December 16, 2007

Last Link
When disaster strikes, amateur radio operators keep the connection

By KATHY GRAY
of The Dalles Chronicle

Hugh Flint fires off a rapid explanation of what he does, pointing to equipment and using lingo like "packet data" and "terminal nodes" and "repeaters," while quietly leaving out the most important point: What he does may someday help save your life.

Flint heads the local Amateur Radio Emergency Service section for Wasco County, which helps with communication during emergency events. When a massive storm recently overwhelmed western Oregon with wind and water, downing phone lines and limiting cell coverage, people like Flint provided vital links within and outside the ravaged regions.

Amateur radio operators were heralded by state emergency officials as heroes, who set up networks for government and emergency officials to communicate when other system failed.

A network of at least 60 voluneer amateur radio operators working along the coast and inland helped keep crucial systems such as 9-1-1, American Red Cross and hospital services connected. They relayed information about patient care and lists of supplies needed in areas cut off by water.

Ham radio operators also kept New York City agencies in touch with each other after their command center was destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001, according to the National Association for Amateur radio. And when hurricanes like Katrina hit, amateur radio operators helped provide fire-and-death community services when everything else failed.

Though small in numbers, Wasco County has one of the better-equipped ARES sections, says Mike Davidson, the county's emergency operations coordinator.
The county is a designated assistance center for emergencies relating to the chemical weapons stockpile in Umatilla, so it receives funding for equipment through their emergency preparedness program.

Recently purchased equipment allows these "ham" radio operators to transmit digital messages composed on a personal computer and include attachments such as photographs that can augment written information. The digital information is broken up into packets and transmitted in bursts over high-frequency radio waves. The whole setup is about the size of a medium laser printer —- and it's portable.

"This whole system is designed for incident command," explains Flint, who not only serves as local section coordinator, but as district coordinator for most of central Oregon as well.

So when emergency personnel have to set up a remote incident command station, say for a wildfire in southern Wasco County, or flooding in Dufur, the radio system packs onto one of three trailers equipped for incident command.
The trailers include power generators for an assured electricity supply.

The stations can be set up at other key remote locations as well, such as emergency shelters, to provide an on-site communications web. In the event of a wide-scale disaster, one of the units could also be set up at the hospital, which has its own auxiliary power.

"If we handle the basic flow of information, it frees everyone else up to do the jobs they need to be doing," Flint says.

They can do that in one of three different ways: digital, voice or controlled wave. Digital is the preferred method, Flint says, allowing operators to rapidly transmit specific, written communications in an e-mail-style format. Voice transmission requires time to transcribe and has the potential for errors. Controlled wave transmission usually involves the use of Morse code, which can have similar difficulties. But the back-up methods, or redundancy, helps assure that some method of communication is available even when more advanced technology isn't.

"All options are open," Flint says. "We're not stuck with one protocol."
"Every time we build a communications system, it comes with redundancy," Davidson adds.

That flexibility dovetails well with the emergency operations coordination process, Davidson notes, which is a multi-agency process designed to mobilize only those personnel needed for a specific emergency.

ARES was established in the 1930s as a volunteer emergency arm of the Amateur Radio Relay League, a ham radio organization that has been around since 1914. The seeds for amateur radio were sown even earlier, in the 1890s, when Guglielmo Mardoni began his experiments in wireless telegraphy, the ARRL website reports. Today, ARRL has about 152,000 members.

The organization's emergency service arm consists of licensed amateurs who have voluntarily registered their qualifications and equipment for communications duty in the public service when disaster strikes.

In today's era of homeland security, ARES members who work with emergency operations centers must have a few more qualifications. They are required to work toward certification and training on the National Incident Management System, which involves about 10 hours of training, Davidson says. All the classes are available online.

"Once they meet all qualifications, they are issued credentials from the sheriff's office," Davidson said.

Flint started reorganizing the local ARES group about five years ago. The group has an intermediate certification, but with more members could obtain advanced certification, Flint says. Wasco County's group has about eight members.
Flint wants to encourage more members of all ages.

ARES members meet once a month on the first Tuesday at the Columbia Gorge Community College boardroom, although they will meet on the second Tuesday in January. The meetings start at 7 p.m.

For more information about becoming an ARES member, call Davidson at (541) 506-2790 or Flint at 980-5975.