Category Archives: After Action

January Meeting Recap

On Saturday, January 20, 2024, PWCARES held their regular January Training meeting. These are the highlights.

Upcoming Events

Marine Corps Marathon Office

  • Saturday, March 23: MCM 17.75 Run in Prince William Forest Park. Sign up link was sen by email with the password for the site.
  • Sunday, May 19: MCM Historic Half in Fredericksburg, VA. Details will come out by email mid-March
  • Saturday, August 24: MCM Quantico 12K at MCB Quantico. Sign up details will come out by email
  • Sunday, October 27: Marine Corps Marathon. Sign up details will come out by email
  • Saturday, November 23: MCM Turkey Trot at MCB Quantico. Sign up details will come out by email

Willing Warriors

  • Saturday, July 6 (est): Vettes for Vets. Sign up details will come out by email
  • Saturday, September 7 (est): Warrior Ride. Sign up details will come out by email

Other Events

  • Saturday/Sunday June 22 & 23: Field Day

Action Plan

If you have not reviewed the Action plan lately, please, do so. Pay particular attention to Section 5 and Section 6.

Training

There are no major changes to our training plan. If you have not already taken the basic ICS courses (IS-700, IS-800, IS-100, IS-200) please do so. These courses do not expire, so if you already took them, there is no need to retake them. There will be some new courses coming soon.

Blinky Yellow Lights

A major update to the Virginia code that impacts us. We can now use flashing amber lights under limited conditions while exercising and working events. Specifically:

  1. Vehicles used or operated by federally licensed amateur radio operators (i) while participating in emergency communications or drills on behalf of federal, state, or local authorities or (ii) while providing communications services to localities for public service events authorized by the Department of Transportation where the event is being conducted;

We will be using amber lights for all our events where they make sense. If you wish to purchase your own, there are a number of options. For MCM events, people that wish to borrow a light can do so.

Workshop

The workshop discussed what you would need to bring to a long deployment. We came up with this criteria:

  • A deployment where you will be away from home in excess of 24 hours
  • A deployment where you will have to be self-reliant for more than 72 hours

And played with this scenario:

  • It is April
  • Spring flooding in SW Virginia
  • Teams are being bussed from the EOC to a camp outside Roanoak
  • Each position will have a radio, power, antenna, table, and chair provided
  • Each operator will work an eight hour shift, with at least one of them being over night
  • There will be some sort of food & beverage service along with some sort of sanitary facility at the camp

Three hours before departure, we get the following update:

  • We are in the first wave
  • Showers are expected over the next 24-48 hours
  • Temperatures over the next five days are middle 40s to low 50s.

Some of the points we covered included:

  • Shelters – are we providing them, are the camp? Do we need to make coordinate with each other on what we bring? Certainly coordinating would be valuable. Also we might need some sort of shelter at our operating position
  • Lights – we may need lights at our operating position and some way to refresh them (batteries, charging, etc.)
  • Food – we should not assume we are getting more than PB&J sandwiches for food. So what are food options we can take with us?
  • Sanitary facilities – Could be slit trench. Could be running water. We don’t know. What would we need to have in our bags?

These were only some of the things we covered. There are several other things to consider.

Web Links

January Training Update

For those unable to join us on Saturday, January 15, 2022, here are the highlights from the meeting.

The slides are available at HaikuDeck if you want to review.

We covered the past actions with the Marine Corps Marathon Program Office. They appreciate us being there as an extra set of eyes on the course, and of course, we get the practice. We also support Willing Warriors. They have two primary events at the moment – Vettes for Vets and the Warrior Bike Ride, a series of metric century, 25 mile, and 13 mile fun ride. And finally we participated in Field Day both in 2000, and 2021, and we thank Prince William County for their support both times.

We have some upcoming events. The first event is Saturday, March 26, 2022 – the MCM Crossroads 17.75 which will be held at Prince William Forest Park. More details as we get closer to the event. Please make sure to check the ARES calendar at https://www.pwcares.org. It is a public Google calendar and you can subscribe to it.

We answered the question What does ARES mean to you? to help us all level set. Here is the word cloud from that exercise:

We also answered the question What does the EC do? Here is the word cloud:

David, KG4GIY had some commentary on some of the responses.

Erv, the prior EC for Prince William once told David that the EC is an emergency coordinator, not an emergency communicator. As Greg, KM4CCG, mentioned in his Field Day review:

and it should be noted that we managed to get David on HF1!

Hearding Cats: This is an old consulting joke, but is very applicable to volunteer management. We all come from different places and different life experience, and getting volunteers to do things in the same direction is a challenge. When David, as EC asks the Cadre to take training it is not because David wants us to take it, but because one of our served agencies want us to take it, or FEMA wants us to take it so Prince William County can be reimbursed, or because the Federal Government wants us to take the training, again so the county can be reimbursed. PWCARES maintains a Training page with all the current training requirements.

