MARC Emergency Services Plan (December 2016) This document is intended to serve as a guide and reference for licensed ham radio operators and others who may need to be aware and respond to different types of local/state/national emergency communication needs. The plan is separated into two parts. Part (I) is an overview of important general requirements, definitions, and other needs for any individual involved with emergency communications response. Part (II) provides more specific information for Mid-State Amateur Radio Club (MARC) ham radio operators providing emergency services or exercises in Johnson County, Indiana and/or surrounding areas. Part (I): General Information/Overview 1) FCC Rules and Authority: Subpart E - (Providing Emergency Communication) The following outlines several sections of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations that relate to amateur radio communications in emergency response. Section 97.401: Operation during a disaster: a) When normal communication systems are overloaded, damage or disrupted because a disaster has occurred, or is likely to occur, in an area where the amateur service is regulated by the FCC, an amateur station may make transmissions necessary to meet essential communication needs and facilitate relief actions. b) When a disaster disrupts normal communication systems in a particular area, the FCC may declare a temporary state of 1
communication emergency. The declaration will set forth many special conditions and special rules to be observed by stations during the communication emergency. A request for a declaration of a temporary state of emergency should be directed to the Emergency Incident Commander (EIC) in the area concerned. Section 97.403: Safety of life and protection of property: No provision of these rules prevents the use by an amateur station of any means of radio communication at its disposal to provide essential communication needs in connection with the immediate protection of property when normal communication systems are not available. Section 97.405: Station in distress: a) No provision of these rules prevents the use by an amateur station in distress of any means at its disposal to attract attention, make known its condition and location, and obtain assistance. b) No provision of these rules prevents the use by a station, in the exceptional circumstances described in paragraph (a), of any means of radio communications at its disposal to assist a station in distress. Section 97.407: Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Services (RACES): a) No station may transmit in RACES unless it is an FCC-licensed primary, club, or military recreation station and it is certified by a civil defense organization as registered with that organization, or it is an FCC-licensed RACES station. No person may be the control operator of a RACES station, or may be the control operator of an amateur station transmitting in RACES unless that person holds an FCC-issued amateur operator license and is certified by a civil defense organization as enrolled in that organization. 2
b) The frequency bands and segments and emissions authorized to the control operator are available to stations transmitting communications in RACES on a shared basis with the amateur service. In the event of an emergency which necessitates the invoking of the President s War Emergency Powers under the provisions of section 706 of the Communications Act of 1934 as amended, 47 U.S.C. section 606, RACES stations and amateur stations participating in RACES may only transmit on the following frequencies: See act for details c) A RACES station may only communicate with: Another RACES station; An amateur station registered with a civil defense organization; A United States Government station authorized by the responsible agency to communicate with RACES stations; A station in a service registered by the FCC whenever such communication is authorized by the FCC. d) An amateur station registered with a civil defense organization may only communicate with: A RACES station licensed to the civil defense organization; The following stations upon authorization of the responsible civil defense official for the organization with which the amateur station is registered: - A RACES station licensed to another civil defense organization; - An amateur station registered with the same or another civil defense organization; - A United States Government station authorized by the responsible agency to communicate with RACES stations; and 3
- A station in a service regulated by the FCC whenever such communication is authorized by the FCC. e) All communications transmitted in RACES must specifically be authorized by the civil defense organization for the area served. Only civil defense communications of the following types may be transmitted: Messages concerning impending or actual conditions jeopardizing the public safety, or affecting the national defense or security during periods of local, regional, or national civil emergencies; Messages directly concerning the immediate safety of life of individuals, the immediate protection of property, maintenance of law and order, alleviation of human suffering and need, and the combating of armed attack or sabotage; Messages directly concerning the accumulation and dissemination of public information or instructions to the civilian population essential to the activities of the civil defense organization or other authorized government or relief agencies; and Communications for RACES training drills and tests necessary to ensure the establishment and maintenance of orderly and efficient operation of the RACES as ordered by the responsible civil defense organizations served. Such drills and tests may not exceed a total time of 1 hour per week. With the approval of the chief officer for emergency planning in the applicable State, Commonwealth, District or territory, however, such tests and drills may be conducted for a period not to exceed 72 hours no more than twice in any calendar year. 4
