Members of the Coconino County Amateur Radio Club (CARC) in Arizona activated on July 21 as winds accelerated the Museum Fire beyond 50 acres, triggering the activation of the county’s EOC. Members of the club, many of them ARES volunteers, staffed the EOC.

“The club has a great working relationship with Coconino County,” said CARC’s Public Information Officer Dan Shearer, N7YIQ. “CARC’s ARES component has a dedicated position in the EOC structure and has assisted on many incidents over the last few years, providing communications to field personnel when cell and radio coverage is limited or nonexistent.” Shearer said Amateur Radio equipment and antennas are stored at the EOC, and CARC members have been trained to set it up and have everything operational within an hour of activation.

The fire grew larger than 500 acres and became a top fire-fighting priority. A Type 1 Incident Management Team took over the fire-fighting effort late on July 22, and more than 12 Hotshot crews (teams highly trained in all aspects of fire management), fire engines, water tenders, and aircraft were engaged in suppressing the blaze. Residents in some neighborhoods were ordered to evacuate, although no homes and structures were lost.

There were fears that the fire might overrun communications sites on Mount Elden, which include public service, private, and Amateur Radio repeaters. “The loss of one or both of these complexes would have been catastrophic,” Shearer said. CARC members were prepared for the risk and quickly assembled spare equipment, including extra radios and repeaters. Air tankers dropped many loads of fire retardant around the repeater sites, and the exceptional work of the fire crews prevented the fire from running up the slopes to the complexes, Shearer said.

The Coconino Amateur Radio Club is an ARRL Affiliated Club with about 50 members. Its large ARES component regularly trains and conducts SKYWARN and ARES nets weekly.

“CARC personnel provided well over 250 hours in support of the Museum Fire disaster response and in direct support of the joint EOC,” Shearer said, adding that the EOC professional team and Arizona Governor Doug Ducey expressed their appreciation to CARC operators when the governor visited the fire operations.

The ARRL Board of Directors, committees and administrative staff have focused on enhancing the venerable ARES program. A major ARES Plan was adopted, providing new direction going forward. A standardized training plan was adopted and a new ARES Emergency Communicator Individual Task Book was approved and published.

Last month, the Board considered the report of its Public Service Enhancement Working Group (PSEWG). A “change log” is proposed for the Task Book that will highlight changes made as the book is periodically revised and updated. ARES position guidelines were posted to the on-line ARES workbook and major revising and updating of ARRL’s Introduction to Emergency Communications course (now designated as IS-001) has been completed. [The course is now available at no cost to any ARES registrant, and a “tutorless” format has been added as a parallel path for completing the course. Additional tutors were successfully recruited to help handle the huge initial interest as the changes were extremely well-received by the field organization. A “challenge” path directly to the final exam is also being implemented.] Similar updating and introduction of IS-016 – Public Service and Emergency Communications Management for Radio Amateurs — will follow in the next few months.

The ARRL HQ staff has brought veteran Ohio Section Manager Scott Yonally, N8SY, on board to assist in the implementation of ARES Connect and to field questions about the new software package from users.

The League’s Ham Aid program was reviewed, with some modest revisions to procedures. Most recently, the PSEWG has begun its examination of the future role of the League’s National Traffic System in concert with ARES. A brief survey of selected SMs, STMs and SECs is to provide a beginning point for a more extensive analysis of the program. This review and evaluation is expected to be a major part of the PSEWG’s efforts in the upcoming months.

A Board Ad Hoc EmComm Manager Requirements Report specifies the job requirements of a new position at ARRL HQ — Director of Emergency Management — who will lead a team responsible for supporting the ARES program and will work with HQ staff to develop standards, protocols, and processes designed to support the Field Organization.

We just finished the 2018 Stagecoach Run. This is a 100-mile run from Flagstaff to Tusayan along the Arizona Trail. Yes, people run 100-miles. I’ll do another article on the race itself. This article is about emergency communications.

Last year I did this race from the Watson Tank aid station. I used the equipment described in this series of articles. It worked well, so I expected no problems this year.

This year I planned to use my TYT-7800 cross-bander to assist in communicating according to the band plan. I was going to use the Baofeng UV-2501 as a back up. There is a saying, however, about the best laid plans. An equipment failure caused me to MacGyver-up.

On the WARC Facebook page, I described an incident on Wednesday, August 8. I was assigned to conduct the ARES net. I intended to use a mobile on vehicle power as an emergency power test because I was on a camping trip. As it turned out, my power cord broke for the mobile and I did not bring my spare. I was a bit frustrated until I remembered that I always carry an antenna adapter to attach my HT to my vehicle mag-mount. From my location in the Kaibab Forest, I could not get into the 146.980 repeater on Mount Elden with even the extended antenna. I connected my BF-F9 (pictured is the Baofeng UV-82HP) to my mag-mount and was able to get into the repeater and conduct the net without a problem on the ultimate emergency power source. The HT warmed up some, but performed good. I also carry one in my go kit. You never know when you will need it.

As I traveled to the 2018 Stagecoach Run Watson Tank aid station, my power cord that fits in the accessory port fried. I switched to simplex and, apparently, the radio switched to high power. I normally run on a low power setting. This probably fried the power cord.

I thought I had it covered as I has a spare power cord. I found out, to my dismay, that I did not have a ready spare. I did, however, have an old power cord that was previously damaged and that I previously fixed. That fix broke and I had to redo an old fix that I used before. The problem was that I did not bring the proper material to fix it.

I needed connectors. The type used to splice wires together that I call blade connectors. They are commonly found at hardware and auto parts stores. I thought I had some of these, but did not. One of the members of the aid station fortunately had some. I connected some on the ends of the accessory plug and slide them into the power cord for the UV-2501.

Some of these connectors are tight and they are hard to remove from the power cord when you get a replacement. These connectors went on and off without a problem. So I can use this power cord in an emergency.

I set up the equipment as I did before. We were able to communicate through the Bill Williams Mountain Radio Club 146.780 repeater.

Another problem was the adapter for my Baofeng-to-mag mount antenna broke. It was the type with the pig tail which I usually do not use. The simple recommendation is use the straight adapter, which I normally use I did remember to take extra adapters, so this was not a problem.

This is what makes working community events important. People seem to go on with life ignoring the possibility of disaster. Until Florence hits. Until a major snow storm hits knocking out power and phone for days and preventing travel. Until the day when you need to call for help.

Every problem in a non-critical situation is a chance for you to learn how to toughen up your system when it is needed in a critical situation. You can also pay attention to the situation around you and see what worked and did not work in the communications link. Did some stations have to use a repeater instead of simplex? Did batteries die because some did not charge them up the night before?

As I drove to Flagstaff to give an amateur radio lecture, I was drawn to Bellemont. I was called to Route 66 to a place where the asphalt turns red and it disappears into the forest. Was it some sort of space aliens attracting me to this desolate spot?

Well, close. Actually Ron Gerlak KG7OH called on the Bill Williams Repeater and invited me to go. Actually he invited anyone to come and check out the trailers set up by the Coconino Amateur Radio Club and Northern Arizona DX Association as part of the Route 66 On the Air event.

The overall event is sponsored by the Citrus Belt Amateur Radio Club in San Bernardino, CA. You can find operating frequencies and QSL card information at their web site.

The Northern Arizona DX Association make up special event call signs W6S and W6T. If you make contact with all four segments of the event, you can obtain QSL cards that make up a make of the Mother Road. They are using frequencies on Phone and SSB in the 6-meter through 80-meter bands. They are also using CW and digital modes.

If you do not have an HF rig, you can listen in through sofware defined radio (SDR) on the Internet. These radios are in various locations and use various antennas, so you can search through several and try the frequencies for Route 66 On the Air.

Sometimes size does not matter when it comes to antennas. Propagation is dependent on many factors. It is, of course, important to have a good antenna and standing wave ratio (SWR) meter and antenna tuner. The last two items protect your equipment. Even if your equipment cuts off when a certain standing wave ratio is reached, equipment safeties can fail.

This site has just started. Give me a minute to work on it, will ya?