone #: 1-800-445-2588 Ext.: 72929 (8 AM-5 PM)
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
http://www.wx1box.org
1