Subject: After the Hurricane

Presentation for ARES Institute,
National Naval Medical Center,
Bethesda, MD January 10, 1998

"My Elmer's Name Was Hugo..." Jim Freeman, N3OHS

Just because you have a deep-cycle battery to power your 2-meter mobile
or portable HF rig, an "Energizer Bunny pack," a couple spare sets of
AAs for your dual-band hand-held, telescoping Hot Rod, a canteen of
water and a fanny pack full of MREs, doesn't mean that you are ready to
be an emergency communicator.

ARES and RACES do not respond as individuals, but as part of a team
providing a coordinated response.  For Pete's sake don't pack up and
drive to North Carolina, expecting to be welcomed with open arms.  If
you report to a disaster area untrained, with your hand held and an
ego, without being part of a coordinated response, you not be welcome,
but probably considered in the way and not appreciated.

Emergency managers need to know that you know where you belong, who you
report to, what you are doing and that YOU know what you are doing.  To
interface effectively with served agencies, ARES / RACES is integrated
into local disaster plans prior to an event.  Once activated, RACES is
part of the emergency response team.  You stay on your "comm"
assignment until someone comes to relieve you.  This is because you
have made a greater commitment than the guy who just wandered in.
 
Do not initiate traffic INTO an affected area, offering to help.  But,
there is something everyone can do, regardless of their skill level or
physical condition.  Moving one piece of outbound traffic on the status
of a family can avoid ten incoming queries from relatives seeking their
status.  So DO MONITOR nets near the affected area.  If net control
needs outlets for traffic, you know how to pass traffic and can assist,
then respond! Keep your local EC or OES advised of storm changes or
requests for assistance and provide updates.  The Red Cross wants HF
monitoring stations to compile status reports to send on packet to
their disaster operations center at ARC National HQ.  Retired or
disabled operators can make a valuable contribution here.  (If you know
someone who can assist ARC in this area, please contact Don Mahan,
KD4WGV).

In a disaster license class doesn't matter.  In an emergency you must
use whatever assets are available to get the job done.  The no-coder
who can keyboard data can pass more packet traffic in a second than the
best brass pounder in the world will in a minute.  But, as K4EC will
attest, when the propagation is really lousy, CW gets through "when
nothing else will."

Disaster response cannot be done just with us "old guys." We need to
recruit young amateurs who have stamina for moving supplies, setting up
tents and equipment, or shadowing busy officials in the field.  Some
tasks are difficult for hams over 50, the majority of amateurs in our
shrinking community.  Some of us are more useful at fixed locations,
where our experience, technical skill and maturity are advantages.

ARES mutual assistance teams must have durable clothing which is warm
when wet, sturdy rain gear, hard hat, gloves, safety boots, drinking
water, food, shelter and self- contained, portable radio equipment with
backup generators and tools to be self sufficient for at least a week,
so that they don't place added demands upon limited local food, water,
shelter and fuel supplies.  Response by local government and civilian
relief agencies may take 24 to 48 hours depending upon distance,
transport and local conditions.  While today, coordination is much
better between local and State governments, FEMA, Red Cross and relief
agencies than it was after Hugo and Andrew, you should still prepare
for the worst.

After hurricane Hugo we lost ALL of our amateur, commercial, public
safety repeaters and telephone service for FOURTEEN DAYS! Later, hams
shadowed National Guard, Red Cross and power company, but early on were
on our own for a week and actually had to dispatch police, fire and EMS
on 2 meters.

Nobody is truly prepared for an Andrew or Hugo.  The places that get to
practice a lot are "more ready" than we are here, in the D.C.  area. 
We seldom get "hit," but we must be prepared to assist other areas that
don't have adequate local resources to handle a major storm alone
without outside help from other amateurs.

Any severe weather has the potential for serious consequences.  Every
family member needs sturdy shoes, hat and rain gear, wool blanket,
flashlight and to know where the first aid kit and water containers
are, and to fill them before the storm hits.  If your loved ones don't
have adequate food, water, clothing and shelter to last through a storm
and its aftermath, you'll only add to the problem that agencies we
serve have to deal with.

Be prepared to lose electric power for more than "just a few days."
Public water supplies will be contaminated and unsafe for drinking, so
boil everything.  Food not refrigerated spoils in 2-3 days if not kept
below 45 degrees, so use a thermometer, trust your instincts and your
nose.  Keep at home a week's supply nonperishable canned or packaged
food which can be eaten cold, without further preparation.

