August 2002

1. THE UNION COUNTY (N.C.) ARES/RACES MISSION STATEMENT:

To provide Amateur Radio based, noncommercial, communications service in Union County, North Carolina area during times of disaster, commercial communication failure or other emergency situations.

2. INTRODUCTION TO ARES/RACES:

2.1 The Union County, North Carolina organization of the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) is comprised of Amateur Radio operators who are licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and have voluntarily registered their capabilities and equipment for public service communications.

2.2 Union County ARES is an element of the American Radio Relay League’s (ARRL) Public Service Field Organization

2.3 Union County ARES functions under this Emergency Communications Plan and the direction of the Union County ARES Emergency Coordinator (EC). The EC shall be appointed by the ARRL’s North Carolina Section Emergency Coordinator (SEC).

2.4 An Amateur Radio (ham) operator’s registration in ARES will also register the operator with the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES).

2.5 Union County RACES exists under Subpart E of part 97.401 of the FCC rules an regulations. RACES functions under this FCC regulation, this Emergency Communications Plan, and the direction of the Union County RACES Officer. The Union Co. RACES Officer shall be nominated by the Union Co. ARES EC, but officially appointed by the director of the Union Count Office of Emergency Management.

2.6 The ARES Emergency Coordinator may appoint one or more Assistant Emergency Coordinators (AEC) sufficient to function efficiently as an ARES/RACES unit.

3. PURPOSE OF THIS PLAN:

3.1 The purpose of this plan is to provide a written guide containing the minimum information that would be needed in an emergency. Each emergency is different and flexibility to provide adequate response to each situation is a necessity. The interface with each agency which could request ARES/RACES services is different with different requirements. To meet these varied requirements, each agency will be requested to assist in developing their Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) with ARES/RACES. The MOU will specifically address the interface between the two organizations as well as the available capabilities and resources offered by ARES/RACES.

3.2 The emergency drills and training specified in this plan are to be used to develop operator proficiency in response and communication

3.3 The following agencies could be served during a communications emergency:

• Union County Office of Emergency Management
• Union County Sheriff’s Office
• Union County Emergency Medical Service (EMS)
• American Red Cross, Union County
• National Weather Service, Greenville-Spartanburg Office
• Union County Regional Medical Center
• Salvation Army
• State Emergency Response Team (SERT)
• Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
• Any other department or agency requiring and/or requesting assistance

4. ACTIVATION PROCEDURES:

4.1 Any ARES/RACES member who suspects a communication emergency exists should MONITOR his or her assigned frequency for activity (reference 5.2).

4.2 If telephone service is available the EC and/or AEC(s) should be notified of an emergency by a served agency by phone (reference Appendix A for phone numbers).

4.3 The District Emergency Coordinator (DEC) for the Western Branch Area 12 will be notified of activities and if any assistance is needed (reference Appendix A for phone numbers).

4.3 The requesting agency should use the following order of contact precedence when requesting ARES/RACES activation:

a. The requesting agency or service should attempt to first contact the ARES Emergency Coordinator

 

b. If the Emergency Coordinator is unavailable, proceed by calling the Assistant Emergency Coordinator(s) or other ARES/RACES Officers until one is reached.

c. If a member of ARES/RACES can not be contacted using "normal" communications facilities, The Sheriff or Monroe City Police should be requested to contact the ARES EC or an AEC.

d. If all attempts have failed, please contact the District Emergency Coordinator (DEC) or the Section Emergency Coordinator (SEC) to initiate the request.

 

4.5 After making initial contact with an ARES/RACES member, the requesting agency is responsible for communicating the necessary information for ARES/RACES to activate and effectively mobilize for the emergency. See the served agency’s Memorandum Of Understanding in Appendix D for specific details about the information that is required.

After the initial contact, the requesting agency/services’ responsibility is fulfilled and they should continue with their normal duties in the emergency. The first ARES/RACES member contacted is responsible for beginning the ARES/RACES mobilization procedures presented below.

