Enhanced co-operation focus of
ARES-RACES-MARS meeting
Enhancing cooperation among Amateur Radio's emergency service
organizations was the subject of a groundbreaking conference November
20 in Castle Point, New York. On hand were Amateur Radio Emergency Service
(ARES), Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) and Army, Air Force
and Navy-Marine Corps Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS) leaders.
While informal cooperation is nothing new to ARES, RACES and MARS members - many
of whom participate in all three organizations - the focus of the Castle
Point gathering was on launching more formal regional and national collaboration.
ARRL Field Organization/Public Service Team Leader Steve Ewald, WV1X,
said he was pleased to be able to participate.
"I thought it was an excellent meeting, and it should lay a foundation
for further cooperation between ARRL and our Field Organization and MARS,"
he said afterward. Ewald also used the occasion to call attention to the
ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Communications courses and the tuition grants
available for radio amateurs completing them. Joining him under the League
banner were ARRL Field Organization appointees Pete Cecere, N2YJZ, the
Eastern New York Section Manager, and Tom Carrubba, KA2D, the New York
City-Long Island Section Emergency Coordinator.
Newly designated New York Army MARS-ARRL Liaison Officer Richard Meirowitz,
WA2ELE, organized the session, and New York MARS Director Steve Pertgen,
W2FXJ, chaired the meeting at the Castle Point Veterans Administration
Medical Center.
Keynote speaker was Army MARS Eastern Area Coordinator Robert Hollister,
AAA9E/N7INK, from Ft Huachuca, Arizona (and the author of "A Portable
NVIS Antenna," which will appear in the January 2005 QST). He expressed
the hope that MARS management and ARRL would join forces to pursue the
goal of interoperability. To jump start that initiative, Hollister provided
an overview of the US Department of Defense (DoD) MARS program and its
emphasis on providing emergency communication support to a wide variety
of military and government response agencies.
In September, Hollister asked MARS stations and nets to coordinate with
ARES/RACES and local ham radio operators to assist in handling hurricane-related
health-and-welfare traffic. Amateur Radio and the military already collaborate
informally each May during the Armed Forces Day communications tests,
when hams and military stations engage in crossband contacts. Several
pilot operations also have employed ARES/RACES members in past Army Reserve
exercises at the local level.
Among proposals was a suggestion to seek FCC permission to conduct year-round
interoperability training and emergency operation. It also was proposed
that the amateur community assist MARS in providing early warning
notification of emergency situations - so-called "Essential Elements
of Information" messages - for relay to the DoD and the Department
of Homeland Security.
Following Hollister's briefing, MARS Eastern Area Emergency Operations
Chief John Scoggin, W3JKS, of Wilmington, Delaware, discussed last summer's
nationwide Grecian Firebolt 2004 (GF-04) Army Signal communication exercise - the
biggest MARS drill ever. At Pertgen's suggestion, Meirowitz tested the
feasibility of MARS-ARES-RACES
collaboration during GF-04, and ARES volunteers from eastern New York
took part in the exercise, which involved a homeland defense/homeland
security scenario. Meirowitz called it "a small but successful joint
effort." Ewald noted that the Grecian Firebolt exercises were similar
in nature to the ARRL's Simulated Emergency Test each fall.
Hollister suggested that ARES/RACES participation in the next annual
Army Signal exercise be worked out on a state-by-state basis. Also proposed
was the designation of additional MARS-ARRL liaison officers at the statelevel.
Bill Sexton N1IN
Source: ARRL Letter - courtesy of The
American Radio Relay League
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