After a hurricane even getting out of your driveway may be tough. 
Imagine tree damage after the worst ice storm you can remember and
multiply that several times, throw in high water, structural damage to
buildings, broken glass, debris, downed limbs and power lines, loss of
telephone service, the Internet and most amateur, commercial or public
safety repeaters.  The more severe the storm the longer it takes to get
basic services back.

People who haven't experienced a major hurricane may think they can
ride out the storm, refuse to leave their homes and realize their error
too late.  Most hurricane casualties are very young, very old, or
handicapped who are caught alone without anyone at home to care for
them, because family members are at work or school and can't get home,
or "cowboys" out looking for thrills or to be heroes.  NEVER go out
into the storm unless assigned to shadow police, fire, EMS, damage
assessment or surface hydrology teams.  Then, follow all of their
instructions and prescribed safety procedures.

Make suitable evacuation arrangements for your family.  Emphasize that
they should obey instructions from public safety officials, but also
pre-arrange a safe place to meet if anyone can't get home and there is
little prior warning.  Get to know your neighbors and watch out for
each other's elderly parents and kids.  Arrange for an out of state
friend or relative to accept collect calls from family members, who
know they are to call once they are safely evacuated.

After the storm, if any phones still work, pay phones probably will, as
will candy and snack machines which don't require AC power.  You may be
able to call OUT of a disaster area when local or incoming ones don't
go through, so be sure to have ample change in your kit.

Most hurricane damage isn't caused by high winds, but by high water.  A
storm surge which occurs 4-5 hours before the storm center hits floods
virtually everything below 10 feet above sea level.  Not only does this
require mass evacuations of coastal areas and sheltering of people, but
it also means that your emergency equipment must be stored well above
ground, near likely shelter sites where you will need it.

You don't want your generator, extra coax, fuel and deep cycle
batteries in the basement or first floor of a building within the
100-year flood plain or have to move it across town to set up a shelter
or other location.  This seems like common sense, but during Hugo
we were unable to use equipment which had been staged on the first
floor of a warehouse, where the only approach was through "choke
points" blocked by high water, abandoned cars, downed trees and power
lines, and which then flooded...

Hams trained in map, compass, GPS and APRS are valuable assets.  This
is because responders from outside the local area, will get lost,
because street signs and landmarks are obliterated.  Lots of amateurs
equipped with mobile rigs and mag mount antennas will be needed as
"shadows," and to provide backup communications for utility companies
and private relief agencies whose land mobile radios are not compatible
with those of your local public safety agencies.  KE4SKY likes to say
that HT's are little better than baby monitors on simplex, but you will
still find plenty of use for spare HTs and mag mounts to loan officials
who want to monitor your traffic and to replace lost or broken ones.

For emergency power the only answer is REDUNDANCY! Your nicad packs
will be depleted in three days unless you have AC power or generators
to run the chargers.  So, you better have a AA battery case.  Then your
alkaline batteries will probably run out, no matter how many you have,
so you better have a fused cord to power your HT or mobile from a car
or gel cell battery.  It is wasteful to run your automobile engine for
ten minutes every hour to keep the battery charged for running the
radio.

The least expensive option is to buy a battery box with carrying strap,
large enough to hold a deep cycle battery, charger and cords to connect
to your radios.  Another is to install a dual-battery system in a
vehicle, having an external voltage regulator and isolation circuitry
obtained from a marine or RV supplier to isolate the starting battery
from the "comm" battery.

One deep cycle battery is not enough for emergency power, unless it is
a MONSTER! After Hugo I used a 220 amp-hour "stationary" battery, 175
pounds, the size of a GI foot locker, of the type used on a work boat. 
That was enough, but you won't find one at Trak Auto and you can't even
move one without 3 people to help.  I recommend not less than two deep
cycle batteries, each capable of powering your station for eight hours. 
Alternate one to power the radios, while trickle charging the other.

To determine how big a battery you need, take the current load in amps
times the duty cycle in percent, times 150 percent.  For instance, a
100w HF rig uses about 20 amps during transmit and two amps in receive. 
If you assume a duty cycle of 25 percent, that means 2 hours of
transmit require 40 amp-hours, plus 6 hours receive/standby uses 2
amp-hours, which totals 52 amp hours.  Then adding a 50% safety factor
means that 78 amp-hours is required for just ONE of our two batteries
used in rotation.