4.6 A list of Union Co. ARES/RACES members shall be kept on file by the ARES leadership. This list will be used to generate the "Alert List" used to activate ARES/RACES members during an emergency situation. See Appendix B for a copy of the Union County "Alert List".

5. ARES/RACES MOBILIZATION PROCEDURES:

5.1 If telephone service is available, use telephone activation.

5.2 All Union County ARES/RACES mobilization efforts via radio will be coordinated on the primary call up frequency. The primary call up frequency for Union County is the NC4UC repeater on 145.390 MHz (-600 / 94.8 tone). In the event of a repeater failure, monitor the simplex frequency 146.520.

5.3 After assembling the ARES/RACES unit on the primary call up frequency for Union County, an ARES/RACES official (or station acting on behalf of a ARES/RACES official) may spawn additional tactical nets to meet the needs of the emergency relief and recovery efforts. Some of the frequencies that may be used during an emergency include:

• 145.390 MHz (- / 94.8 tone) repeater (NC4UC)
• 444.425 MHz (+/ 94.8 tone) repeater (NC4UC) Linked to 145.390
• 146.520 MHz simplex
• 145.010 MHz (MON7NC) UCARS Packet Digipeater for formal traffic
• 145.350 MHz (-) repeater (WA4AOS) Charlotte ARES SKYWARN Net
• 445.900 MHz simplex
• 3.927/3.923 MHz State EOC/EM statewide (Tarheel Emergency Net)
• 7.232 MHz State EOC/EM (Tarheel Emergency Net 40m Backup)

6. DUTIES OF THE NET CONTROL STATION (NCS):

6.1 The main duties of the NCS is to insure the ARES/RACES nets are run in an orderly fashion, to help eliminate confusion on communication networks, and to coordinate the flow of traffic as required.

6.2 Where possible, traffic leaving a tactical net shall be written in ARRL message format or other specified protocol as deemed fitting by the served agency or department. See Appendix D for a sample of message formats.

6.3 All internal or outgoing messages must carry the signature of the person originating the message and their title or office. (Example: John Smith, Emergency Management).

6.4 The contents of any message handled by Amateur Radio are not to be divulged to any unauthorized persons.

6.5 Message precedence as defined by the ARRL will be used. They are ranked in the following order:

• EMERGENCY (E) - Any message dealing with life and/or death urgency to any person or group which is transmitted in the absence of regular commercial facilities.

• PRIORITY (P) - Any important message having a specific time limit, official messages that are not covered by the emergency category, press dispatches and emergency related traffic but not of utmost urgency,

• WELFARE (W) - Any message that refers to an inquiry as to the health and welfare of an individual in the disaster area or an advisory update from the disaster area that indicates all is well.

• ROUTINE (R) - Any message not meeting the above criteria or any message of a routine (day to day) type nature.

6.6 The NCS is responsible for taking check-ins as needed to meet the needs of the disaster operation and/or ARES/RACES activation requirements. Traffic listed shall be categorized by precedence and moved as soon as possible, with Emergency and Priority traffic taking top precedence.

6.7 Participating stations should be instructed by the Net Control Station NOT TO TRANSMIT unless asked or if they have information that is of urgent importance for the net (emergency or priority traffic from other nets or agencies, urgent announcements, etc.).

6.8 WELFARE precedence traffic SHOULD NOT BE PASSED until authorized by the EC. The EC will not authorize this traffic to be accepted (unless it is of an emergency nature) until all normal emergency communication requirements have been satisfied and are functioning efficiently. The point during an emergency when WELFARE traffic will be allowed is at the discretion of the EC.

6.9 The phrase "BREAK" should only be used to indicate an operator has emergency traffic. NCS will recognize the EMERGENCY traffic immediately and handle that traffic first.

6.10 The NCS shall keep a log of the net including the number of check-ins, net duration, who checked in, and notes on critical items handled. This log will be provided to the EC as soon as possible following the emergency closure.

6.11 Net Control Stations (NCS) may use any preamble and net procedure(s) that appropriately meet the needs of the emergency. A sample NCS preamble can be found in Appendix E of this plan.

