08/03/2020
Welcome and thank you for volunteering. Hopefully you have had some emergency communications experience and training prior to this event. This document is not intended to make you an expert but rather to give you some essential basics that will apply to most emergency communications events. We encourage you to take ARRL Emergency Communications course after this is over so that you will better appreciate the many recent changes in established emergency communication procedures, and to participate in periodic drills, tests and other NH-ARES training as they are offered from time to time.
ARES radio operators are essentially volunteers who agree to act as though they are “unpaid contractors” to the public or non-profit agencies we serve. If you think of the relationship in this way, you can avoid a great many misunderstandings and problems.
Put another way, “we work for them”. Agencies make their own decisions – we handle their communications and any related agency tasks we have agreed to and if assigned. They are in charge of their operations – we are not. Within the limits of our capabilities, agreements, and the FCC rules, we do what they ask of us.
You should be as neat and clean as you can be under the circumstances. Avoid any inappropriate clothing, such as novelty t-shirts, funny hats, etc. Think of how you would be expected to dress if you were a regular employee of the served agency, and do your best to come close with the clothes you have with you. NH-ARES ID clothing may be worn if you own it. (No other uniforms should be worn unless they are provided for you by the agency, please.)
Depending on available resources, ARES net and operations managers may schedule breaks and “down-time” for food, personal needs, and sleep. Each event and location is different. If you have special medical or food needs or limitations, be sure to let the person in charge of emcomm volunteers know. Be aware that they may have many conflicting demands and may not be able to meet your needs right away or at all.
Do not let yourself become over-tired. This is a guaranteed way to reduce your effectiveness. Avoid “hero” syndrome – working non-stop triple shifts is not good for you, or for the operation. Tired operators make mistakes and can become a direct or indirect danger to themselves and others. Ask permission to go “off the air” to get rest if you have to.
Take time for rest, food, cleanup, and personal needs. Take any needed medications. If you cannot take a bath, use deodorant if you have it. Do your best to maintain a neat and professional appearance.
Several different types of nets may be in operation. If you are not familiar with how emergency nets work, please ask someone who is trained and experienced for a quick lesson. We will try to cover the basics here.
Formal – Also called a “directed net”. All transmissions and activity on the net are directed by the “Net Control Station” operator (NCS), who acts much like a “traffic cop” for the network. Listen to the net carefully to learn the procedures being used. In most all cases, you will need to ask the NCS for permission to call another station, and list the type and number of messages you have for that location. You may be asked to move to another frequency to pass your messages if you have many, or if the net frequency is busy. Once you have passed the messages, return to the net frequency and notify the NCS.
Informal – Also called a “non-directed” net. There is usually no NCS, or if there is one, he or she only steps in when needed. Informal nets are used mostly in low traffic situations or with only a few stations.
Resource – A net to handle incoming volunteers, and direct resources of all kinds where needed.
Traffic – Handles formal, ARRL or ICS formatted messages.
Operations – Sometimes called a “tactical” net. Handles short, unwritten, often urgent messages. Messages directly affect the minute-to-minute operations of the served agency or ARES, and can be either of a secondary or primary nature. Verbal messages on a tactical net should be short and not detailed, contain no high-precision information, and must be passed directly from the radio operator to the recipient.
In New Hampshire, we have two types of nets – local, and statewide. Each local ARES group has its own net on a VHF frequency, and the statewide Section Net, usually on HF, connects them all together. Liaison stations move messages between the two nets.
Tactical – Short verbal messages being delivered between persons who are at or near the radio.
Formal – Formatted written messages being passed between persons who are not at or near the radio. Use the standard ARRL , agency, or ICS forms if provided, or improvise. If you are not familiar with the ARRL message format, please ask for assistance. Some formal messages may be sent by voice, and others using the digital Winlink radio email system on HF or VHF. Winlink operations are generally handled by specially trained operators.
In most cases, each station location will have a “tactical call sign” such as “State EOC,” “Van 4,” or “Ames School Shelter.” This makes it simpler to contact a specific location when more than one radio operator is working there or when there is a shift change. Use the tactical call - not the FCC call - when calling another station. At the end of the complete exchange, sign off with both tactical AND FCC call signs. If the exchange lasts more than ten minutes, be sure to give your FCC call sign every ten minutes. In other words, use your tactical call all the time, and your FCC call sign only when FCC rules require it. For example:
Calling another station: “Concord Red Cross, this is Van 4”
Signing off: “Van 4, KA1XYZ clear”
Event-Specific Notes (Net names and frequencies, station lists, key personnel, etc)
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WA1ZCN 10-21-09
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Canterbury, New Hampshire 03224-2043 USA
Links:
[1] http://nh-ares.org/OpsPlan/AttachmentH-ExpedientTrainingForm.pdf