The ARRL Emergency Coordinator's Manual

1 The ARRLE mergencyCoordinator sManualEdited bySteve Ewald, WV1 XRLRAAMATEURRADIOEMERGENCYSERVICE$5 The ARRLE mergencyCoordinator sManualPublished byThe American Radio Relay League, Inc225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111 Copyright 1997 byThe American Radio Relay League, IncCopyright secured under the Pan-American Copyright rights reserved. No part of this workmay be reproduced in any form exceptby written permission of the rights of translation EditionPublication FSD-9 (3/97)Printed in USAThis edition of the Emergency coordinator s Manual represents but a portionof the ARRL s effort to provide you, the ARRL Emergency coordinator , with thetraining tools necessary to begin your duties, and as time goes on, to hone andrefine your Emergency communications capabilities.

2 With this Manual , we haveattempted to provide you with a means of learning the fine points of your ownduties, as well as recruiting and obtaining the necessary resources to properlyplan and implement effective Emergency and disaster communications for thebenefit of the residents and officials of your with any publication of this type, we sincerely hope that you will read andutilize the EC Manual with any eye toward providing us with your input as to howfuture editions can be improved for the enlightenment of your fellow ECs and thebetterment of the Amateur Radio Emergency Service as a Chapter Welcome!

3 PurposeChapter 2 The ARRL Field Field Section Section Emergency District Emergency Emergency Assistant Emergency ARES Official Emergency StationChapter 3 Outline of the Duties of an Emergency Duties Delegated to ImageTableofContents Chapter 4 Organizing a Local ARES Selecting Recruiting Members in Recruiting Members Recruiting at Recruiting at License Recruiting using Direct Recruitment Organizational Planning SummaryChapter Who are Volunteers? Why They What Volunteers Expect from The Cadre Keeping the Suggested SummaryChapter Administrative Duties As Required Annual Administrative Supplies and Resources from ARRL HQChapter 7 Training and Basic Communications Theory Personal Preparedness for Emergency ARRL EC Training and Certification CourseChapter 8 Simulated Emergency Designing Successful SET Scenario: Hurricane SET.

4 Spokane, WashingtonChapter 9 Traffic and Net From Origination to The National Traffic Emergency Net OperationsChapter 10 Packet Packet Radio Applications in Sending Messages via Packet RadioChapter 11 The Emergency The Federal Response Examples of Emergency Excerpts from the Nevada Section Communications Standard Operating Example of Standard Operating ProceduresChapter 12 Disaster ARES Principles of Disaster Some Thoughts on Disaster ARES Mutual Assistance Team (ARESMAT) Incident Command SystemChapter 13 Liaison with Served ARRL Agreements and Red Cross/Salvation APCO-International, ARES and Other On Serving Served Agencies Selling the Agencies on SummaryChapter 14 The Michigan Story: Interacting with Public OfficialsAPPENDIX AARRL Numbered RadiogramsAPPENDIX BHazardous Materials AwarenessAPPENDIX CAgreements with.

5 The American National Red CrossThe Association of Public Safety Communications Officers-International, Federal Emergency Management AgencyThe National Communications SystemThe Salvation ArmyThe National Weather ServiceThe ARRL Emergency coordinator s Welcome!As an Emergency coordinator (EC) or District Emer-gency coordinator (DEC) in the ARRL Amateur RadioEmergency Service (ARES), you have accepted one of themost challenging yet rewarding positions in the ARRL FieldOrganization, if not in Amateur Radio itself. The Emer-gency coordinator s Manual is intended to help you ac-quire, develop and refine the skills which you need tofunction effectively in serving the public through AmateurRadio communications.

6 It takes a special person, a radioamateur with a strong desire to serve his/her community,to volunteer to become an EC. A truly effective EC, how-ever, combines this desire with the ability to follow throughand get the job done. By the very fact of appointing you EC,your Section Manager and Section Emergency Coordina-tor have expressed implicit confidence in your abilities andyour commitment to public service. This Manual presentsmany examples to aid you in getting the job done. If youneed guidance on a particular matter, don t hesitate toconsult your ARRL section leadership, or ARRL HQ, forguidance. The ARRL Field Organization works best whenwe all work together.

7 Certainly the EC position will test yourmettle; if the function were easy, the title of ARRL Emer-gency coordinator would not carry the respect it now has.(Please note that since the duties and responsibilities ofECs and DECs are closely associated or overlapping,virtually all of the information in this Manual is applicable toECs and DECs.)Your EC role is important to you, the ARES membersyou direct, the agencies you serve and your dedication to your responsibilities as EC today mayindeed determine the safety of your neighbors your response prepare your response League congratulates you for accepting the ap-pointment of EC and wishes you the very best in thisimportant PurposeThe purpose of this Manual is intentionally quite straight-forward.

8 In addition to guidelines and procedures, thismanual describes how other ARES units are operating,giving you enough information to adapt or improve uponthe material to fit your particular circumstances. In short,the Manual is meant to make you a better EC and to assistyou in better serving the public. The final result, of course,depends on the Manual cannot anticipate every contin-gency that you may encounter in your tenure as , every attempt has been made to provide you withthe tools you may need to perform appropriately. Workingwith your section colleagues in the ARRL Field Organiza-tion to address specific problems, as well as administrativesupport (such as this Manual ) from ARRL HQ, will go a longway toward making your EC toolbox complete!

9 Amateur Radio public service efforts must continue togrow in both quality and quantity. To achieve this, knowl-edge and experience must be shared for the benefit of EC Manual is an important step in this sharing 1 Introduction 2 The ARRL Emergency coordinator s ManualThe ARRL Emergency coordinator s GeneralIn Part 97 of its rules, the Federal CommunicationsCommission states that the Amateur Radio Service is a voluntary non-commercial communication service, par-ticularly with respect to providing Emergency communica-tions. This is an essential element of the public interest,convenience or necessity doctrine embodied in the Com-munications Act of 1934, the enabling legislation thatcreated the FCC.

10 In turn, ARRL makes providing emer-gency communications capability an objective of its FieldOrganization with the ARES as the vehicle for accomplish-ing description of the ARRL Field Organization and all ofthe appointments that are available are summarized in theField Organization brochure (FSD-300) which you receivedas part of your initial EC supplies. Application forms (FSD-187) are also available for these Field ServicesARES functions primarily as a local organization withlocal control of activities under the aegis of the electedARRL Section Manager. ARRL Headquarters, specificallyField Services under the supervision of the Field ServicesManager, supplies support assistance.