7. DUTIES OF THE MEMBER STATIONS:

7.1 Such public service communications are furnished without compensation or other remuneration of any kind to ARES/RACES or any Amateur Radio Operator.

7.2 The main duty of an ARES/RACES member station is to provide a communication link for the served organization. The ARES/RACES member may be stationed at a location which is the control of any of the served agencies during an emergency (i.e. Red Cross, Salvation Army, local government agencies, FEMA, etc.). While performing these duties, the ARES/RACES station will work closely with on-site agency members to communicate information to and from their site.

7.3 A major responsibility for an ARES/RACES member is to be prepared to provide emergency communications. Preparation activities include attending local area training events, participation in ARES/RACES and National Traffic System (NTS) nets, making use of self study material, and organizing personal equipment for use during emergency conditions.

7.4 Where possible, traffic leaving a tactical net shall be written in ARRL message format or other specified protocol as deemed appropriate by the served agency or department. See Appendix D for an example of this message format. The ARES/RACES operator should become familiar with these forms and how to use them.

7.5 The ARES/RACES operator should become familiar with the ARRL message precedence system used by the ARRL Nation Traffic System. These precedence descriptions are specified in Section 6.5 of this document.

7.6 Member stations should follow the instructions of their EC, AEC, DEC, SEC, or NCS to the best of their ability. This could be a request of the member station to travel to a location in Union County or one of the surrounding areas to provide a vital communications link for an ARES/RACES net. These requests will however, be for voluntary participation and if unable to safely and timely meet the request, the member shall indicate that they will not be able to accept the assignment so the task can be reassigned.

8. DRILLS, TESTS AND TRAINING:

8.1 An annual test will be conducted in the October time frame and in conjunction with ARRL's nationwide and/or Area 12’s Simulated Emergency Test (SET).

8.2 An annual event known as "Field Day" is sponsored by the ARRL. This event provides an opportunity for members of ARES/RACES to enhance their operating skills under adverse conditions (using noncommercial power, operating from a temporary location, improvised antenna and station construction, etc.).

8.3 Emergency drills are regularly conducted by both the McGuire and Catawba Nuclear Power Stations. The date and requirements for these drills are set by the appropriate authorities and relayed to ARES/RACES by the Union County Office of Emergency Management.

8.4 Training on various emergency preparedness topics will be held at various times throughout each year as available and deemed necessary by the ARES leadership.

1. Member are also encouraged to take part in such HF/VHF/UHF nets as their license class allows in order to become proficient in net operations and traffic handling procedures.

8.6 Training records will be maintained by the EC or such person as he/she may designate. ARES/RACES member stations are urged to maintain a personal record of training activities in which they take part

8.7 All ARES/RACES training will advise operators to tune to proper frequencies during emergency situations.

9. UNION COUNTY ARES ACTIVATION PLAN:

9.1 The point of contact as outlined in a served agency’s Memorandum Of Understanding will contact the Union County Emergency Coordinator (EC) to request an ARES/RACES activation.

9.2 If the EC cannot be reached in a timely manner, the Assistant Emergency Coordinator (AEC) receiving the activation request will contact any other AEC(s) as possible with the objective of coordinating a Resource Net.

9.3 The Resource Net will normally make use of VHF and/or UHF Amateur Radio Frequencies.

As two of the primary served agencies in Union County, NC the Office of Emergency Management and American Red Cross are being requested to Review and Sign off on this plan. Each served agencies including the Office of Emergency Management and American Red Cross will be requested to assist in the development of a Memorandum Of Understanding between themselves and Union Co. ARES/RACES. These MOU’s will be included in appendix D and become a part of this Emergency Plan.

__________________________________________________ Date:_______________

Union County ARES Emergency

Coordinator

__________________________________________________ Date:_______________

Union County Office of Emergency

Management Director

__________________________________________________ Date:_______________

Union County American Red Cross

Director Emergency and Volunteer Services

American Radio Relay League’ National Traffic System (NTS) Form: