ARES-RACES Support of Inauguration

Written by Joe Safranek, K4JJS, VA Section PIC
Wednesday, 21 January 2009 10:55

On January 20, 2009, for the 46th time in the history of this great nation, the President of the United States was inaugurated into the highest office in the land. At 12 o’clock noon Eastern Standard Time, President Barack Obama assumed duties as the 44th President of the United States, leader of the free world, as well as Commander-in-Chief of the finest armed forces in the world. Months of planning, testing, debating, discussing, writing and rewriting, etc., are required to make this event a special time not only for the people of America, but also for all of those around the world yearning to be free. Once again, America has shown the world how to perform a peaceful transition of power.

Numerous organizations were involved in the planning processes that are required for an event of this magnitude. Numerous agencies of the federal government, the outgoing President’s staff, the incoming President’s transition team, state and local jurisdictions, plus private agencies are involved. Of course amateur radio had a role to play in the event.

Contacted by various local jurisdictions for the event, ARES-RACES groups of Maryland/District of Columbia and Virginia were called upon to assist in performing several local and short distance communications activities. In addition, state level offices of emergency management contacted their section-level ham radio leadership. Carl Clements, W4CAC, the ARRL Viriginia Section Manager, and Virginia Section Emergency Coordinator Ron Sokol, K4KHZ, tapped Assistant Section Emergency Coordinator Bruce Freund, K7BC, to be their representative for this regional project comprised of ARES-RACES groups from two sections and eight counties/cities. Bruce’s area of responsibility covers two VA ARES Districts, comprised of 14 cities and counties along the western border of the District of Columbia. These districts are managed by Howard Cunningham, WD5DBC, and Tom Lauzon, KI4AFE. They had to ensure that their jurisdictional Emergency Coordinators and members accomplished the mission objectives received from event officials. Numerous ham radio operators involved from the various organizations serving the jurisdictions in Virginia, DC, and Maryland worked together to make ham radio support a success. Howard Cunningham, WD5DBC, adapted the District 2 mailing list and files depository for this event by expanding the membership to the Maryland participants and also including non-ARES ham leaders as well.

The Maryland/District of Columbia Section Manager, James E. Cross, WI3N, and Section Emergency Coordinator Steve C Beckman, N3SB, were actively involved in the planning starting with the very first regional EC meeting, not only in their MDC planning for each county, but also in preparing for mutual aid into DC if needed. Also, DC REACT was part of the planning and had a representative at the very first regional planning meeting.

Planning for this federated effort drew upon the experience and relationships developed over years of planning the Marine Corps Marathon (MCM), the major annual regional amateur radio event in the metropolitan DC area. MCM planning uses the Incident Command System (ICS) structure, so artifacts from the 2008 MCM operation provided a ‘running start’ for inauguration support activities. For example, Nick Meacher, N3WWE, led the compilation of the ICS Form 205, Comm Plan, using the 2008 MCM ICS 205, which he also built, as a starting point. Jeff Wilson, AI4IO, Fairfax County EC/RO, led a field test of the repeaters planned for use for the primary Regional Coordination Net more than a week in advance to ensure all of the EOCs planning to activate would be able operate cleanly through the selected repeaters. The conducting of field tests is a key lesson learned from MCM and identified necessary changes to the comm plan. Howard Cunningham, WB5DBC, the District Emergency Coordinator for district 2 and the ham radio lead and Special Project Officer for MCM, prepared a staffing approach for mutual assistance, if needed, that would rely on the on-call ARES/RACES organizations in Loudoun, Prince William, and Fauquier counties to supplement the activated groups in Arlington, Alexandria, Falls Church, and Fairfax. Many, many hams were involved in this project yet remained on-call only. Their devotion of time and willingness to participate, if needed, merits special attention. Thankfully, no unusual support was needed.

The area’s communications equipment was well-suited to the task. Using a combination of many systems they are able to move information quickly and efficiently. A prime system utilized was the NERA (Network Engineers Repeater Association) UHF linked repeater system, which supported the primary Regional Coordination Net.. Local group operations used other analog VHF and UHF systems for phone, Winlink, packet, and other modes of operation, as well as the use of a D-Star VHF/UHF voice and data system. Some operators monitored the “Old Dominion Emergency Net/Alpha” on 3947 kHz.