2) Defined Terms: While many terms used within this plan are defined in the appropriate sections below, some general terms are defined here. A) Amateur Operator/Ham: An individual named in an amateur operator/primary license station by the FCC under Section 97. B) Emergency: A situation where there is immediate threat to human life/safe and/or extreme property damage. C) Emergency Communications (Emcomm): Communications conducted under adverse condition where normal channels of communications are not available. D) Mode: The combination of a type of information and method of transmission. (i.e., phone/ssb, CW, Digital, etc.). E) Net: A formal system of operation in order to exchange or manage information. F) Net Control: The station in charge of a net. G) American Radio Relay League (ARRL): The national association for amateur radio. H) SKYWARN: A voluntary organization of trained hams who provide observation and reporting of severe weather condition to the National Weather Service. I) FCC: The abbreviation for Federal Communications Commission. The federal agency that regulates and governs all forms of radiated communications in the United States. 3) Amateur Radio Emergency Organizations: The nature of any emergency will dictate which of several organizations will serve as the 5
appropriate source for coordination, direction, and support involving ham radio operators. A) Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES) B) Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Services (RACES) C) National Traffic System D) National Weather Services More information on these organizations will be provide in a later section of this plan. 4) What to do first in case of emergency: Emergencies can occur at any time, with or without warning. The following are basic things to consider when an emergency situation occurs. A) Check that you and your family are safe and secure before you respond as an emergency volunteer. B) Check that your property is safe and secure before you respond as an emergency volunteer. C) Monitor the MARC or other appropriate repeater (2 meters, 70 cm, HF as designate) for any current activity or traffic. D) Check in or respond as appropriate given circumstances or instructed by the net control or other emergency leadership. 5) Initial Action Checklist: The net control station and/or emergency officials on the designated emergency net will provide additional instructions, including information on alternative frequencies used for other resources or tactical nets. Normally, a resource net will enroll volunteers and provide information on how you can assist. Response preparation might include the following: 6
A) Be prepared to operate. Check all equipment and connections B) Checking in with the emergency coordinator. Deploy to assigned area with Ready Kit (see next section). C) Obtain tactical call sign for your location/assigned area. D) Initiate personal event log (see form at the end of this plan). E) Enter assigned frequency on log sheet and other information F) Use log form to record messages handled G) Use a formal message form when a precise message is required H) Use tactical call sign for your location, and observe FCC s 10 minute ID rule I) Monitor assigned frequency at all time. Notify net control or other leadership if you have to leave. 6) Basic Equipment Checklist: When responding to an emergency event, or even a training exercise, there is a minimum set of equipment and personal gear you should bring with you to get the job done. Basic items include: A) 2-meter hand-held radio B) 2-meters mag-mount antenna and coax C) Earphone D) Paper and pencil E) ARES or other official ID F) Extra batteries G) Appropriate clothing H) Food and water as appropriate A majority of these items should be kept in a Ready Kit for quick deployment when needed. You might also consider the following 7
additional items for inclusion in the Ready Kit designed to allow you to stay in the field for up to 72 hours. 1) Three days change of clothing 2) Foul weather gear 3) Toilet articles 4) Shelter (tent and sleeping bag) 5) Portable stove/mess kit 6) Waterproof matches 7) Flashlight 8) Candles 9) Alarm clock 10) Extra food and water 11) First Aid Kit 12) Throat lozenges 13) Aspirin or other pain reliever 14) Power supplies, battery chargers 15) Microphones 16) Headphones 17) Patch cords 18) Antennas with mounts 19) SWR bridge (VHF/HF) 20) Extra Coax 21) RF Connectors and adapters 22) Power, audio and other connectors, adapters 23) Batteries 24) Toolbox 25) Soldering iron and solder 26) VOM 27) Electrical and other duct tape 8
28) Safety glasses 29) Log books 30) Message forms 7) The Ready Kit : This is intended to be a pre-assembled collection of items that can be taken quickly with you in the event of an emergency situation. The following should be considered when assembling your ready kit. A) Power: Your 72-hour kit should have several sources of power in it, with extra battery packs and an alkaline battery pack for your handheld. For mobile VHF and UHF radios, larger batteries are needed. Gel-cell or deep-cycle marine batteries are good sources of battery power, and you must keep them charged and ready to go. Have more battery capacity than you think you might need. Have several methods available to connect your radios different power sources. B) Gain Antennas: You can expect to need some kind of gain antenna for your handheld, as well as an additional gain antenna that can be used on either your handheld or mobile rig. Have several lengths of coax in your kit, totaling at least 50 feet, and barrel connectors to connect them together. C) Personal: Include staples: water, or reliable water filtration and purification system; enough food for three days; eating utensils, a drinking cup and, if needed, a means of cooking your food. Shelter is also important (i.e., tent, RV, or other shelter). Light is important psychologically during an emergency. Make sure that you have several light sources available. 9
8) Basic Emergency Organizations/Networks: Depending on the nature of the emergency one or several of the following networks may be activated. This is a basic description of each and how they function. A) Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES): The ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) consists of licensed amateurs who have voluntarily registered their qualifications and equipment for communications duty in the public interest when disaster strikes. Membership in ARRL or any other local or national organization is not required to join ARES or participate in ARES activities. However, only licensed amateurs are eligible for membership. There are three levels of ARES organization section, district, and local. More information on sectional and district organization and leadership is available through ARRL. Most of the ARES organization and operation gets accomplished at the local level. The local level is where most emergencies occur and where ARES leaders make direct contact with the ARES member-volunteers and with officials of the agencies to be served. The local Emergency Coordinator (EC) is therefore the key contact in ARES. The EC may have jurisdiction over a small community or a large city. Whatever jurisdiction is assigned, the EC is in charge of all ARES activities in his area, not just one interest group, one agency, one club or one band. There are any number of different situations and circumstances that might confront an EC, and his/her ARES unit should be organized in anticipation of them. 10
B) National Traffic System (NTS): The National Traffic System (NTS) is designed to meet two principal objectives: I) rapid movement of traffic from origin to destination, and II) training amateur operators to handle written traffic and participate in directed nets. NTS operates daily and consists of four different nets levels Area, Region, Section, and Local. For purposes of this plan the focus will be on local net operations. Local nets are those covering small areas such as a community, city, county or metropolitan area, not a complete ARRL section, (i.e., Indiana). They usually operate on VHF (typically 2-meters FM) at times and on days most convenient to their members. Some are designated as emergency (ARES) nets that do not specialize in traffic handling (i.e., SKYWARN). When a disaster situation arises NTS is capable of expanding its cyclic operation into complete or partial operation as needed. While the EC is, in effect, the manager of ARES nets operating at local levels, and therefore makes decisions regarding their activation, managers of NTS nets at the local and other levels are directly responsible for activation of their nets in a disaster situation. C) Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES): RACES is a part of the Amateur Radio Service that provides radio communications for civil-preparedness purposes only, during periods of local, regional or national civil emergencies. These emergencies are not limited to war-related activities, but can include natural disasters such as fires, floods and earthquakes. 11
RACES is administered by local/county/state emergency management agencies. Amateurs operating in a local RACES organization must be officially enrolled in the local civil preparedness group. RACES operation is conducted by amateurs using their own primary station licenses and/or by existing RACES stations. The FCC no longer issues new RACES station call signs. Important note: Although RACES and ARES are separate entities, ARRL advocates dual membership and cooperative efforts between both groups whenever possible. For example: during non-declared emergencies, ARES can operate under ARES, but when an emergency or disaster is officially declared by government emergency management authority, it will need to become a RACES operations. D) National Incident Management System (NIMS): The National Incident Management System (NIMS) has been developed to help emergency managers and responders from different jurisdictions work together more effectively during emergencies and disasters. The NIMS provides a set of standardized organizational structures, such as the Incident Command System, and standardized processes and procedures. More information about NIMS is available from the FEMA Web site. See IS-700 National Incident Management System (NIMS), An Introduction found at: training.fema.gov/emiweb/is/crslist.asp. 12
9) Incident Command System (ICS): The Incident Command System (ICS) is a management tool that is being adopted by professional emergency responders throughout the county. ICS provides a coordinated system of command, communications, organization and accountability in managing emergency events. Amateur Radio operators should be familiar with the system, as well as how they will interface with agencies employing ICS. The concept of Unified Command is an integral part of the ICS overall operations. Amateur Radio volunteers, as part of the ICS, are expected to be communicators within the logistics Section in the Service Branch, Communications Unit. All participating Amateur Radio volunteers should be expected to complete available training courses, IS-100 and IS-200 which is part of the FEMA Independent Study Program at training (fema.gov/emiweb/is/). 10) Principles of Disaster Communication: A) Keep transmissions to a minimum. In a disaster, crucial stations may be weak. All other stations should remain silent unless they are called upon. If you re not sure you should transmit, don t. B) Monitor established disaster frequencies. Many ARES localities and some geographical areas have established disaster frequencies where someone is always (or near always) monitoring for possible calls. C) Avoid spreading rumors. During and after a disaster situation, especially on the phone bands, you may hear almost anything. Unfortunately, much misinformation is transmitted. Rumors are started by expansion, deletion, amplification or 13
