News from Around the County

by Deb KK7DEB on 2016-05-20

The components for two digital go-kits for Multnomah County ARES have been purchased and the items are trickling in. Two 120 Watt portable solar panels are also on their way. Our thanks to Chris Voss and Alice Busch for making this happen! These kits will add an exciting new digital capacity to our West Side Field Relay Team and future East Side Field Relay Team. We are fortunate to have such great support from our Multnomah County Emergency Management Leadership!

The kits will include:

  • a Kenwood D710GA radio with built in TNC,
  • Power supply,
  • SignaLink USB,
  • Small Laptop computer,
  • Portable mast kit with antenna and coax,
  • Mag-mount antenna,
  • Digital camera,
  • and a yellow Pelican case.

Robert WX5TEX, our resident master kit builder, will assemble all the parts into an amazing little kit for grab-and-go deployment.

The City of Gresham has received the laptops for RMS/Winlink connections to the EOC and five fire stations. RMS Express has been installed and Robert is working on the needed wiring to make this happen. All Gresham team members should brush up on their skills and training. Testing of the equipment will occur sometime this summer.

The MCARES Mobile Communications Unit (trailer) will be going to Seaside for all to see at the Sea-Pac Ham Convention June 3, 4, and 5. If you are going to Sea-Pac please stop by for a closer look; the trailer will be located across the street from the main entrance. It is our hope that we can recruit new members at Sea-Pac. Contact Steve at W7SRH [at] ARRL [dot] net if you can staff the trailer for a few hours to talk up MCARES.

The trailer has been granted a club callsign and we are waiting for approval of the vanity callsign, N7MCU.

The trailer is fully functional, however many small details are still being worked on. The next phase is exterior graphics and then comes training, training, and more training.

Cascadia Rising is June 7, 8, 9, and 10. There are a few 4-1⁄2 hour shifts that still need to be staffed. If you are able to lend a hand contact Deb KK7DEB at dprovo [at] yahoo [dot] com. We will be operating at the County ECC, PBEM ECC and the Mobile Comms Unit (Trailer). Operations will be from 8:00 AM until 4:30 PM Tuesday through Friday.

What is GIS?

by Adam KF7LJH on 2016-05-12

ARES is an emergency communications organization. Traditionally, emcom has been concerned mostly with radio and radio-related procedures, like the mechanics of a directed net or how to professionally move NTS traffic. As we’ve marched into the 21st century, we’ve seen the ARES scope of operations expand to include many different types of technology, like radio-based email systems, APRS, logging software, and mesh networking.

One exciting technology that has been steadily improving and becoming more accessible is the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). GIS has moved out of the computer datacenter in the last decade, riding the coattails of smartphone adoption with “killer” GIS applications like Google Maps, Waze, and geocaching.

GIS is a broad term that can refer to a number of different technologies, processes, and methods. Of course, we’ve been making maps for thousands of years but map making is only a tiny sliver of what today’s GIS systems can do. GIS applications, like Google Maps and many others, allow users to do far more than just make maps. They are tools that can create interactive queries (user-created searches), analyze spatial information, edit data in maps, and present the results of all these operations.

It doesn’t take much imagination to see the many ways GIS could be useful in an emergency communications scenario. Maps can be an excellent way to communicate information, status, and action, and being able to quickly produce a map designed for a specific purpose (assigning teams to search grids, for example) is as critical a skill in a disaster as medical training or communications training.

GIS, like desktop publishing or website design, is both simple and hard to learn. It’s pretty easy to get the hang of the basics but it takes years of training and experience (and a degree of innate talent) to actually be good at it. Luckily for MCARES and other emergency service-type organizations, the emcom needs for GIS content are modest and don’t, generally speaking, require a GIS degree to create.

GIS has been a critical component to emergency services for decades, which is great because we don’t need to reinvent the wheel again. What we want to do is well trodden ground, in GIS terms, so let’s leverage the work others have done.

MCARES plans to facilitate basic GIS training to its members over the next 18-24 months with the goal of developing a basic GIS skill set that can be used in a variety of capabilities. MCARES will be using a training program developed for Search and Rescue by a national team of GIS and emergency service professionals. It is a self-paced program that leverages free, industry-standard software and tools.

And you don’t have to wait for MCARES to get started! Check out www.mapsar.net to review all the materials and start the training program. We hope to have a few GIS intro webinars over the summer and fall, but those will be overviews and only cover the basics. As with any skill, the value you’ll get is proportional to how much time you put into it.

Tagged as: GIS

Membership News

by Deb KK7DEB on 2016-04-28

Please join me in welcoming our newest members, Joel N7LF, Katherine KQ7TBR, Christopher K7VEG, Martha KG7LZC, and Nye KI7CHE.

Thanks to all our members who are actively promoting ARES membership. We are well on our way to our goal of adding 30 new members this year.

Outreach News

by Steve W7SRH on 2016-04-24

On Thursday April 7, Deb KK7DEB, Robert W5TEX, and Steve W7SRH set up shop at Warner Pacific College as part of an outreach effort. We partnered with PBEM NET. We were invited by a student group as part of a class project which focused on preparedness. Some interest was also expressed on the part of the College to set up a basic VHF communication station. We operated VHF, D-Star via DVAP, and Winlink. While this was not a heavily attended event, there were several very interested students and it was an opportunity to discuss future comms plans with campus security. Thanks to Julie W7OW at Lewis and Clark College for making contact with our station during the event.

We are in talks with Jeremy at PBEM NET about partnering on a recruiting effort to all hams in Multnomah County. PBEM has agreed in principle to provide funds for a post-card mailing inviting those interested to learn more about the NET program and Multnomah County ARES. There are about 2,500 licensed HAMS in the County.