Lets look at a 50-watt VHF mobile.  Typical current load is 10 amps on
transmit and 2 amps on receive.  So at 25% duty cycle over 8 hours: 10
amps transmit for two hours requires 20 amp hours; plus 2 amps during
receive times 6 hours equals 12 amp-hours, which totals 32 amp-hours,
plus a 50 percent safety factor requires 48 amp hours, this again, for
ONE of two batteries in eight hour rotation, when you can trickle
charge.

It is true that an HT, laptop and packet TNC don't require that much
"juice," but how much DO they need? An HT at 5 watts needs about 2 amps
on transmit and amp on receive, so at 25% duty cycle, 2 amps times
2 hours requires four amp-hours, plus amp on receive times six
hours adds up to 3 amp-hours, then the laptop PC and TNC, if efficient,
together need only 2 amps, but run continuously, so require 16
amp-hours which totals to 23 amp-hours plus 50% safety factor rounds up
to 35 amp hours, I say again, this is for ONE of TWO batteries.

Limiting your emergency power to batteries only postpones the
inevitable.  This is because when the power goes off, that 150
amp-hours won't last more than a few days if you can't recharge them. 
That means you must ALSO have either portable generators and fuel, a
solar- powered trickle charging apparatus, muscle- powered dynamo and
regulating mechanism or some other means, is entirely "off the grid." A
20 watt solar panel such as Siemen's SM20 can maintain a 100 ah deep
cycle battery, weighs 5.5 lbs., is 22"x13" and costs around $250.

If you buy a home generator, be darned sure to get one with enough
capacity.  Total the AC wattage needed to run your radios, lights,
battery chargers and refrigerator.  An efficient portable generator
produces about 600w at 120 volts AC for each engine horsepower.  A
small 3.5 HP generator is relatively inexpensive and can be carried by
one person, but it produces only about 2 kw.  That's enough for a
modest emergency station, one VHF mobile, a laptop PC and TNC, one or
two lights, a couple small battery chargers, and nothing else.  It
won't heat your coffee while using the radio, let alone power an
external 150w VHF amplifier, HF rig (unless it's QRP) or a portable
repeater.

About 4.5 kW is minimum generator recommended for an adequate command
station and its necessary ancillary equipment.  A generator of this
size has an 8 HP engine, weighs 175-200 pounds, is rated for 32 amps at
120 volts and runs 8 to 10 hours on 5 gallons of gas.  Yes, it is great
for Field Day! And even a military surplus 10-12kW generator isn't too
much, but requires strong people and a truck to move it around and
consumes a lot more fuel.  Fill Jerry cans early while there is still
power to run the pumps.  Use a wooden dip-stick to check all generator
fuel tanks on a fixed schedule and always top them off well before they
run out.

NEVER connect a portable generator to the house wiring.  Small
generators aren't designed for that.  Large industrial units designed
to run from the power-take-off unit on a piece of heavy equipment can
do that when equipped with a transfer switch to prevent dangerous "back
feed" when the AC mains come back up, but hooking these big guys up is
a serious job for a licensed electrician, public works or the power
company.

If you don't know what you are doing, stay away from generators,
because a screw up can cause a fire or electrocution! Never run a
generator in standing water or work on the generator or feed lines
while standing on wet ground.  Ensure adequate grounding of your
generator system as well as your "comm" equipment.  Never run a
generator inside an enclosed building unless adequate ventilation can
be assured to vent carbon monoxide and fumes.  Stand a fire and gear
watch on all of your equipment around-the-clock, otherwise it may be
damaged, or "commandeered" while you are asleep! Be especially cautious
of the fire danger caused by electrical shorts, gas leaks, fireplaces,
stoves, water heaters, tipped over lanterns, candles, etc.

I recommend building "pedal generators." These originated with the
Imperial Japanese Army and were copied by the British during WWII. 
They are still common in Africa and Asia and are home-built from a
discarded bicycle frame and automobile alternator, using a battery to
stabilize the alternator output.  One of these will maintain a large
deep cycle battery indefinitely if you have enough candy bars and kids
to rotate on 20 minute shifts.  Every county should build a half dozen
of these to distribute for RACES.  Encourage scout troops and high
school industrial arts classes to build them.  They are really great tp
attract crowds for Field Day and special event stations.

My final advise is work smarter, not harder.  You don't need to
practice to be uncomfortable.  Your best defense not to ignore the
chaos around you, but to acknowledge that it will be dark, wet, cold,
crowded, noisy and you will be tired and uncomfortable, so join the
club.  If you realize that you aren't the Lone Ranger out there, but
part of a team, you draw support from them to stay focussed on your
"comm" mission.

73 de Tex