Never Leaves: David has been the EC for twenty-one years, this April. That is a long time to lead an organization, and David expressed his desire to not be the EC for the next twenty years. He asks the Cadre to ponder what it wants in its next EC and who might be able to fill the road. This is not an immediate need, but we need to start succession planning. It was pointed out by Jack, WC4J and others that the EC also has to be able to talk to the senior management at our served agencies, not just be able to understand the technobabble, or geek speak that might only be useful for technologists.

Our workshop revolved around what should be in your go-kit in a post-Covid world. The obvious addition is PPE (mask, gloves, hand-sanitizer). Most of the items we already consider for our kit have not changed significantly. David will update the Preparedness page over the next few weeks to include some of the items identified.

Please send any questions to the EC and he will respond as necessary.

A quick public service announcement. If you participate on a VTC, please remember to mute your microphone. We really don’t want to hear you eating.

Thanks for taking time out of your morning. Next training is Saturday, March 19, 2022 at 0900 at the EOC. Details will be sent closer to training day.

  1. This was the third or fourth time in 20 years that David has worked HF.

Crossroads 17.75 AAR

On Saturday, March 20, 2021, Andy, KJ4MTP; Tom, W4PIO; John, KK4TCE; Scott Larimer, KN4RPA; Rob, KJ4LWN; Peter, KD4QNA; Greg, KM4CCG; David, KG4GIY; and Marc, N1BED, deployed to the wilds of MCB Quantico to support the Crossroads 17.75 run. Two waves of 200 odd runners attacked the hills on a lovely Saturday morning and hated every minute of it, so the MCMO considers it a complete success.

What Worked

  • Crossband repeater: We put the crossband up at the OSV, and it was easy to hear Tom from inside the OSV, and he could hear most of us. We might want to use the crossband for Mile 4 as well, as it could not be heard at NCS.
  • NCS at the school: NCS was located at one of the highest points on base and could hear everyone but Mile 4 and Mile 5. Both locations used HTs. Mile 6 relayed for Mile 5.
  • Relay practice: With Mile 5 unable to communicate directly with NCS, Mile 6 handled the relay. It worked pretty well.

What needs work

  • DBIDS: While this is nothing we can fix, the whole DBIDS mess is still not a smooth process. It has been escalated to the MCMO for resolution.
  • Repeater in the middle: We should give thought to adding a crossband or higher power repeater to the middle of the course (around Mile 6 – although there is limited space) to handle the relay issues. Something to ponder.
  • Relevant vs. non-relevant traffic: Determining what is and is not relevant is tough, and from a situational awareness perspective, sometimes it is better to pass traffic, even if it seems meaningless to you when it might be helpful to someone else.

My thanks to the team and for their inputs.

Some Pictures from the Course

John, KK4TCE at Mile 1/3
Net Control
N1BED’s Antenna Set Up
KG4GIY @ Mile 6 looking back towards Mile 5

ICS 214s

David’s ICS 214

Marc’s ICS 214

Back in the Groove

Let’s face it, 2020 has been a horrible year. Events canceled left right and centre, job losses, and who can forget spending ten weeks with your nearest and dearest. It is enough to make most operators go nuts. But things are improving!

On Saturday, September 26, 2020, the Willing Warriors held their delayed Warrior Bike Challenge Ride. This included three loops, one a metric century, one a 30-mile loop, and a 13-mile loop. Mother Nature spent Friday getting the rain from Tropical Storm Beta out of her system, so while it was not a beautiful, sunny day, it was at least dry and provided great riding conditions.

Here are some views from the course.

The view at Romeo 3 (WA4GSD)
The view at Romeo 3 (WA4GSD)

WC4J keeping us in line as Net Control and chief data wrangler
WC4J keeping us in line as Net Control and chief data wrangler

KG4GIY can do small setups at Romeo 6
KG4GIY can do small setups at Romeo 6

KM4CCG’s micro setup at Romeo 2
KM4CCG’s micro setup at Romeo 2

The antenna at Net Control
The antenna at Net Control

Congratulations to the team that participated and Andy, KJ4MTP, for herding the cats on this one, so your humble EC could sit and operate for a change.

Photos are copyright of their photographers.

After Action for the MCMO Combined August 2020 Runs

What worked

This was PWCARES first opportunity to get back into the field since the Honor 8K run in December, and the first post-COVID-19 event hosted by the Marine Corps Marathon Office. This served as both a chance to prototype how events might work in the future, and give everyone a chance to run through the woods.

