1. Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES)
TDEM Homeland Security Conference April 2011

2. ARES is recognized as an Emcom Partner
At National and Local levels we have MOU’s with:
Department of Homeland Security
Federal Emergency Management Agency
National Communications System
American Red Cross
Salvation Army
National Weather Service
Association of Public Safety Communications Officials
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3. Amateur Radio has responded to:
Examples of disasters
Amateur Radio has responded to:
West Texas Fires –- April 2011
Port Arthur Oil Spill –- January 2010
Hurricane Ike –- September 2008
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita –- August 2005*
Hurricane Isabel -- September 2003
Northeast blackout -- August 2003
Shuttle Columbia recovery effort -- February 2003 (300 hams!)
Wildfires in Colorado -- June 2002
World Trade Center / Pentagon terrorist attacks -- September 2001
Flooding in Texas -- October 1998
Jarrell, Texas – May 1997
* Recognized in Federal reports as a “What went right”
In South Texas, there were 39 reported emergency operations. Most were weather related.
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4. American Radio Relay League
Nationwide – 650,000 hams (51,000 in Texas)
Field Organization consists of:
15 Divisions
71 Sections
Texas has 3 sections (North, South, West)
Over 3000 registered and trained ARES members in state
Amateur radio is growing by about 30,000 new licensees a year.
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5. Texas ARRL Sections
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6. ARES Organization
There are four levels of an ARES organization
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7. Division Vice-Director
West Gulf
Division Director
Dr. David Woolweaver
K5RAV
ARRL Field
Organization
Supervisor
Steve Ewald W1VX
West Gulf
Division Vice-Director
John Robert Stratton
N5AUS
Emergency
Response and
Preparedness
Manager
Mike Corey W5MPC
North Texas Section
Manager
Jay Urish
W5GM
South Texas Section
Manager
Lee Cooper
W5LHC
West Texas Section
Manager
John Dyer
WE5B
Public
Information
Coordinator
Mike Manshack
AD5OG
Section
Emergency
Coordinator
Tom Whiteside
N5TW
TxDPS CCG
Amateur Radio Chief …
ASEC
Operations
ASEC
Task Force
Operations
ASEC
HF Net
Operations
ASEC
Logistics
District
Emergency
Coordinator
District
Emergency
Coordinator
District
Emergency
Coordinator
District
Emergency
Coordinator
District
Emergency
Coordinator …
County
Emergency
Coordinator
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8. ARES Contact Information:
County Emergency Coordinator (EC) or District Emergency Coordinator (DEC)
for contact list
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9. ARES Contact Information:
County Emergency Coordinator (EC) or District Emergency Coordinator (DEC)
for plan
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10. ARES Contact Information:
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11. ARES capabilities: Voice – Local (VHF/UHF) and Distant (HF)
Radio – Local (VHF/UHF) and Distant (HF)
Radio and Internet Linked repeaters
Other
High Speed Multimedia (HSMM)
APRS - GPS location /Tracking
Our operators have both the capability of working locally with VHF or UHF or we can bounce signals off the ionosphere using HF frequencies to work greater distances. Texas amateurs maintain 1500 repeaters around the state that can be used in emergencies. Some use RF or Internet linking to support long range communications. These days, a large percentage of emergency communications is via amateur radio . This is real that can be addressed to any address and supports attachments like spreadsheets or ICS forms. These are the capabilities most commonly in use by ARES. In addition to those, we have other capabilities like HSMM where we can operate WIFI links or mesh nodes to provide high speed links. APRS provides position tracking of deployed assets.
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12. ARES Missions: Mobile Task Forces to DDC/SOC
County /Local to DDC (EOC to DDC)
Shelters
PODs
Hospitals
Other as needed
* HF and Linked nets may be run as cross organizationorg nets
The ARES inclusion in the Texas RRTF has led to the creation of actively drilled teams of amateurs to support this mission. This has really been a formalization of existing mutual aid plans and is a natural way to link up with amateurs operating in EOCs, shelters, PODs hospitals etc in an affected area. HF or linked repeater nets connect all these groups in a disaster.