modification of words, and by exaggeration or interpretation.. All addressed transmissions should be officially authenticated as to their source. These transmissions should be repeated word for word, if at all, and only when specifically authorized (refer to NTS protocol). D) Authenticate all messages. Every message which purports to be of officials mature should be written and signed. Whenever possible, amateurs should avoid initiating disaster or emergency traffic themselves. We do the communicating; the agency officials we serve supply the content of the communications. E) Strive for efficiency. Whatever happens in an emergency, you will find hysteria and some amateurs who are activated by the thought that they must be sleepless heroes. Instead of operating your own station full time at the expense of your health and efficiency, it is much better to serve a shift at one of the best-located and best-equipped stations, suitable for the work at hand, manned by relief shifts of the best-qualified operators. This reduces interference and secures welloperated stations. F) Select the mode and band to suit the need. It is a characteristic of all amateurs to believe that their favorite mode and band is superior to all others. The merit of a particular band or mode in a communications emergency should be evaluated impartially with a view to the appropriate use of bands and modes. There is, of course, no alternative to using what happens to be available, but there are ways to optimize available resources. G) Use all communications channels intelligently. While the primary objective of emergency communications is to save lives 14
and property (anything else is incidental), Amateur Radio is a secondary communications means. Normal channels are primary and should be used if available. Amateurs should be willing and able to use any appropriate emergency channels Amateur Radio or otherwise in the interest of getting the message through. H) Don t broadcast. Some stations in an emergency situation have a tendency to emulate broadcast techniques. While it is true that the general public may be listening, our transmissions are not and should not be made for that purpose. I) NTS and ARES leadership coordination. Within the disaster area itself, the ARES is primarily responsible for emergency communications support. The first priority of those NTS operators who live in or near the disaster area is to make their expertise available to their Emergency Coordinator (EC) where and when needed. For timely and effective response, this means that NTS operators should talk to their ECs before that time of need so that they will know how to best respond. Part II: MARC Specific Response Requirements/Resources 1) MARC membership participation: MARC members who have interest in being part of an emergency response team will need to indicate his/her interest by: a) Completing a registration application (RACES/ARES) b) Participate in required or other training c) Actively participate in training exercises/drills d) Establish a ready kit for immediate response as needed 15
2) Emergency response: In the event of an emergency, qualified/ participating hams should take the following response steps after securing their own safety: a) Secure ready kit and ensure its contents b) Check into Johnson County net (146.835/443.525 both PL 151.4) and determine nature of emergency situation. c) Respond to net control as requested, providing information or reporting to tactical locations. d) In some cases, individuals will be assigned to the MARC radio room to communication information to appropriate officials (via WebEOC). e) As circumstance dictate, hams should only use designated forms for recording actions taken or communication (see form at the end of this plan. 3) Emergency response - Key Contacts The Mid-State Amateur Radio Club (MARC) is actively involved in planning and responding to non-emergency and emergency situations requiring communication support within Johnson County, Indiana and surrounding areas. While some non-emergency situations can be planned and coordinated in real time, other true emergencies occur without warning requiring immediate response to unforeseen circumstances. In this regarding, MARC has specific individuals who are responsible to coordinate actions based on the situation and community needs. These individual, while subject to periodic change, are as follows: President, MARC: Jacki Frederick (KI6QOG) 16
MARC RACES Coordinator: David Daily (KB9LOT) MARC ARES Coordinator: Robert LaGrange (N9SIU) MARC SKYWARN Net Control: Robert Jones (KC9NJM) Other key local or state contacts are based on response needs as follows: Johnson County Emergency Services Director: Indiana State Emergency Coordinator: Johnson County Sheriff: White River Township Fire Chief: Franklin Community Fire & Police: Greenwood Community Fire & Police: Advanced preparation is key to effective response. This includes development of cooperative/supportive relationship with key community contacts, training exercises that reinforce proper and difficult operating conditions. 2) Annual Training Exercises: As mentioned earlier, the key to effective response during times of emergency involves regular training/exercises. During the course each calendar year, MARC conducts emergency training exercises, both alone and in coordination with other emergency agencies, to test its readiness in the event of an actual emergency. The following are planned training/exercises that tests MARC participation in emergency like situations during the calendar year. A) State Emergency Readiness Training Periodic as announced B) SKYWARN training February/March 17
C) Goblin Patrol Halloween eve D) Other - Various club field operations Other recommended training during the course of the year might include: A) Annual club member review of this plan and/or elements of the plan. B) Annual review/demonstration of the club radio room emergency equipment and its operation with club members. C) Annual review of the basics of radio communications during an emergency operations D) Invite the Johnson County Emergency Service Director to a club meeting to review and discuss county expectations during an emergency (including WebEOC). 4) Emergency Resources: The following items offered are resources in the event of an emergency situation. It is always important to document actions taken or communications for later clarification/evaluation of responses. A) MARC emergency frequencies: 146.835 and 443.525 both with a PL tone of 151.4; other frequencies in other bands and modes may be allocated as required. B) Recommended forms: Include state or local agency forms, NTS forms, contact logs 18
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