Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Some notes/thoughts on my Deployment to Boulter on Thursday (2012/02/16).by Matthew Dwight, VE3OCC.

Here are some notes/thoughts on my deployment to Boulter on Thursday (2012/02/16).

Notification:
I became aware of the incident when I read about the fiber-optic cable cut in the online Belleville Intelligencer website just before noon.  The article indicated there was problem with 911 service between north of the 401 and Bancroft.  I tried contacting Bill VA3WOW on his home phone but was unable to as his phone being busy.
Standby:
Thinking ARES might be activated I packed a few things I thought I would need and started heading towards Belleville to be closer.  I was on the way to Belleville when Bill contacted me on the VE3TJU repeater asking me to go on Standby.   I told Bill I was headed towards Belleville and we decided would meet at his house.
Activation:
After arriving at Bill's, he asked if I could got to Boulter at the request of the Hastings CEMC.  Bill indicated this was east of Bancroft on 28.  Plugging this into my GPS I started heading north. Before leaving Belleville I decided to get a full tank of gas thinking there might be problems processing debit/credit cards due to the fiber-optic cable cut.
The trip to Boulter took close to 2 hours but I was able to remain in contact with Bill and/or Eldorado via the Tweed or McCrae repeater. Prior to arrival I was informed to meet with the official at the Township municipal office.
Arrival:
Due to the small size of Boulter, finding the municipal office was not an issue.  On arrival I meet with Arlene, the office manager. Arlene was expecting someone as she had an e-mail from the CEMC.  Imade contact with Eldorado (netcontrol) indicating that I was onsite and talked to the officials.
Operating:
The local land line phones in the area where restricted to calls within their exchange.  The officials had notified the local radio station/schools/local stores that Mayo/Carlow residence should call 911 first, call a 1-800 number,  if that is not working try 911 on their cell phones and if that is not working to call the municipal office in Boulter.
The office did have internet connectivity via Satellite and wasreceiving updates from the CEMC.  The cellphone service was marginal.
The municipal office did have a form of radio contact with aneighbouring municipality's fire department.  They could call out on the public works radio, which the firehall monitored and the office could then monitor the response on the fire frequency.   I told Arlene to continue to use this method as the first  method of communication, then use my connection to Eldorado.  No calls for emergency service where received. Arlene's husband Jeff brought in a pizza, and coffee and pop was available at the office. I was well looked after.
Standdown:
I was told by Eldorado net-control that I could stand-down at approx. 10pm.    After letting Arlene know, who had just been informed herself by the CEMC, I left Boulter.    Peter, VA3PGB, and Joe, VA3JAD, remained available until I made it to Madoc and Bill, VA3WOW, remained available until I made it back home to Picton. I arrived back in Picton about 1am.
A few notes:
(1) Cash.  Next to no power, lack of cash will stops a lot of things when debit/credit cards can't be processed.  Even the Tim Horton cards stop working.  The report of the OPP officer trying to get a gas station attendant to accept a manual copy of his credit card indicates no one can get by without cash.  Jeff reported that Bancroft was a mess as no-one could process the debit/credit cards and he only managed to dig up enough cash to pay for the pizza. I had about 75cents in cash on me.
(2) Check my list of items to bring.  I have a list I keep in a Rubbermaid box along with the items I should bring, not just for ARES, but other things while I am out on the road in the winter.  I should have checked the list before I left.  This insures (A) that everything I need is in the box and (B) the box is actually in the car.  I  need to add CASH to the list.
(3) Its good to know the name of the person requesting your services. Knowing Leanne Latter from Hastings County Emergency Services had requested our services helps when meeting with municipal officials for the first time.  Arlene had known that someone from ARES was coming but may not have if her Internet connection had been out. I would have looked like a stranger showing up at the door with no official business being there.
(4) I was impressed with the repeater coverage from the Bancroft area. The McCrea repeater worked great with  access to base stations in Belleville.  Along with the Tweed repeater I had almost 100% coverage all the way to Bouter with the exception of a few low spots.  These might not be available during a power outage.  There is no backup power available on the McCrae repeater at present.
(5) With a mobile radio I was forced to operate from the car.   This required me to run the car occasionally to keep it warm.    I should have a  battery operated CO detector in the car. The handheld transceiver was hit and miss receiving when I was inside the building and I did not bother trying to transmit. A dual band repeater in the car and dual band handheld would have allowed me to operate inside. Just an antenna on the building would have allowed me to bring in my mobile with my battery pack which I did have in the car.
Matthew, VE3OCC

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