Monday, June 27, 2011

Former WWII spy dies in P.E.I.(2011/05)

A man who served as a British spy in the Second World War died in Charlottetown, P.E.I., this weekend at the age of 91.
Clifton Stewart died at his home Saturday.
In 1940, Stewart, an amateur ham radio operator, was recruited by British Service Co-ordination and was sent to the BSC's headquarters in New York, where his main task was to help develop radio communications equipment to receive and transmit secret information at a much faster pace than the hand-sent Morse code, he told the Charlottetown Guardian in 2009.
Stewart, who was then known only as W5, later spent time at Camp X, the secret Allied training centre near Oshawa, Ont., before being sent on several top-secret missions.
Although he was able to speak more openly about his time at Camp X after the statute of limitations ran out in 1995, there are some war-time secrets Stewart likely took to his grave.
"We have a separate oath that will go on forever, you see. Till death do us part," he told the Guardian. "Anything of significance will never be discussed."
Stewart was predeceased by his wife, Hilda. He leaves behind his four children, eight grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.

Amateur Radio Field Day - Loyalist A.R.E.S. Groups


From 2:00 p.m. Saturday (2011/06/25) until 2:00 p.m. Sunday (2011/06/26) members of the Prince Edward Radio Club, and the Quinte Amateur Radio Club were "on the air" from a grassy field near Lake on the Mountain, Prince Edward County.  Not far away, the members of the Frontenac County A.R.E.S. Group were operating their radios from Hay Bay.  They were just two of hundreds of groups of enthusiastic radio operators across North America who were making radio contact during the annual Amateur Radio Field Day. (See the previous article for more details of Amateur Radio Field Day.)

Amateur Radio Field Day - North Fulton, U.S.A.




Weather disasters such as tornados that leveled homes and businesses in Tuscaloosa, AL and Ringgold make the work done by groups such as the North Fulton Amateur Radio League critical. When cell towers are down and power is out, communication can be nearly impossible.

Groups such as the North Fulton Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) team show how today's amateur (Ham) radio enthusiasts can provide a critical service.

Amateur radio operators will demonstrate their operating skills and emergency communications capabilities. This is not the “Ham” radio you may think about from years past, said Jim Paine, a member of NFARL. The group will display and use the latest technology in radio gear to communicate to other ham stations across the world using the new digital modes, as well as voice and Morse code.

NFARL members won't be alone on Field Day, which is an annual event nationwide for amateur radio enthusiasts to show their skills at communicating by radio. Hundreds of clubs are involved across the country using their personally owned radio equipment and providing their own back-up electrical power. This network of amateur radio operators has been crucial to maintaining reliable communications during hurricanes, blizzards, tornados, floods and other events that may disable normal communications, NFARL said.

For more information & photos:
http://alpharetta.patch.com/articles/north-fulton-amateur-radio-operators-demonstrate-gear-used-in-emergencies#photo-6579269

Amateur Radio Emergency Service Provides Communication for Bike Race in Newark, U.S.A.

NEWARK -- The Licking County Amateur Radio Emergency Service group will provide communications for the annual Tour de Cure bike race that will be going through Delaware, Knox and Licking counties.
ARES is part of the American Radio Relay League, the national organization for amateur radio.
Ham operators train regularly for communications readiness by engaging in drills and simulated emergency tests and by providing occasional communications for nonprofit groups' parades, races and other public events
Full article at:

