DRT Says "Thank You!" to PPRAA
-- by Wes Wilson, KØHBZ
Emergency Coordinator/RACES Officer
Colorado ARES/RACES Disaster Response Team
On behalf of the Colorado ARES/RACES Disaster Response Team (DRT), I would like to extend a heartfelt "Thank You!' to the PPRAA membership who voted (Oct. 12 meeting) a very generous contribution to the ARES Deployment Fund to help offset expenses incurred during our deployment to the Gulf coast to provide emergency communication support in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Our six-member unit was made up of Dean Haskins (KAØPII); Mike Allen (NØMIK), Paul Garvey (KØBLM), Pat Kelly (KCØMIR), Tom Dawson (KCØNRZ) and myself. All were anxious to go and willing to pay our own expenses for the opportunity to field test our emergency communication skills, training and equipment and help provide communication relief in areas devastated by this powerful storm.
DRT home-based support was provided by Sid White (K4ARM) and Mike Stansberry (KØTER) with additional logistical and coordination support from our Colorado Section Manager Jeff Ryan (KØRM) and Section Emergency Coordinator Rob Roller (N7LV).
We took four vehicles - Pat's 33' motorhome (shelter/communications), my truck and 18' camper trailer (shelter/communications) and two pickup/SUV-type vehicles - one towing the solar-powered portable repeater and the other towing a flatbed trailer with antennas, support masting, coax, generators, gas, other equipment and supplies. The trip took us over 3,000 miles and fuel alone was - by far - our greatest expense, coming to a total of just under $3,200.
We were requested by Gary Stratton, K5GLS, the ARRL Louisiana Section Emergency Coordinator (SEC). We met up with Gary in Covington, Louisiana, on our first night there and worked with him off and on over the next six days.
Our trip took us to Covington, Louisiana; across the Mississippi River to Gulfport and Ocean Springs, Mississippi; back to Slidell and Pearl River, Louisiana; then across the 34-mile Causeway over Lake Pontchartrain into New Orleans. We crossed back and forth across the most-affected area of the Gulf coast where the eye-wall of Katrina made landfall and caused the most devastation. It was like being in a war zone. As Mike Allen (NØMIK) said, "Life in these areas is like living in a third-world country" - often no power, telephone, potable water, and fuel was - at times - scarce or hard to find.
We were given new assignments every 24-36 hours and had to break our DRT Base Camp, move to a new location, and set up again - something that was very challenging and frustrating in the 94-97-degree heat with 80-100% humidity. This was an incredible test of our DRT training, equipment and life-skill requirements in a major disaster venue. The constant base camp moving was like having a week-long Field Day in a disaster zone where you had to pack up and relocate your entire operation at least 60 miles every 24-36 hours to a new unfamiliar site - and get set up and operational very quickly. We found our flexibility in equipment, antennas and power options up to the task.
During our trip we provided operator support to the Covington Chapter (St. Tammany Parish, LA) Red Cross headquarters - that was communicating and coordinating with the Covington EOC, their supply distribution center and numerous shelters and feeding operations in surrounding areas.
In Mississippi, our team was split - with Mike, Pat and Paul assigned to the Gulfport EOC where they worked shifts monitoring the amateur frequencies and relaying emergency and priority messages from the amateur frequencies to the various EOC agencies. The other half of our team (Dean, Tom and I) was sent to Ocean Springs, MS, where we provided a much-needed portable repeater for their EOC and Red Cross shelter support operation. In addition we helped with communication at a shelter at St. Paul church and provided some training by introducing several hams to the ICS-213 general message form and discussed other issues. The Gulfport and Ocean Springs operations were winding down, so after about 36 hours, we found ourselves being redeployed back to Louisiana to support Red Cross shelters in Slidell and Pearl River. Upon arrival we found that cell phone coverage was coming back online, so there wasn't much amateur radio requirement. We spent about 24 hours there just to make sure.
FEMA was getting ready to allow New Orleans residents back into the city for a couple of days to check their properties and collect valuables (not to stay). Red Cross was ramping up a major new feeding operation to provide meals for these residents and it looked as if we might actually have a large-scale NEW operation on our hands. Red Cross asked us to assemble a team of at least 10 operators and to stage at an abandoned Wal-Mart store in New Orleans. We picked up two operators from Washington state, one from Texas and another from Louisiana that we had been working with at Covington and deployed our expanded team across the 34-mile causeway over Lake Pontchartrain into New Orleans.
Security was a major concern in New Orleans, so we had to set up a "defensible" DRT base camp by using a 10' security fence with vegetation behind us, then forming our RVs (three at that point) in a "U" shape with room to put our equipment trailers/portable repeater in the center (to discourage theft of generators and spare gas) and close off the "U" with our tow vehicles at night.
Sometime during the day, Red Cross changed their plans and relocated the food supply operation to Baton Rouge - but neglected to notify us - so what had promised to be a valuable support mission turned out to be a 24-hour wild goose chase instead.
On our trip down to the Gulf, we were being passed on the highway by cellular "COWS" (Cellular On Wheels). These are complete portable generator-powered cellular systems that are loaded on flatbed trucks, transported, dropped and set up wherever needed. There is a fierce battle between cellular providers to be the FIRST cellular system back up after a disaster - the winner of that battle has bragging rights that greatly increase their corporate market share and profits. In this event, cellular started coming solidly back on line about the time we arrived - roughly two weeks after landfall. With the fierce competition, this cellular recovery time will certainly decrease as cell providers improve their disaster response capabilities.
One of the biggest lessons learned is that the role and scope of amateur radio emergency communications is changing dramatically as a result of improvements in the cellular industry. Amateur radio must focus on providing communications from the immediate outset until cellular takes over - that was roughly 14 days in this event, and - with advances in cellular disaster preparedness - that number is bound to come down.
I expect, within the next few years, to see "Flying COWs" - portable cellular sites brought in by cargo aircraft and positioned atop buildings and other tall areas by heavy helicopters. This will further reduce the timeframe for amateur operations - perhaps to as little as a few days, or a week.
Amateur radio response was way behind the power curve in Katrina, Rita - and now Hurricane Wilma. When Katrina was approaching the Gulf coast, I sent an inquiry to the DRT membership asking who would be interested and willing to go. We had six members sign up. That information was given to our ARRL Colorado Section Manager Jeff Ryan (KØRM) who relayed our offer to the League. I recommended pre-staging our DRT resources in Little Rock, Arkansas so we would be ready to deploy into the affected area immediately after landfall. Instead - following the ARRL directives - we waited on the process for nearly two weeks before we received ANY deployment request. This is entirely TOO LATE!
Hurricanes are unique as disasters go - because we can see them coming for many days in advance. All disaster response agencies (except amateur radio) use that time to activate and mobilize their resources, identify areas of potential need and pre-stage their resources. It is IMPERATIVE that Amateur radio do the EXACT same thing - the League must develop and administer a program to identify, evaluate, certify and credential amateur radio emergency responders (both individuals and teams) and categorize them based on their training, experience, equipment and capability. We must then have a system to contact these ham responders (or have them contact the League) so they can be pre-staged and ready to deploy immediately when disaster strikes. We can't wait until after a disaster to start this process. Amateur radio emergency response must be proactive not reactive. This is CRITICAL to the future of amateur radio and needs to be a top priority of the ARRL.
Another lesson learned was the value of GPS guided computer navigation. Often we were given only a location name and/or street address where we needed to report. We had to calculate our route and figure out how to get there. What we forget is - in a major disaster - the highway, informational and street signs are no longer there - in fact - often the posts, signal lights or power poles that once held the signs are no longer there (well, not upright, anyway!). Our navigator, Tom Dawson (KCØNRZ) led us directly where we needed to go - time after time - coordinating our caravan navigation on 446.150 simplex.
In addition, while I had been using Pactor I for Winlink E-mail via HF radio to send/receive E-mail in the field, we were able to get our new SCS PTCII-Pro TNCs operational and use the infinitely faster Pactor III language. This served us well for coordinating back to Red Cross HQ, some messaging, and keeping Colorado Section officials and our families updated on our situation and status. Digital is the future of amateur radio emergency communications and the DRT has its own Digital Development Group exploring these emerging technologies, documenting and sharing the results with our members and other ARES/RACES groups.
In addition, with Tom's help, we further developed our computer wireless network so agency personnel with wireless-capable computers can use their normal E-Mail client (like Outlook Express) to create messages on their own computers and upload them to the "Transit" folder in my Airmail software on my HF digital station. Those E-mail messages then are automatically transferred and delivered the next time I connect to a HF Winlink PMBO station. This means that several agency personnel can simultaneously generate their own E-mail messages (and even include attachments!) and upload them via conventional computer wireless to our HF digital station for transmission.
The many lessons learned by the DRT are far to numerous to detail here, however, these lessons will be documented and incorporated back into Colorado ARES/RACES training and be used to help our local emergency communication groups be better equipped and prepared for future emergency operations here in Colorado - or wherever we might be needed.
Again, my sincerest thanks to the PPRAA membership for your help and generous support of this very important learning experience. 73
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Jeff Ryan and Rob Roller (N7LV) stopped by to see the team off. From left: Dean, Tom, Mike, Jeff, Wes, Rob and Pat. Not pictured, Paul Garvey (KØBLM) who deployed a day later.
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We were shocked upon arrival in Covington, LA - the city looked like a war zone. It made it difficult to navigate (especially with our larger RV vehicles).
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DRT members joined local hams for a mission briefing in the communications room of the Covington (LA) Red Cross HQ. The ham in the black shirt (center) is Gary Stratton (K5GLS), ARRL Louisiana Section Emergency Coordinator.
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What good is a handicapped parking sign in a disaster?
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If it survived a category 4 hurricane, it can probably support an 11-element VHF beam! The 20-foot mast was lashed to the sign post using heavy duty zip ties. Slidell Shelter, LA.
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DRT base camp at Ocean Springs, MS. Antennas include V/UHF dual-band and HF screwdriver antennas on top of camper, Cushcraft R-7 (10m-40m) vertical in background. Screwdriver was used for 75m nets and the Cushcraft was used for both HF SSB and digital - Winlink E-mail communication.
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KØHBZ's solar-powered portable repeater ("The Roach") was deployed to support EOC and shelter operations in Ocean Springs, MS. A 46-foot guyed mast was put up to extend range slightly over the 31-foot freestanding mast on the unit. The unit contains a VHF repeater (two frequency pairs) with a UHF link radio, a UHF repeater (two frequency pairs) and a V/UHF packet node/PBBS. Ocean Springs repeaters were all down and hams were delighted to have the repeater as they had been having a frustrating time relaying messages back and forth on simplex. With the repeater, all net stations had direct contact with one another.
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Actually, Wes didn't really back into this lamp post in Ocean Springs, MS - Hurricane Katrina did the damage, Wes just happened to park there.
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Having picked up four additional operators for a special mission into New Orleans, the DRT convoy (now made up of 10 operators in seven vehicles) pulled over after crossing the 34-mile causeway across Lake Pontchartrain and met a local ham for directions to our final destination.