ASEC Bruce Freund singled out the achievements of the Fairfax ARES-RACES unit, specifically the actions of Fairfax Assistant Emergency Coordinator Tom Azlin, N4PZT. Mr. Azlin was described as an amateur operator who personifies the diversity and the flexibility of the ham operator’s ability to react to a changing situation of major significance. Freund stated “Tom Azlin, N4ZPT, is the AEC for Planning for Fairfax County ARES-RACES. Tom was deeply involved in the local and regional planning activities before the event (and serves a similar key role in the MCM leadership). However, it’s his performance in the execution of the plan that is particularly noteworthy. Due to work commitments, the Fairfax EC could not participate on the 20th, so Tom assumed those roles. During the field testing for the Regional Coordination Net, several jurisdictions could not reliably hit the planned repeaters, so the decision was made to shift to the NERA linked UHF system. Unfortunately, the Fairfax EOC VHF/UHF antenna only provides marginal coverage into NERA. As a result of difficulties the EOC was experiencing when the Regional Coordination Net was opened at 4 AM, Tom put a separate liaison channel in place to supplement the EOC’s NERA link and manned it himself while developing a watch bill to ensure coverage on this unanticipated circuit. That liaison channel was covered solidly throughout the day and was the last ARES-RACES circuit secured at the end of operations the evening of the 20th. Tom ensured that the EOC was staffed, beginning at 3 AM, until secured a little after 8PM. While Tom’s leadership in the planning activities is noteworthy, his stepping forward to provide leadership ensuring successful execution merits special recognition.

The Fairfax AEC for Operations, Art Pond KD4FBT, worked very long days during the planning phase due to his job on Capital Hill getting the new members’ IT infrastructure set up. He pulled one of the 6 hr rotations in the AEOC during what might have been the highest activity time if there had been transport problems inbound. This shows the dedication of the volunteers in working very long days on their regular job, pulling activation duty for the event, then going back to their regular jobs the very next day.

As a member of Army MARS as well, ASEC Bruce Freund was also called upon to perform net control station duties on the MARS frequencies during the event. Army MARS HQ at Ft Huachuca, Arizona, put out a directive stating an Actual Incident net would be established, the type of MARS coverage that would be required, and how Region 3 (in the DC area) would have liaisons from other regions available to pass any necessary traffic. ARRL Emergency Preparedness and Response Manager Dennis Dura, K2DCD, monitored both ham radio frequencies and the ARRL HQ MARS station, AAN1ARL. At the Virginia Commonwealth level, the Virginia Department of Emergency Management opened their EOC where Terry Hebert, KG4GLS, coordinated Amateur Radio activities. Both Maryland and Virginia state EOCs had Army MARS operators on scene participating in their regional nets.

In Fairfax, one operator was on duty at the local Emergency Operations Center at the beginning and end of the activation while two were on duty during the main portion of the event. Alexandria, Arlington, and Falls Church City had ARES/RACES operators on duty at their EOC’s, as well as other locations. Besides EOC duties, operators were also on duty at Alexandria Hospital, while others were on standby to man two other hospitals in Prince William County had the need arisen. Loudoun, Fauquier, and Prince William County ham operators were on standby to man those EOC’s as necessary. On the Maryland/DC side of the Potomac River, hams were active in other areas including several stationed at RFK Stadium to assist with the visitors from 1200 plus buses parking at that location. Prince Georges and Montgomery county, and the District EOCs activated with ham operators.

The Virginia State EOC was manned with a full amateur radio crew utilizing HF, VHF and UHF links via voice, packet, and Winlink to the inauguration nets.

Bruce commented that although it was a lot of hard work and effort by many people, one thing that did help them immensely is their regional use of ICS structures. Supporting a major event like the USMC Marathon has given them a lot of practice working large events and a lot of the planning was already on paper and easily adapted to this particular activation. Freund said, “Working together with our friends from DC and Maryland, folks we have known for a long time, made this event so much easier to work. We brought together, again, operators from various areas and were able to blend them into one large team. These are a great bunch of people who performed their duties in a positive, professional manner.” Tom Azlin, N4ZPT, commented “We do as we train including cooperate with others locally.”

SEC Ron Sokol was “pleased as punch” about the outcome of this historical event. He stated “When I was appointed SEC in April 2008, I told the ASEC’s that they are the managers over their areas and they will be given the opportunity to do just that – manage operations in their designated areas. Carl (Section Manager Carl Clements, W4CAC) totally agreed with this comment and has been extremely supportive of efforts to delegate authority to the intermediary managers, the ASEC’s and the District Emergency Coordinators, since they are the local area experts. I am really proud of the way in which ARES-RACES of Virginia participated in this event.”

Section Manager Carl Clements also had comments about this event. “As the section manager, I am responsible for a myriad of items, the emergency communications aspect of the hobby being one of prime importance. With a senior leader like Ron Sokol, the staff of ASEC’s like Bruce, our DEC’s, and our local EC’s performing their managerial and supervisory duties in an outstanding manner, there is no wonder why our numbers are constantly growing. The section has accomplished a lot in less than a year including a MOU with VDEM (Virginia Department of Emergency Management), has been instrumental in working with a group of dedicated hams in the western areas of the Commonwealth in building an RF link to the eastern areas of Virginia, etc., and now participating in the Inauguration of the President of the United States of America, I could not be more proud of these fine men and women as I am now.”

SEC Ron Sokol, K4KHZ and ASEC Bruce Freund, K7BC contributed to this story.

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