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Friday, June 17, 2011

Scientists predict rare 'hibernation' of sunspots

by Kerry Sheridan

WASHINGTON (AFP) – For years, scientists have been predicting the Sun would by around 2012 move into solar maximum, a period of intense flares and sunspot activity, but lately a curious calm has suggested quite the opposite.
According to three studies released in the United States on Tuesday, experts believe the familiar sunspot cycle may be shutting down and heading toward a pattern of inactivity unseen since the 17th century.
The signs include a missing jet stream, fading spots, and slower activity near the poles, said experts from the National Solar Observatory and Air Force Research Laboratory.
"This is highly unusual and unexpected," said Frank Hill, associate director of the NSO's Solar Synoptic Network, as the findings of the three studies were presented at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society's Solar Physics Division in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
"But the fact that three completely different views of the Sun point in the same direction is a powerful indicator that the sunspot cycle may be going into hibernation."
Solar activity tends to rise and fall every 11 years or so. The solar maximum and solar minimum each mark about half the interval of the magnetic pole reversal on the Sun, which happens every 22 years.
Hill said the current cycle, number 24, "may be the last normal one for some time and the next one, cycle 25, may not happen for some time.
"This is important because the solar cycle causes space weather which affects modern technology and may contribute to climate change," he told reporters.
Experts are now probing whether this period of inactivity could be a second Maunder Minimum, which was a 70-year period when hardly any sunspots were observed between 1645-1715, a period known as the "Little Ice Age."
"If we are right, this could be the last solar maximum we'll see for a few decades. That would affect everything from space exploration to Earth's climate," said Hill.
Solar flares and eruptions can send highly charged particles hurtling toward Earth and interfere with satellite communications, GPS systems and even airline controls.
Geomagnetic forces have been known to occasionally garble the world's modern gadgetry, and warnings were issued as recently as last week when a moderate solar flare sent a coronal mass ejection in the Earth's direction.
The temperature change associated with any reduction in sunspot activity would likely be minimal and may not be enough to offset the impact of greenhouse gases on global warming, according to scientists who have published recent papers on the topic.
"Recent solar 11-year cycles are associated empirically with changes in global surface temperature of 0.1 Celsius," said Judith Lean, a solar physicist with the US Naval Research Laboratory.
If the cycle were to stop or slow down, the small fluctuation in temperature would do the same, eliminating the slightly cooler effect of a solar minimum compared to the warmer solar maximum. The phenomenon was witnessed during the descending phase of the last solar cycle.
This "cancelled part of the greenhouse gas warming of the period 2000-2008, causing the net global surface temperature to remain approximately flat -- and leading to the big debate of why the Earth hadn't (been) warming in the past decade," Lean, who was not involved in the three studies presented, said in an email to AFP.
A study in the March 2010 issue of Geophysical Research Letters explored what effect an extended solar minimum might have, and found no more than a 0.3 Celsius dip by 2100 compared to normal solar fluctuations.
"A new Maunder-type solar activity minimum cannot offset the global warming caused by human greenhouse gas emissions," wrote authors Georg Feulner and Stefan Rahmstorf, noting that forecasts by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have found a range of 3.7 Celsius to 4.5 Celsius rise by this century's end compared to the latter half of the 20th century.
"Moreover, any offset of global warming due to a grand minimum of solar activity would be merely a temporary effect, since the distinct solar minima during the last millennium typically lasted for only several decades or a century at most."

Rideau Bicycle Tour: Ottawa -> Kingston -> Ottawa

For a more complete description of this year's Rideau Bicycle Tour see VE3CLQ's blog at:
http://ve3clq.blogspot.com//

International Lighthouse Wknd - Nine Mile Lighthouse and the Point Petre Lighthouse

August 20th and 21st is the weekend of the International Lighthouse Weekend.  We will be activating both Nine Mile Lighthouse and the Point Petre Lighthouse.  This weekend is also the weekend of the North American SSB QSO Party.  ...  Frontenac ARES Group

Activation of Amherst Island & Colorado 14er Event

August 7th will be a busy day for the Frontenac ARES Group. We have two activities scheduled.  The first activity is the activation of Amherst Island, which we have not yet done…although we have threatened to many times.  
The second activity is the Colorado 14er Event.  This runs from 0900L to 1200L and involves making contact with stations at the summits of mountains in Colorado, which are over 14,000 feet.  ... Frontenac ARES Group

July 24th is the Nine Mile Lighthouse activation day on Simcoe Island

July 24th is the Nine Mile Lighthouse activation day on Simcoe Island. We are planning on activating both Simcoe Island and the Lighthouse again this year.  We hope that we will be as busy as we were last year when we did this event.  ...  Frontenac ARES Group

June 25 & 26 is Field Day. - Frontenac ARES Group

June 25 & 26 is Field Day.  We now have all the operating positions filled and we have now registered with the ARRL as a 6A station.  Our plan is to operate a 160/80m station, a 40m station, a 20m station, a 15m station and a 10m/6m station as well as an all band digi station using PSK31. 
 
We will be set up at Hay Bay in the usual location. 
 
