From ARRL President: Relief Efforts Need Your Help

Dear ARRL Member:

There are few times when I have needed to reach out directly to you for your help. This is one of those times.

The American Red Cross (ARC) has asked ARRL for assistance with relief efforts in Puerto Rico. In the nearly 75-year relationship between ARRL and ARC, this is the first time ARC has made a request for assistance on this scale. Hurricane Maria has devastated the island’s communications infrastructure. Without electricity and telephone, and with most of the cell sites out of service, millions of people are cut off from communicating. Shelters are unable to reach local emergency services and people cannot check on the welfare of their loved ones. The situation is dire.

How can you help?

1)    Volunteer. ARC needs up to 50 radio amateurs who can help record, enter, and submit disaster-survivor information into the ARC Safe and Well system. There are very specific requirements and qualifications needed for this deployment; for instance, familiarity with Winlink, an Amateur Radio license of General class or higher, and previous experience in disaster response. Deployment will be for up to 3 weeks (at ARC expense). If you would like to be considered for deployment, please complete the following online ARRL form, which asks for your qualifications and skills: Volunteer Deployment Form

2)    Donate to Ham Aid. ARRL’s Ham Aid program loans Amateur Radio equipment kits to established Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES®) groups and partner agencies during disaster response, in order to establish Amateur Radio communications support. Ham Aid is supported by donations from individuals and corporations – including many of our ham radio industry partners. ARRL has previously staged Ham Aid equipment in Texas, and in the last few weeks, we have supplied kits in Florida, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. Our supply of Ham Aid kits has been rapidly depleted. Your donation to Ham Aid will help us now. Your contributions to Ham Aid are 100% tax deductible. To make a donation online, go to www.arrl.org/arrl-donation-form and select “Ham Aid” from the ARRL donation form. To donate by mail, print a donation form, and mail it with your check payable to ARRL, noting “Ham Aid” on the memo line of your check; mail to ARRL, 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111 USA.

It has been four weeks since Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas. In little over a month, Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria have left paths of destruction and catastrophic flooding that will impact the lives of people throughout the southeast U.S. and Caribbean for years to come. Throughout these disasters, our trained ham radio volunteers, and especially those in coordinating roles, have helped us meet the requests of our partner agencies and organizations. To all ham radio operators who have been on alert, activated, deployed, or donated, THANK YOU. We are grateful for your service and for your generosity.

73
Rick Roderick, K5UR
ARRL President

NCS’s and Ops Needed For SATERN SSB Net During Hurricane Maria

Greetings:

The International SATERN SSB Net has been in daily operation from 0900 (CT) / 1400 Z until at least 1800 (CT) / 2300 Z (at least until 900 or 2000 (CT) the last two days) since this past Tuesday, 19 September 2017.   SATERN had initially planned on terminating the Net operations for Hurricane Maria by today, Friday, 22 September 2017, However, the amount of Health & Welfare messages flowing through the Net the last two days is expected to continue today and likely through at least Sunday or Monday (25 September).

Hurricane Maria is now the fourth activation of the International SATERN SSB Net in a month. As a result, our dedicated group of Net Control and Net Relay Stations are very tired and it is time to reach out for some assistance.

Therefore, I am asking the ARRL, HWN and MARS to reach out to their operators to ask them to assist the International SATERN SSB Net in one of two ways:

  • By signing up for a one hour slot as Net Control Operators sometime on Saturday, Sunday and / or Monday. To do this send an email to the following people indicating what time(s) they are available from 0900 (CT) / 1400 Z until 1800 (CT) / 2300 Z any one or more of those three days:
    Net Manager Ken Gilliland (AG6SV)
    Assistant Net Manager Bob Rogers (WA5EEZ)

    We are looking for experienced, qualified Net Control Operators who have had some experience as both a Net Control Operator and in handling messages by voice. Net Control Operators with a strong signal (power, antennas, etc.) and / or bilingual would be a valuable additional asset / skill.  The Net is operating on 14.265 MHz.

  • For those who may not wish to be a Net Control Operator or simply want to do more in addition to that, SATERN always needs Net Relay Stations to simply check-in and assist that hour’s Net Control Station.  With Net Control Stations operating from all over the country, they often may not hear a station with message traffic. As a result they rely on the Net Relay Stations to assist them with that. Stations with a strong propagation path into the Caribbean (especially Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and others) are especially valuable. Again, bilingual operators are a particular asset in this operation.

As National SATERN Liaison, I sincerely thank each of you for being willing to help out in this operation.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at any time.

Bill Feist, WB8BZH
National SATERN Liaison
Bill.Feist@uss.salvationarmy.org

Volunteering in Florida ARES Mutual Assistance

The ARRL has been asked to share the following from the Communications Branch Director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management:


“The State of Florida appreciates the service of ARES. State of Florida SEOC and its staff will never request individuals or provide individuals any information on an incident.  All requests for individuals in the ARES program in the State of Florida will follow the North Florida ARES Plan and direction of their Section Manager Stephen Szabo. Absolutely no direct communications to the SEOC or its staff is to be made by individuals to request to be deployed or provide services at anytime.”


Any amateur wishing to volunteer to assist needs to go through the ARRL Northern Florida Manager Steve Szabo’s established processes, as that is the system Florida Emergency Management is utilizing to coordinate Amateur Radio activities.  Under no circumstances should individual Amateurs contact Florida Emergency Management.

We also remind ARRL / ARES volunteers who may be assisting in support of the ongoing relief and recovery efforts that the only persons who should be speaking on behalf of the ARRL or its field organization are the ARRL Section Manager or their Public Information Coordinator / Public Information Officer.   Unfortunately we have had reports of false information being apparently shared via Amateur Radio channels.  This type of misinformation can negatively affect the hard work being done by various Emergency Management agencies involved, as well as the various agencies also providing assistance, and can be harmful to the efforts of the Amateur community trying to assist in the response and relief efforts. ARRL SMs, PICs, and PIOs only provide information publicly where it has been vetted by state officials, and only as directed.  Unauthorized false reports can seriously and negatively impact the work of relief and recovery officials as well as damage the good relationships that Amateurs have in those relief and recovery communities.  Let the trained PICs/PIOs do their jobs!

Thanks to the hundreds of Amateurs who are providing communications assistance as this story continues to unfold.  With everyone working in concert and through appropriate channels, your work is helping make a difference.

Dan Henderson, N1ND
Assistant Secretary, the American Radio Relay League, Inc.
Regulatory Information Manager
ARRL – the national association for Amateur Radio
Phone: 860-594-0236

Ray Lajoie KB1LRL Elected Next WMA Section Manager

WMA ARRLNominations for ARRL Western Massachusetts Section Manager closed on last Friday, September 8th.  Only one WMA ARRL member submitted nomination paperwork for the election.  As a result, Ray Lajoie KB1LRL won the uncontested election.  Ray hails from Lunenburg and has long been a member and highly involved with the Montachusett ARA in a variety of roles.

Regarding his election, Ray states “I am looking forward to serving the Western Mass section and visiting the various clubs in the coming future. The months coming will be a lot of fact gathering and looking to see where we need to work on first.”

Ray will take the reins from current Section Manager Ed Emco W1KT on January 1, 2018, whom is standing down from the position after serving in that role for the last 12 years.