  • CM11 and CM 12 were out in the woods with dead radios. CM12s radio was dead when he attempted to turn it on. CM11’s Radio was only viable for about 5 mins before it also went dead. W4PIO relocated from Mile 3 (assigned location) to CM12 to allow them to listen into the Amateur traffic.
  • We had an opportunity to practice relaying traffic for those that could not hear.
  • We had an opportunity to blow the dust off our gear and get out into the field again.

What needs improvement

The issue of base access is not something PWCARES can affect, however our issues have been heard, both by the MCMO and the PMO, who have overall responsibility for base access and access control. A number of issues have been identified and will be discussed internally at Quantico.

  • We did not stand up a net. We should have, especially with the need to relay traffic. ACTION: Stand up a net, even if you don’t feel it is needed, you can stand it down.
  • OSV was shadowed by Lejeune Hall and an HT just did not cut it. ACTION: We have been given permission to stand up an antenna and cross band repeater on the field opposite to the OSV. We will investigate the coverage in September or October in preparation for the Turkey Trot.
  • We need to work at relaying traffic. The traffic was successfully relayed, but it could have been done better. ACTION: More practice!
  • We need to identify the bib range for the multi-race events so we can tell who is who, even if we cannot see the actual colour of the bib. ACTION: Add this to the action plan as a standing requirement.

As our first event back, we could have done better. We certainly could have done considerably worse. We will find an excuse to practice as the year goes forward.

Crossroads 17.75 After Action

On Saturday, March 23, 2019, PWCARES supported the Marine Corps Marathon Program Office with the annual 17.75K run through the Prince William County Forest. Thanks to all who came out to support the event.

What Went Right

  • Despite the wind, the antenna at Start/Stop stayed up, thanks to proper guying by Tom, W4PIO.
  • The 6m frequency worked for communications among those that had it.

What can be improved

  • Oddly, 2m communications did not work. Whether that can be attributed to a geomagnetic storm that rolled through Friday into Saturday, or something else, we are not sure. As the sun came up the communications improved. In one case, David, KG4GIY and Tom, W4PIO were standing almost next to each other and one could hear the communications and one could not, and there was no predictability about who heard what, when.
  • Despite 6m working, it is not conducive to those that have to walk a bit to be able to see all of their section, making it a less than optimum solution.
  • Several folks forgot their access passes.

Thanks to Brian, WC4J (top photo) and Eric, KJ4MSW (bottom photo).

After Action Reports for Crossroads 17.75 & Quantico 100

Crossroads 17.75

On Saturday, March 25, 2017, sixteen ARES members deployed to Prince William Forest to support the Marine Corps Marathon program office. The Crossroads 17.75K run is an event we have supported in the past and the lessons learned from that event have lead to a well executed morning in the park. The weather was nice, starting in the low fifties and ending up in the low seventies by the time the race concluded.

We utilized simplex (147.525) as our frequency and the conditions behaved themselves enough to allow us to reach each other without any problems. Tom, W4PIO, put up an antenna at the Start/Stop to reach back into the forest and to hear us from his location. Most of the rest used a combination of mobile and HT units to communicate.

The day was lovely, the race successful, and everyone got a good work out.

 Quantico 100

On Saturday, April 29, 2017, nine ARES members deployed to Quantico to support the MCM put on the Quantico 100, a one hundred minute race to celebrate the one-hundredth anniversary of the Quantico Marine Corps Base. Unlike the Crossroads, the afternoon was hot, humid, sticky, and threatened rain all during the event. The course was a two and a half mile loop that runners circled as many times as possible in the hundred minutes.

We utilized the K3FBI repeater with mixed results. Several people utilized a crossband repeater set up to bounce local signals to the K3FBI machine, others used higher power to talk to the repeater. This was a good warm up for our participation in the MCM Triathalon in August, which will utilize almost 30 members over the course of the event, also on MCB Quantico.

Thanks to those who helped out with both events.

2016 SET After Action

Set After Action

Radios up and runningOn Saturday, October 1, 2016, PWCARES participated in the ARRL Simulated Emergency Test (SET). The objective of this year’s exercise:

Objectives:
* To provide a public demonstration to served agencies and through the news media of the value of Amateur Radio in times of need.
* To provide training and experience in communication under simulated emergency conditions.
* To provide a framework allowing all District Emergency Coordinators, Emergency Coordinators and Net Managers to evaluate how well they are performing.

Chuck, KA3EHL running the radio room
Chuck, KA3EHL running the radio room

The scenario: A line of powerful thunderstorms, spawned by a hurricane, is approaching the state from the southwest. Strong winds, flood producing rains, damaging hail & lightning have paralyzed most of the counties in your district. Wind speeds exceeded 85 MPH and have produced many downed-trees causing power lines to fail. Estimates are between 85% and 90% of homes are without power. Many roads are impassable due to flash-flooding, tree debris, and downed-power lines. Communications has suffered greatly as well. Downed utilities, power outages, and failed back-ups have crippled normal communications. Amateur Radio operators have not gone unscathed. Repeaters without back-up power are no longer operational.

Derek, KV4SH, waiting for traffic
Derek, KV4SH, waiting for traffic

This gave us an opportunity to practice traffic handling and interact with both HF and digital networks. It also gave us the opportunity to practice with the ICS forms, especially the ICS–213 message form and the ICS–214 unit log.

What worked:

  • No problem checking into the HF SSB net. Good comms with only 10 watts on battery power. Many check ins, but didn’t hear them passing any message traffic. Was also able to copy PSK31 on 7050 KHz.
  • Several EOCs from other counties (W4COV and AD4TJ) then used VDEM frequencies, digital modes and waterfall to perform antenna checks, software checks and other tasks.
  • PWCARES VHF1 (simplex) worked well for passing traffic into and out of the EOC but verbal messages are slow. Effective but slow.
  • Numerous messages were sent successfully by voice

Some issues:

  • Appears that the HF net was really only check-in. There was no formal message traffic passed. While the net-control was able to hear and speak to most all districts and conducted a professional level as net control. The main thrust of the exercise seemed to be to verify that all counties could be reached via HF
  • Some Counties used FLMSG for ICS traffic. Others used WordPad to create and pass exercise traffic. When FLMSG was used, W4COV (not VDEM) asked me to stop and use WordPad instead
  • After the initial 40m check in, VDEM Digital NCS (N1XP) left the net and remained offline for the entire exercise. Nothing heard on 80m. 40m was open throughout the exercise
  • VDEM should set a single procedure for passing ICS traffic—FLMSG or WordPad
  • VDEM should maintain a digital NCS throughout an exercise.
  • Need to improve FLDIGI support at the EOC

David, KG4GIY running the SimCell
David, KG4GIY running the SimCell

In all, the exercise was a success from the PWCARES perspective, although I would say it was less than successful from a section level. Because they did not pass traffic, there was no indication of how the traffic would flow or if the net would be able to handle it. Traffic sent to the section from PWCARES was not transferred.

Thanks to the cadre for their participation and to Andy, KJ4MTP, for the photos.

July Training After Action Report

On Saturday, July 16, 2016, PWCARES conducted our regular training outside at the Prince William County government facility. During this training we did two things:

  • Learned how to remotely control a station using TeamViewer[1], remote control software
  • Practice digital communications with FLDIGI

Remote Control

Chuck, KA3EHL, demonstrated how to remotely control a radio. The use case for this is in case we have to use HF, but we cannot run wires. For example, at the EOC, where the building has to remain secure. There are two parts to the system.

Chuck working the remote station
Chuck working the remote station

 

The first part is the remote system, a laptop running Windows and the TeamViewer software. The second part is the host station, connected to the HF radio, running TeamViewer software, and additional digtial software and radio control softwere. Chuck’s radio, an IC–7200,[2] comes with control software, but you could easily use FLRIG if your radio supports it. Chuck demonstrated sending a message with FLDigi, set to the Olivia[3] transmission protocol.

The HF host machine and HF rig
The HF host machine and HF rig

 

This is possible by setting up a BBHN[4] mesh network. TeamViewer needs a network connection, whether that connection is a Local Area Network (LAN), an Internet connection or a BBHN mesh connection. Chuck had flashed two Linksys routers with the BBHN software and connected each laptop to the router. Each router was powered by its own battery, but could be powered by commercial mains if available. He then sent a message which was received and responded to by Larry, K0LB, and was also seen at Tom, W4PIO’s station on the other end of the field.

Tom, W4PIO, working HF
Tom, W4PIO, working HF

 

Chuck’s full presentation is posted to the PWCARES website in Operating Procedures[5].

Digital Exercise

The second part of the exercise was the sending and receiving of messages using FLDigi. This exercise utilized the standard setup for FLDigi in a VHF environment[6]. We had a couple of team members operating from their home station as well as some in the field. There was a combination of radios and laptops and as we have discovered in the past, just bcause it worked yesterday, it may not work today. Each problem was worked through as it came up, and some problems will require a bit more research.

Members of PWCARES getting ready for the next exercise (Photo: A. Lenhart
Members of PWCARES getting ready for the next exercise (Photo: A. Lenhart)

 

Thanks to those who came out and those who partcipated from home.


  1. You can use TeamViewer for non-commercial purposes for no charge.  ↩
  2. Details about the IC–7200.  ↩
  3. Details about the Oliva protocol from Wikipedia.  ↩
  4. Details about broadband-hamnet  ↩
  5. A quick link to Chuck’s presentation.  ↩
  6. As detailed in Section 6.11 of the PWCARES Action Plan.  ↩