If you are not coming out for the whole weekend, feel free to come out Saturday or Sunday for a few hours and guest operate. We will be monitoring the VE3FRG repeater during the weekend starting at 0800L Saturday, so call in and see how we;re doing!  ...  Frontenac ARES Group

The Rideau Lakes Cycle Tour

The Rideau Lakes Cycle Tour is over for another year. We're pleased to announce that unlike last year, only one significant emergency happened this year. That was handled by Lanark-North Leeds ARES.  Many thanks to all those who gave up their weekend to help out, and a big thank you to Bill VA3WOW and Bob VE3QWB from the Belleville Club who came out to add strength to us. ...  Frontenac ARES Group

April 16/2011 - Fully Deployed ARES DMAP Exercise & Mutual Aid Conference

On April 16/2011 I participated in a mutual aid deployment exercise held in Ottawa by the Seaway-Capital District ARES Group.  The exercise was well organized. As early as April 10, those of us who would be involved in the exercise began to receive emails followed by phone calls to review the details of the up-coming event.  On the morning of the exercise, net control was on the air before the actual starting time, to guide those of us "from away" to a recreation centre in east Ottawa, where we were registered and given our assignments. Our vehicles were left at the recreation centre and we were transported to our assigned locations. This was very helpful to those of us "from away", who were not as familiar with the city as the local participants.

The focus of the exercise was to get participants who were called into the area from outside to their posts as efficiently as possible. In that respect, the exercise was very well planned and carried out.  I imagine future exercises will build from that point to actually involve one set of radio operators taking over from another shift.  I was pleased to be invited to participate in the exercise and I was able to make contact with some of the participants, as well as renewing contact with some whom I had met at the Canadian Emergency Management College during a previous visit to Ottawa.

The deployment exercise was followed by the Annual Seaway-Capital District ARES Mutual Aid Conference for all members of the ARES group leadership team.  I found great value in listening to the reports from representatives of each ARES group in the district.  Most of the reports were concise and well-prepared.  I especially enjoyed a well-prepared and well-presented report by Peter Gamble called "Using IMS for Amateur Radio - Introduction". Peter explained how to apply IMS to amateur radio activities.

In summary, the program was well-prepared and well-presented. Much valuable information was shares among the participants.

Bill Milligan
VA3WOW
D.E.C. for the Loyalist District of A.R.E.S.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Walk for M.S. (Multiple Schlerosis) in Belleville (2011/05/29)

On Sunday May 29, 2011, a group of amateur radiio operators from the Loyalist District of Amateur Radio Emergency Services (A.R.E.S.) set up their equipment along the route of the Walk for M.S. (Multiple Schlerosis) in Belleville.   George Papper (VE3YD) acted as net control as the amateur radio operators (VE3OCC, VE3UGT, VE3UR, VE3HON, VE3QWB, VE3UO, VE3CJG & VA3WOW) kept the event's officials advised concerning the progress and safety of approximately 200 walkers on the 5km. and 10 km. courses.

Tyendinaga Township's Emergency Evacuation Exercise (2011/05/06)

On Friday May 6, 2011, a group of amateur radio operators from the Loyalist District of Amateur Radio Emergency Services (A.R.E.S.) set up their equipment at Tyendinaga Township's Emergency Evacuation Exercise.   Also on site were representatives of emergency response agencies, including Social Services, Tyendinaga Fire Department, Emergency Medical Services (E.M.S.) and Ontario Provincial Police (O.P.P.).  Members of the local Scout and Guide groups acted as evacuees, sleeping over two nights in tents set up beside the community centre. Marlene (VE3HBR) and Eric (VE3GSI) Reid set up an area which demonstrated the use of CW for emergency communication. Peter Hodgson (VE3UR) and Tim Pekkonen (VE3UO) set up a 2-metre fm simplex transceiver on a "Buddypole" antenna to allow the Scouts and Guides to communicate with Matthew Dwight (VE3OCC) and Bill Milligan (VA3WOW), who were stationed at the Tyendinaga Firehall, a kilometre away. Each Scout and Guide had the opportunity to hold a QSO on 2-metres fm simplex with Matthew and Bill, who were at the firehall.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Exercise Report - Greater Napanee Exercise 7 November 2011

Amateur Radio Emergency Service

Exercise Report - Napanee Exercise 7 November 2011

Background

Rebecca Murphy, CEMC for Greater Napanee attended the Loyalist
District ARES semi-annual conference on 10 April 2010 and asked for
emergency communications support.  Since there is no ARES group in
Lennox and Addington County that support would have to come from the
other groups in Loyalist District:  Kingston, Frontenac, Hastings and
Prince Edward.  The district decided to have its first District
exercise in Napanee in November 2010.

The exercise provided an opportunity to work with ideas we had been
developing on the roles of a group adjacent to a stricken group as
well as the concepts embodied in the EMO course, IMS100.  In
particular we used an ARES staging area with managers,  monitor and
relay operators outside the stricken area,  and  operators at the Red
Cross office in Belleville.

The exercise was organized by the DEC, EC's and delegates, who also
acted as observers and played the parts of local officials.  The
operators who volunteered were told the date and time but were given
little information beforehand.

ARES was strongly supported by Rebecca Murphy as well as by Nancy
Manion, EMC at Lennox and Addington County General Hospital.

Scenario

Train derailment with leaking unknown gas just north of Thomas Street,
close to bridge over Bridge and Dundas sts, E Centre of Napanee. Area
within 500 metres to be evacuated: West to John St not including Town
Hall, N to Queen St.  Phone exchange for Napanee including EOC out of
action. Hydro intact. Control Group assembling at EOC. Evacuees
directed to designated shelter, the Arena. Unknown numbers of
casualties enroute to hospital.  EOC is equipped with its own radio to
Fire, Ambulance, Roads and Water. OPP attending at EOC.
Mayor at EOC needs to tell EMO community emergency declared.
Social Services at EOC needs to contact Red Cross requesting inquiry
phone in Belleville.
Hospital needs mobile HAZMAT team, request to EMO ops in Toronto
Media centre established at Town Hall, to be informed of inquiry line.
Participating

Mobile operators:
John Pederson  VE3ZJP  Kingston
Drew Wollin VE3UIN  Kingston
Mike Beausoleil VE3TD  Kingston
Peter Kooiman VE3NXE Kingston
Matt Dwight VE3OCC  PE County
Gilbert Provost VA3NQ  PE County
Bob Culp VA3ACE  PE County
Dave Ackerman VE3UGT PE County
Brian Williams  VA3BRW Hastings

Staging Managers
Kevin Maylin VA3THB PE County
Larry McGuire VE3LDM Kingston

Red Cross Belleville
Tim Pekkonen VE3UO Hastings
Bob Moore VE3QWB Hastings

Monitor and Relay
Glen Killam VE3GNA
Robert Boyd VE3SV Kingston

EMO Ops centre
Jim Taylor  VA3KU EMO Ops

Directing Staff
Bill Milligan VA3WOW DEC Loyalist
Peter Hodgson VE3UR EC Hastings
Rod Ellis VE3RXE EC Kingston
Doug Monk VE3ZDG EC PE County
Art Sinclair VE3SQG  AEC PE County

Town of Greater Napanee
Rebecca Murphy

Execution

The staging managers were briefed generally on their task and looked
over the staging area beforehand.  It was the Canadian Tire parking
lot on Hwy 41 just south of 401, where permission had been obtained
from the store manager.   Red Cross, Monitor and Relay  and  EMO Ops
were briefed beforehand by email.   The mobile operators were given a
warning order one week in advance, telling them to expect a phone call
at 0800 on 7 November.  On that morning the EC's phoned the operators
and gave them the location of the staging area.

The operators were checked in at the staging area and dispatched to
four stations:  the evacuation centre, the hospital, the town hall
media centre and the EOC.   Net control was assigned to the town hall
operators.  The town hall has a pre-established antenna and the
hospital has a pre-established antenna and its own 2-metre radio.  On
arrival at the ARES  staging area the managers gave the mobile
operators a briefing note and dispatched them as requested by the EOC,
chief of logistics.

16 messages, including several tactical messages, were pre-scripted
by Rebecca Murphy and Doug Monk, requiring relays by HF, the VE3TJU
repeater and one message to be delivered in person to a residence by a
mobile operator.  These were given to the operators by directing staff
at their locations, playing the part of local officials. Two-part
message forms were used for incoming and outgoing messages with one
copy presented to the clients.

By shortly after 1100 the traffic was cleared and the staging managers
were requested to withdraw the operators as normal communications had
resumed.  The operators checked in again at the staging area and were
sent to the EOC for a debriefing session, with the directing staff,
Rebecca Murphy and Lisa Harvey, Loyalist District EMO field officer.
The town of Greater Napanee provided pizza and pop.

Monitor and Relay and Red Cross submitted comments by email later and
the exercise was discussed further at the Loyalist District conference
on 27 November 2011.

Lessons learned

A.  Staging

"Staging Area

A temporary location where 'available' personnel and equipment wait to
be assigned.  It avoids 'freelancing.'  A staging Area may include
feeding, fuelling and sanitation services.

More than one Staging Area can be set up to meet specific functions,
such as for EMS, fire, public works, etc.  Each Staging Area should
have a Manager. "

IMS 100  Dec 2008

A major objective of this exercise was to work this role.   This is a
new task in  ARES.  We designated the two staging managers in advance
and discussed the requirements with them.  We allocated them the
talk-in frequency.  They carried out the briefing of operators.  They
dispatched operators to locations as requested by the Municipal
Incident Command, (Logistics, Communications Coordinator.)  They
withdrew operators and brought them back to the staging area.  We
should debrief the Staging Managers  in more detail to establish and
improve a protocol.

The spread sheet format with columns for arrival, dispatch, return and
out of service  seemed to work. Other forms such as an intake form and
job ticket can be worked up using Mike Hickey's prototype and forms
from the Frontenac group .

We need to create a pool of trained and experienced staging managers,
know who they are and provide them with the forms, signs etc. that
they need.

The Communications Coordinator at the EOC (me) should have asked for
status reports from Staging.  This would have avoided the situation in
this exercise where operators were not deployed.  My apologies to
these operators. We should probably make periodic status reports from
Staging addressed to the EOC part of the routine.  In reality staging
and the municipal communications coordinator would try to keep a
reserve to cope with new developments.

The DEC/EC in charge would, in reality, be working closely with
staging to ensure enough, but not too many, operators are on the way,
and try to minimize waiting in the staging area.  This should be
expanded in our next exercise of this type.

For the most part the operators seem to have worked well with Staging.
 I would like to stress the importance of Staging knowing where the
operators are, and particularly  whether the operators are still in
the stricken area.  The staging manager can obtain some information by
monitoring the working frequencies, although I personally think the
operators should keep in touch with staging on the talk-in frequency
and report arrivals at assignments on this frequency.

We should emphasize the difference between  returning to
Staging and being released from duty.  Not only might there be more
assignments after a break, but also Staging must make sure that the
operators haven't come to grief in the stricken area and, if they are
missing, initiate a search.

At the district meeting in November we decided to initiate study
sessions to do the IMS100 course in groups for discussion.

B.  Net control

I had assigned a good experienced operator with no ARES net control
experience as backup to an experienced ARES net controller, but the
experienced net controller was delayed and did not arrive at Staging
until 45 minutes after the scheduled start to the exercise.  As
Gilbert, the inexperienced controller now catapulted into the Net
Control job, cheerfully put it afterwards, it was a very steep
learning curve. Neither assigned net controller was informed of their
role before they arrived at staging, let alone briefed before the
exercise.

To add to his problems we structured the timing of the exercise so
that operators would be passing traffic among each other before net
control was set up, to create a situation where net control had to get
control of an existing situation... no one is going to delay a
disaster while we get organized to our satisfaction.

To add to the chaos, net control was also assigned station duties.
This is something we should avoid doing in the future.

It was not realistic for me to designate net controllers in advance at
all, because in a real situation Staging would have to do this from
the operators the EC's send him.  How Staging would know what
experience an operator has had as net control is an open question.
Perhaps an intake form at staging would ask the operators to identify
themselves as net control experienced.

The huge lesson I learned from this is that we need more of us trained
in the art of ARES net control, with its challenges of keeping track
of operator locations, management of tactical call signs, and multiple
frequencies.  The Kingston group has good skills in this area and I
hope we can work with Kingston ARES on some kind of training format to
deliver to operators in the district.  Kingston has also volunteered
their Training Officer Larry McGuire and net control package including
forms.  Dave Lawrence of Frontenac has created  some relevant
material.   We should be able to somehow identify the trained net
controllers.  If nothing else, our exercise pointed out that this is
urgent.

We should discuss the advisability of locating Net Control physically
in the staging area.  There, Net Control could begin operating sooner,
and switch-outs and shift changes would be faster.  Net Controllers
would have access to food and sanitation facilities in the staging
area.   However the staging area, which ideally would be located
outside the stricken area, may not be the best location to receive and
transmit with all stations in the stricken area.

C. EC's and DEC's

As Lisa Harvey, the EMO Field Officer for our district  pointed out,
the municipal Control Group meets frequently but not continuously
throughout a disaster.  The Control Group is a group of municipal
officials who support the incident commander.  They are not the
incident commanders although some of the same officials may also have
specified jobs within the Incident Command. An EC or the DEC should be
present at the Control Group meetings, in addition to his other
duties. In some cases the ARES EC is actually named in the municipal
emergency plan as a member of the control group.

D. Number of operators at a station

Where an antenna lead is available inside a building we should start
with two operators.   First, one should be dispatched to provide
service from his car.  When available, a second operator should be
dispatched to open the fixed station inside the building.  If no
second operator is available the first operator should check with net
control and the client for messages that need to be passed. If there
is time after dealing with these, the first operator can report out
with net control and set up the inside station.

When there is no fixed station or antenna in a building a runner may
be recruited to sit with an operator in his car to deliver inbound
messages, and the second operator sits inside with the client to
accept outbound messages.  If we can't get a runner we will need a
third operator at the site to do the runner's job.

We should encourage antennas and leads at each building likely to be
used, close to the client, so we can do without the third operator
used as a runner.  In periods of little traffic we could run an inside
station with one operator.  Saving people work is very important,
especially if the situation lasts a long time. We should also discuss
with clients the provision of runners.  We should explore the
possibility of recruiting our own runners.
E. Delivering messages to addressees where there is no station

The PE ARES has developed and practiced a routine for delivering
messages to addressees where there is no station, but this was a few
years ago.  Mobile operators are assigned to do this and they make
them selves known to net control with their IC call sign and "Mobile."
 When another station has such a message to send, the mobile operator
takes the traffic on a message form in his car, drives to the address
given and delivers the message to the addressee, as usual getting a
signature on the yellow copy.  The operator then gets the reply if
required on a message form, probably as "dictated."  This might be a
simple acknowledgement. The operator gives the white copy to the
client and returns to his car and sends the message.  He is ready then
for his next assignment.

In a real disaster this could be a large portion of our traffic.
Municipal emergency plans have pages of contacts who supply various
urgent needs.  Hopefully the municipalities have the addresses,
including the home address of key persons, as well as the phone
numbers. The hospitals will have staff and patient family messages to
send.

We should practice this system.

F. "This is an exercise"

We had better get used to saying "This is an exercise."  We should
establish protocol as to when to say it.  One good suggestion was to
say it after the message, to catch outsiders who only hear part of the
message.  We concluded at the District meeting that the best way to do
this is both before and after the entire message.

G.  Lennox and Addington County General Hospital.

The hospital owns a two-metre radio and has an antenna installed.  The
hospital has emergency electricity.  However it lacks a power supply
component to convert the receptacle power to 12 volt dc for the radio.
 We should consult with Nancy Manion about obtaining one of these
units.

H.  A future Lennox and Addington  ARES group

A phone canvass of the licensed hams in Greater Napanee  resulted in
one visitor at the EOC during the exercise.  There are other licensed
amateurs living in the county.  More work needs to be done to recruit
ARES members there and eventually an autonomous ARES group.
Conclusions

The exercise was our first attempt at integrating ARES operations into
the IMS framework.  We succeeded in operating a staging area fairly
well.  There was little confusion between the roles of staging
managers and net control.  We practiced good control of our personnel
into and out of the stricken area.

We are now more capable of supporting Napanee in spite of the absence
of an ARES group there, and more capable of operating outside our home
counties, together with operators from other groups.

We exercised the "monitor and relay" role, as well as developing the
capability of the Belleville Red Cross operators.

We have clear direction as to where future training effort should go,
particularly net control and staging.

We have some ideas on how to do it better next time.

Altogether the exercise was a success.

Post Script

Rebecca Murphy has installed an antenna at the Greater Napanee EOC and
is ordering a two-metre radio and power supply module.  The
communications centre for the EOC is already exceptionally well
equipped with a radio which will communicate with the fire and roads
department.   She has very generously printed 500 two-part message
forms for ARES use.

