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The month of October brings thoughts of raking leaves, football and pumpkins to most people. To emergency communicators in the United States and the world, it brings thoughts of on the air training, formal traffic, and testing backup communications systems.
This year was no different for MC ARPSC. For the first time in several years, WA8MAC was active from the County EOC, and communicating with the county, state, and even hams from across the pond.
With a shorter than normal timeframe to develop an “in depth scenario” and no clear benchmarks to measure our accomplishments passed down by the state level planners, the officers of the group met to develop our plan. Our series of goals were set to show how the “new” EOC location was communicating with the world, as well as do some housekeeping on the membership rolls.
The State SET was scheduled to begin on October 3 at about 9 am and run till about 1 pm… although some participants ran longer or shorter or at slightly different times. The scenario this year was involving a major snow event…
Michigan and states in the upper Midwest and Canada have been engulfed in a major winter storm comparable to those seen in the late 70s and late 90s. Over the past two days, a cold front moving in from Canada has brought freezing rain followed by snow to the southeast corner of Michigan and high wind and bitter cold to the Upper Peninsula. This scenario begins in day three of the winter storm and finds the resources within the state severely taxed by the conditions resulting from the first two days of the storm. Predictions for the winter storm track for day four of the storm have yet to be finalized by the National Weather Service
Weather zone 3 - the southeast corner of the Lower Peninsula - has seen freezing rain followed by deep snow. As a result, roadways are slick and dangerous and ice accumulation has resulted in downed power lines, poles, and trees. Zone 3 is susceptible to flooding in river basin areas. This zone has experienced the greatest number of power outages, with over 350,000 customers without power. Counties in Indiana and Ohio have suffered similar conditions and are requesting support from Michigan counties.
The weekend before the set, the officers sat down and laid out the following goals and tasks… The Results are shown in RED
SET local goals
a. Contact state EOC on HF
a. Accomplished. Had to use relay for them to hear us, but could monitor OK.
b. Contact surrounding counties including counties in district 3 and request their EC email Vicki as proof of contact.
a. Contacted St Clair County. No other counties were heard.
c. Activate and test potential call tree
i. Determine if member is still interested in participating
ii. Determine if contact information is correct
iii. Have member call in via simplex (146.580)
During SET called roughly 50 members. Found a lot of “disconnected” phone numbers.
Several members who normally do not check in called us on our simplex frequency as requested.
Membership call tree was primarily of inactive members. Active members and out-of-state members were culled before calls made.
Members with disconnected numbers will have a letter sent to their most current address cross checked with FCC Database to determine if they are still interested in participating with us.
All in all, the event was a success. Yes, there are issues that need to be addressed… and are in the process of being fixed. The best part of the SET was having the WA8MAC call sign once again active during a statewide event.
The ARRL Simulated Emergency Test is historically the first full weekend in October. As soon as state plans and date are finalized for 2010, look for the date and activities posted on the website. You do not HAVE to participate from the EOC… you can take a couple hours… and activate from home. Of for the fun of it, and to test your “go kit” head out to the field and operate under “emergency conditions”. Its fun, and great experience when its time to do it for real. |