Outreach opportunities: You received an email from me recently about forming an Outreach Team. Thanks to those who have responded. If you are interested in joining this team, send me an email at hallstr [at] hotmail [dot] com.

Trailer Project Update

by Deb KK7DEB on 2016-04-21

The ARES Trailer interior is finally complete! Yet to be completed is the exterior graphics. Adam KF7LJH and I have had it out the last two weekends to test the equipment and set up. We are working out a few bugs, but for the most part all systems are good to go.

Last weekend Robert WX5TEX, Steve W7SRH, John KF7ZWX, Tom KE7JTM, Adam and I operated at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site. We registered with ARRL as an NPOTA (National Parks On The Air) station with event call W7A. We made over 75 contacts including the Czech Republic, Manitoba and Florida on 20 meters. We had several people stop by to see what we were about including a Cub Scout troop. Each scout got on the air and they were excited to learn about amateur radio technology. It was a great opportunity for outreach, education and recruitment. This was our last testing event and we are ready for full activation in the SET this weekend.

Stay tuned for our trailer completion celebration event. Date and details to be arranged.

Training & Certification News

by Steve AF7DD on 2016-04-18

Both Adam KF7LJH and John K7TY have been preparing for our next general meeting. The topic for April is Winlink: Packet, Pactor, P2P, attaching files, templates, etc.

The WinLink Webinar for those of you who need assistance in installing and configuring the WinLink software on your computer, (no radio or TNC required) will be on Thursday, May 5.

MCARES has been busy creating and delivering opportunities for our membership to improve skills and knowledge. Some items under consideration include adding value to our weekly net meetings, new member orientations at the beginning of our monthly general meetings, and broadening our reach in the community.

Our weekly nets now include a brief topic of interest to ARO’s. These are 8-10 minute “knowledge drops” after all checkins and before we close out the net. We had Jeff Sperley discuss the MARS system recently. Other future topics include how the Forest Service operates in emergencies, how a hospital participates in relaying communications in an event, and basic radio operation. If you have ideas that you would like to see addressed please send me an email with a topic. If you have something you are passionate about and are interested in bringing that topic to the net, please contact me.

We have a standing meeting at 6:30 PM (before our general meeting starting at 7:00 PM) for all new or renewing members. We are here to answer questions and solve problems for all associate members as well.

Both Steve W7SRH and I have been working with Portland Public Schools to begin a new ham club. There will be an initial meeting on April 17 to introduce MCARES, to introduce membership, and also to help them get started with their first licensing event. See me with your training needs or ideas at our next monthly general meeting on Thursday, April 28 or email me at training [at] multnomahares [dot] org.

From the EC’s Desk

by Nathan NA7EE on 2016-04-15

In ARES we use many digital forms of communication. Primarily we use Winlink with packet TNCs, of course, to exchange email over radio. Soon (with this month’s training at our regular meeting) we will start to introduce sound card modes to our operations, using a digital radio interface and programs like MMSSTV and Fldigi to send text and images that way.

But we get a lot of questions about “digital voice” these days. Which technology is MCARES going to pick from D-STAR, DMR, Fusion, etc. and recommend to the membership? The short answer: none at this time.

The MCARES leadership team has made the decision not to incorporate any of the digital voice modes into ARES operations at this time, nor formally recommend any to our membership.

The current Multnomah ARES standard for voice is analog and will remain so for the foreseeable future. We came to this decision after reviewing the results of the membership survey, speaking with local repeater operators, and discussions internally with some of our technically minded members. Some of the key factors in the decision included:

  • The most important characteristic of ARES radio operations is compatibility; any certified ham radio should work in an incident.
  • Many of the advanced features of digital modes are repeater-dependent.
  • No huge benefit to digital voice over analog voice on simplex (although digital data modes do hold future promise).
  • No critical mass: The few MCARES members with digital radios are using pretty much all of the available technologies.
  • A number of strong opinions: Some members feel strongly about “their” choice, and we’ve got at least one of those for each digital technology. Making a decision is going to be a little bloody.

In summary, the leadership team doesn’t feel the new digital voice modes provide enough value to start integrating them into our regular operations yet or encouraging their adoption by the membership. But we encourage all members to explore and experiment with these digital voice modes because the day we’ll want to start leveraging them is not too far ahead of us.

We do note that Yaesu Fusion has by far the largest installed base of repeaters in the area. D-Star has the largest base of radios, however. And while the DMR contingent is growing, it’s got the smallest level of adoption of all the ham radio digital modes at the moment.

Thanks to all those who provided feedback during this decision process, and for your understanding as we work through technical and operational issues such as these.

Lewis & Clark Team News

by Julie W7OW on 2016-04-11

Lewis & Clark College stood by for Steve W7SRH at Warner Pacific College last week, checking in and monitoring MC 2. Helen KE7SCS will be firing up the station for the Oregon State ARES Spring SET, which is scheduled for Friday, April 22 and Saturday April 23. The college will participate on Friday starting at 1300 hrs.

Gresham/East County Team News

by Robert WX5TEX on 2016-04-09

Great news! We have received a small grant and the City of Gresham is in the process of purchasing six laptops to increase our digital capabilities. We should receive these and get them set up in the next couple of weeks.

For the Spring SET, we will activate the Gresham EOC for two hours on Friday, April 22. Expect activation around 3:00 PM. This is a 24-hour SET, and with the Walk MS event the following day, we have decided to activate the served agencies on Friday.

West County Field Relay Team News

by Steve W7SRH on 2016-04-07

We will participate in the April 22/23 SET. The team will set up and operate from Council Crest. It will be a good opportunity for the team to practice a variety of skills including setting up a digi-peater, a cross-band repeater, long distance VHF with directional beam antenna, as well as HF operations. We will have our plate full.