Doug Monk VE3ZDG
EC  Prince Edward County ARES group
9 February 2011

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

From Doug Mercer, VO1DTM, Vice President Field Services, A.R.E.S.

Good morning folks,

When the changes to the RAC insurance took place at the end of 2010, the fact that many registered ARES Members would no longer enjoy the benefit of third party liability insurance while engaged in ARES activities became startling clear. The new program requires that you must be a member of a RAC Affiliated Club that participates in the insurance program to have this coverage as well as the optional coverages. Many of you I know are unable to comply with this, and there is no way that I would be comfortable asking you to expose yourselves on behalf of the Field Organization.

I therefore have the following proposal before the Board for approval.

A new national club, The Canadian Field Organization Inc will be formed and incorporated. Directors  will include the RAC VPFS and volunteer Section Managers, it will act as any other club and will participate in the RAC Affiliated Club program and the Insurance program. To join the club and be fully covered you must:

* Be a registered ARES member
* Pay an annual membership fee of $5.00 if you are a RAC member
* Pay an annual membership fee of $15.00 if you are not a RAC member
* Not be a member of another RAC Affiliated club.

To determine some numbers, I would be very interested in hearing from all of you on whether or not you see this as something that would be helpful to you, or any comments you might think appropriate.

Thanks for your continued support of the RAC - ARES.

73


Doug Mercer  VO1DTM 
Vice President Field Services
Radio Amateurs of Canada
P.O. Box 1042 Goulds
Newfoundland Labrador
A1S 1H2
Tel: (709) 364-4741
Cell: (709) 697-3319

Friday, February 4, 2011

Basic ARES Training

   The basic training required for an ARES operator is the message handling course.  This explains how to receive and send messages to an emergency net. This is the bread and butter of the ARES radio operator.  The EC arranges this courses as needed.  

The other training is being recommended is the EMO's
  (Emergency Management Ontario) IMS100 (Incident Management System) online course.  This teaches how all the various emergency responders and organizations interact with each other.  Good for an acronym overload.  There is online certification test for this course also. 

prepared by: Matthew, VE3OCC

What is the I.T.U.?

The ITU - International Telecommunication Union

______________________________________________________________________________

ITU

If you were to ask most amateur radio operators what entity is
responsible for granting privileges to use portions of the radio
spectrum for amateur radio purposes the answer would likely be their
own national telecommunication authority. However, that's only
partially true. The ultimate authority for the use of the radio
spectrum is the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). It is
desirable that each amateur radio operator understand what the ITU is
and why its work and decisions are important.

Most countries are Member States of the ITU and by way of treaty
generally agree to be bound by the decisions of the ITU when it comes
to the usage of the radio spectrum. Each country can decide that a
certain use determined by the ITU may not apply in their own
jurisdiction. It is not common for countries to do that but it is
within their sovereign authority to do so.

The International Telecommunication Union is a United Nations agency
that deals with information and communications technology issues. They
have an extensive web site at www.itu.int
 that details much of their
work. The ITU is based in Geneva, Switzerland and includes in its
membership 192 Member States and more than 700 Sector Members and
Associates.

ITU has coordinated the shared global use of the radio spectrum,
promoted international cooperation in assigning satellite orbits,
worked to improve telecommunication infrastructure in the developing
world, established the worldwide standards that foster seamless
interconnection of a vast range of communications systems and
addressed other global concerns, such as mitigating climate change and
strengthening cybersecurity.

The top staff official of the ITU is its Secretary-General, Dr.
Hamadoun Toure who is also a licensed radio amateur with the call sign
HB9EHT. There are three sectors in the ITU: Radio- communication
(ITU-R), Development (ITU-D) and Standardization (ITU-T). The IARU is
a Sector Member in both the ITU-R Sector and the ITU-D Sector. The
IARU fully participates in both of those sectors by attending any and
all meetings that involve issues that may impact the amateur or the
amateur-satellite services. The Secretary-General, the Deputy
Secretary-General and the Directors of the three ITU Sectors are
elected to four-year terms by the Member States at Plenipotentiary
Conferences held every four years. The IARU is a recognized
international telecommunication organization and is invited to
participate as an observer at the Plenipotentiary Conferences. The
most recent "Plenipot" was held in October, 2010 in Guadalajara,
Mexico.

The ITU Council was established in 1947 under the name Administrative
Council, following a decision taken by the 1947 Plenipotentiary
Conference in Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States. The Council
comprises a maximum of 25% of the total number of Member States, which
are elected by the Conference with due regard to the need for
equitable distribution of Council seats among the five world regions
(Americas, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia, and
Australasia).  The current Council is comprised of 48 members.

The role of Council is to consider, in the interval between
Plenipotentiary Conferences, broad telecommunication policy issues to
ensure that the Union's activities, policies and strategies fully
respond to today's dynamic, rapidly changing telecommunications
environment.  It also prepares a report on the policy and strategic
planning of the ITU. In addition, Council is responsible for ensuring
the smooth day-to-day running of the Union, coordinating work
programs, approving budgets and controlling finances and expenditures.
Finally, Council also takes all steps to facilitate the implementation
of the provisions of the ITU Constitution, the ITU Convention, the
Administrative Regulations (International Telecommunications
Regulations and Radio Regulations), the decisions of Plenipotentiary
Conferences and, where appropriate, the decisions of other conferences
and meetings of the Union. The IARU has attended several ITU Council
meetings in the recent past.

The ITU-R Sector is very important for radiocommunication services,
including the amateur and amateur-satellite services. Every 4 or 5
years the ITU holds a World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) to
revise the international Radio Regulations. It is the job of WRC to
review, and, if necessary, revise the Radio Regulations, the
international treaty governing the use of the radio-frequency spectrum
and the geostationary-satellite and non-geostationary-satellite
orbits. Revisions are made on the basis of an agenda determined by the
ITU Council, which takes into account recommendations made by previous
world radiocommunication conferences. The general scope of the agenda
of world radiocommunication conferences is established four to six
years in advance, with the final agenda set by the ITU Council two
years before the conference, with the concurrence of a majority of
Member States. The next WRC is scheduled for 23 January to 17 February
2012, just one year away.

Under the terms of the ITU Constitution, a WRC can:

1. revise the Radio Regulations and any associated Frequency
assignment and allotment Plans;

2. address any radiocommunication matter of worldwide character;

3. instruct the Radio Regulations Board and the Radiocommunication
Bureau, and review their activities;

4. determine Questions for study by the Radiocommunication Assembly
and its Study Groups in preparation for future Radiocommunication
Conferences.

There is a lengthy preparatory process for every WRC in which the IARU
participates as a Sector Member. There are usually countless meetings
dealing with each agenda item that has been determined to be on the
agenda for a WRC. Many of those agenda items can, and do, have a
substantial impact on the amateur radio usage of portions of the radio
spectrum. It is important for the IARU to participate to "protect our
frequencies" and when the opportunity presents itself, to expand our
spectrum.

ITU-R Study Groups and Working Parties address each agenda item on the
WRC agenda and try to arrive at a consensus and recommendation(s) how
the agenda item may be addressed or dealt with at the WRC. Studies are
conducted many times to determine how a proposed new usage may impact
the other services, or not. Each of these agenda items are thoroughly
discussed for at least a couple of years leading up to the WRC. You
can imagine how important it is for the worldwide amateur community
that IARU participate in the entire study group/working party process.

ITU-D is where much of the ITU's work on disaster response takes
place. The development arm of the ITU considers emergency
telecommunications an integral part of its projects integrating
telecommunications/information and communication technology in
disaster predication, detection, and alerting. Emergency
Telecommunications play a critical role in the immediate aftermath of
disasters by ensuring timely flow of vital information which is much
needed by government agencies, and other humanitarian actors that are
involved in rescue operations and providing medical assistance to the
injured. IARU's task in the ITU-D Sector is to ensure that amateur
radio's role in disaster communications is understood and appreciated
by the ITU members. The ITU-D Sector also conducts a worldwide
conference. The current schedule calls for a World Telecommunication
Development Conference every 4 years. In 2010, the WTDC was held in
Hyderabad, India in late May and early June. IARU participated in the
conference.

The ITU also sponsors regional and global exhibitions called TELECOMS.
An ITU Telecom offers a global ICT community platform that gathers
stakeholders from across the telecommunications/ICT sector to connect,
collaborate and create the future ICT landscape. Forums or seminars
related to ICT are conducted at the Telecoms and IARU has participated
in such forums, usually on topics related to emergency communications.