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13. ARES Missions:
We have standardized our railroad gauges and can communicate with voice and amateur seamlessly.
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14. ARES Missions: Skywarn
The National Weather Service conducts spotter training classes across the United States, and your local National Weather Service office should be consulted as to when the next class will be held.
Severe Weather Nets – These are Amateur Radio nets that are held by NWS trained spotters to report a severe weather condition in progress. These reports are then relayed to the NWS.
ARES supports the NWS through their Skywarn program. Most of our members are Skywarn trained.
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15. ARES Missions: Disaster Intelligence Gathering
Weather Reporting
Damage Assessment
Monitoring Critical Resources
Monitoring Critical Infrastructures
Another contribution that amateurs make is disaster intelligence gathering. Some of the first information out of an affected area can be by amateur radio. The recent Haiti earthquake is a good example. They can provide timely information about weather conditions, damage and resources such as power and phone service. We can act as a “force multiplier” for resource strapped local agencies – Amateurs can be tasked with watching and reporting water levels in a flood thus freeing up police officers for more critical duty.
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16. Linked Repeater Systems
Services / Capabilities:
Linked Repeater Systems
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17. Linked Repeater System
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18. Winlink Email via Radio
Services / Capabilities:
Winlink via Radio
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19. South Texas ARES Winlink South Texas Winlink Local VHF/UHF Servers
The number of these local RMS Packet stations has quickly grown from a small number to 71 stations today. Everywhere you see a server, there is at least some local client Winlink infrastructure in place. Local hubbing concept and RRTF servers.
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20. South Texas ARES Winlink
Texas EMCOMM Winlink HF Servers
2006: Harris County
Williamson County
2007: Cameron County
Harris County
2008:
Cameron County
Guadalupe County
The number of HF Winlink EMCOMM servers has increased from 2 in 2006 to 5 operating currently today. At this point, we are not trying to expand this list as this gives us plenty of bandwidth at present. There are many other stations further out that can be used but local stations using NVIS techniques and bands that are not being used can handle a lot of traffic with minimal interference – like using 80M during the day…

21. On-Line Equipment Database
One of the first thing that we do when deploying mutual aid teams to an area is to get all the information we can about existing amateur infrastructure installed there before the disaster. That gives us an idea where to look for local ARES nets and how to tie in with or support local Winlink gear. To improve this process, we have created a database of installed amateur equipment and have made access to this database available to the CCG.
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22. On-Line Equipment Database
The database has lots of flexibility in listing assets over the scope of a county or district or section and for what type of asset we are looking for. Repeaters for example.
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23. Member Database ARES ARES
In South Texas, we have added a section member database and it has lots of flexibility for queries. This example would provide the list of all ARES members with full HF privilege licenses that have completed the base FEMA course set and have HF mobile capability.
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24. Texas ARES Demonstrated Commitment
Example : South Texas Section ARES 2010 Statistics:
30,000 Training hours reported
15,000 Public Service hours reported
1,300 Emergency Operation hours reported
46,300 Total hours reported!
39 separate Emergency Operations reported
I receive reports each month from all the county ECs. These are statistics compiled from these reports. You can see in the South Texas section alone, we had almost 50,000 volunteer hours – this number would be at least doubled if North and West Texas numbers were included. Even though we took no direct hits from hurricanes in 2010, we logged 1300 hours of emergency operations from 39 separate incidents. This does not include all the time and money that goes into maintaining those 1500 Texas repeaters or the money we spend on personal equipment. A sizeable percentage of the Winlink infrastructure is user funded and this adds up to tens of thousands of dollars as well. You’re welcome!
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25. Support requirements
What support and coordination is needed for volunteer group
from the supported organizations ?
Operating space /locations (especially tower space)
Integrated training with agency
Inclusion at table with ongoing planning efforts
Inclusion in Agency Emergency Response plans
Consideration for grant monies for “High Dollar” items.
Regular meetings /reviews to identify opportunities
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26. Thanks for the opportunity!
Tom Whiteside N5TW
South Texas ARRL Section Emergency Coordinator
Assistant South Texas Section Manager
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