Date set for next region-wide exercise

UT Health Henderson Hospital

The date for the next regional-wide healthcare drill has been set for October 16, 2019. The annual exercise will involve 19 counties across Northeast Texas and dozens of long-term healthcare and home-health facilities. Amateurs will provide communications for several locations simulating a power outage due to a large weather event.

This year's event is scheduled for the afternoon and will likely include opportunities to practice voice and data communications. The Rusk County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) will be activated at the Sheriff's Department. Exercise events also will take place at the UT Health Henderson hospital as well as other area facilities.

We will meet for a briefing at 12:15pm at the OEM office. The drill will officially begin at 1pm. Any amateurs wishing to assist in the exercise are ask to contact W5CWT, who serves as the Rusk County ARES Emergency Coordinator, to register for the event. He can be reached at w5cwt@arrl.net.

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ARES assists 5K Runners as Storm Strikes

Rusk County ARES members were on hand last Saturday when weather forced organizers of Henderson's annual Resurrection Run 5K to call the race in the middle of the event. Then the decision was made, amateur radio operators sprung into action. It was something even race officials weren't really expecting.

"When we asked [hams] to help out, I thought, 'they won't much since we never have anyone get hurt,'" said Kayla, who oversaw race preparations. "But wow! We couldn't have done it without you!"

Before the race began, ARES members were deployed to several locations along the race route to report on runners' progress and unexpected emergencies. One operator was assigned to a mobile unit driven by a race official. The National Weather Service had predicted severe weather during the day and fortunately all ARES members were trained storm spotters.

The first hour of the race was relatively eventful until a band of thunderstorm moved into the area. The net control station, run by Eric, KR5G, kept an eye on lightening strikes using equipment on loan the Rusk County Office of Emergency Management.

Finally, when the sky lit up with a strike within less than a half mile, race officials made the call; the race was done. Instantly, operators reported in on the location of runners, nearly half of which were still scattered along the race route.

The mobile unit was dispatched to pick up anyone with special needs or runners who were in open areas and most exposed to danger. Within 15 minutes, all the runners had been alerted to the danger and many had been brought back to race headquarters. 

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New versions of FLDigi software released

The are new versions of fldigi, flmsg and flrig software. The current updates were released on Jan 31, 2019 and show version 4.1.00 for fldigi. The newest versions (as always) can be downloaded at W1HKJ's website.

Fldigi along with flmsg and flrig (for CAT control of your radio) are used almost exclusively during emergency communication deployments. It's best to keep them updated to the latest version to prevent problems or compatibility issued in a real event.

All three can be used on Windows, Linux and MacOS platforms, making it very easy to use.

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Experiences Building an Emergency Go-Box

Several local ARES members have been actively working on "Go-Boxes." Basically, these are self-contained groups of equipment ready to deploy at a moment's notice. Some require unpacking and assembly while some are pretty much open, plug and play.

David (W5CWT) built one that includes both HF and VHF and details it on his own blog. Michael (WX5WMS) has also built one which sits inside a large tub.

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Lessons learned from regional hospital drill

There were several lessons learned from the recent drill held to practice emergency communications between hospitals and health care facilities in Rusk County. The drill was held in conjunction with a region-wide exercise involving 19 counties in East Texas.

Reception problems were the most common issue arising from the drill with some operators having a difficult time transmitting and receiving while inside a building. Configuration issues also caused some failures in the passing digital traffic using Fldigi and Flmsg.

At the same time, there were several successes including demonstrating the ability to pass information quickly and accurately when all other systems are down.

The drill was covered by local media and the net control operators even made it on the local CBS affiliate's evening news cast.

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Interested in a license class?

We are planning a new Technician License class for anyone interested in getting their first ham Radio license. We are considering several different days and times, trying to accommodate as many people as possible.

All instructors are volunteers and instruction is provided free of charge. There are some recommended study materials which we will discuss during the first session. We will also recommend a first Radio to use once you earn your license. 

You can register your interest in the upcoming class by using this form.

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Regional Drill Planning Continues

A large group of health care facility managers, hospital staff, emergency response personnel, hams and others met Monday morning for the next round of planning for the upcoming regional exercise. The massive drill will cover 19 counties in East Texas and involve hundreds of agencies.

Locally, ham radio operators working under the Rusk County ARES umbrella will provide critical communication support to a number of agencies and facilities in Rusk County. Most traffic will be passed using voice as well as digital channels using Fldigi.

We are planning at least one more training session for local hams before the actual drill which will run from 1pm - 4pm, Wednesday April 18th.

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