Emergency response Scamp Ham Shack

[computerspook]

Originally Posted by Byron Kinnaman

The answer is YES.
There's been a lot of misconception about RF radiation in the past few years. Unfortunately the term is applied to two types of "radiation" one electromagnetic and the other is "gamma" In simpler terms "non-ionizing" and "Ionizing".

Because of all the misconceptions the FCC has required ham radio operators to do a safety survey if your power output is >100 Watts, thus feeding the misconception.



When sleeping you're NOT transmitting. Even then inside a Scamp with it's four layers of aluminum foil you're pretty well shielded.

Ham it up and enjoy.

Well at 100 watts you do need to start thinking about it. But it really doesn't generally become much of a problem. As you said there is no ionizing issue, so as long as you stay within the limits are are like totally over safe.

Do do exactly what this threat talks about and will make a more general set of comments, but thought I would comment on this part separately. I have a 16 foot scamp. I obviously operate from the back where the table is. The biggest issue is uhf/vhf. I have those antennas operating off my front. I have an eagle one on the back left of my camper. I would be safe sitting on the same side with it, but actually do operated from the right side. If I am going to be in position for very long I also setup other antennas. I have two g5rvs I carry in suit cases and then two buddy poles. I also obviously have the stuff to get them up. All o f this means that just operating from the camper I am fully safe and well within official rules at my 100 watts. Even with say 400 watts I would very well within safety limits.

BUT the limits to others are much more stringent. I do carry caution tape and mark off the rf safety areas with my antennas. Also watch for trip hazards.

[John in Santa Cruz]

if you're really paranoid about RF, you'd have a airstream, and setup a grounding system where you put in ground stakes every few feet all the way around the perimeter

use copper screens on the windows, too, and make sure those are grounded to the exterior skin...

[computerspook]

I have done a lot of disaster and incident response. I have a 16 fot scamp, and one of the reasons I got it was because I got tired of the accommodations at disasters, and the same time realizing I was taking up valuable resources. So let me put in some wisdom here.

First you need to be asked. Getting asked by the government to help is like pretty much impossible. But there are a lot of other groups which are involved in disasters. It helps if you are signed up with the ahead of time. Also you should be signed up with your local ARES group. And train and train and train. Contesting helps with some of this especially if like me you go and contest form other locaitons than your home. But that is just a start. Get NIMS certified that makes it a whole lot more likely that you will be invited as that is alot of times one of their requirements. If you have a local RACES organization then sign up for it. That has meaning. Then when there is an event you can indicate your availability to the people you have already worked with. If there are requests for help they will come through these people. Just showing up will not get you the opportunity to help. If you are involved in a church let your pastor know you are willing to help. And be ready to be help. I have shown up at a number of incidents and been transferred to some other function "you mean you can ...." Incidentally this is also the one way outsiders get into the government side of the response. "Hey we are short handed can we have you", "probably but yalk to my lead" --- "mr/ms lead they kind of need me over there, but I can get a radio message out and get someone else coming." You have brought the contacts for your ARES county and section leader and any RACES management at home with you right

Also you want to not be a burden. You want to be a resource. When I respond even if they have said they don't need a generator I bring a generator with gas for a couple days. I bring several days clothing. I have a week or better's water and food. I my experiences if you have a camper it is not unusual to be sent somewhere to provide communications with a partner and asked to use your resources to help care for him/her. That way they can have 24 hour services.

Bring all your paperwork. Bring copies of your ham license and an laminated one. All the IDs for the organizations which have issued them. You will likely need a reflective vest. Bring plenty of tools. Bring plenty of reading materials as you will likely be mostly sitting. PS NRA and other fire arms based material is sometimes a problem.

As for how I am setup. I have as I said a 16 foot scamp. With a side bathroom/shower. I have a 1993 unit. The power converter was not really that acceptable for the camper itself. So I replaced it with a 60 amp unit. I then feed a 45 amp Power Stream buck and boost 8-18 to 13.8 volt unit which feeds power to my radios. I have a dual band in the camper mounted for convenient use from the back table. The back table/bed has a 10 port anderson power pole power bar. Obviously my radios use power poles. I also have a setup to bring 4 power poles to right under my awning. Always take a table with me. The dual band antenna is on the fron of the camper. I have a Eagle One antenna on the back. I have a cable hatch installed to bring grounding and feed lines into the camper. I use a ft-897 for my hf radio. I also bring two buddy poles and two g5rvs with the stuff to get them setup and the g5rv into trees.

My tow vehicle is also got an dual band rig. No HF, but I may work on that. I carry another dual band rig and several antennas for it both mag mount and string up in a tree type. Lots of tools and parts. And my generator is about 4 times what I need even with air conditioning. If I am not using air conditioning then I only need the generator about an hour twice a day even with heavy use. I have power cords and adapters so I can run other things off the generator. Always change the oil before and after an incident.

Hope this helps

[redbarron55]

Thanks for the information, Ray.
I have almost completed the CERT training with the NIMS training courses.
I am trying to get the ARRL ARES coordinator for the area to respond so that I can get signed up for the ARES training.
I complete the CERT training this weekend so then I will start on the available ARRL /ARES training that can be done without the required mentor etc.
The more frequent major hurricanes recently are an indication that this is a function that we need.
As to the acceptance from the Hurricane handlers the ARRL was asking for volunteers for the response to Michael but there was no response even with completely self contained and able to deploy for at least 7 days as requested from 40 miles away in Navarre.
This is why I am taking the training and getting better set up.
You never know when the site hit will be home.

[computerspook]

Originally Posted by redbarron55

Thanks for the information, Ray.
I have almost completed the CERT training with the NIMS training courses.
I am trying to get the ARRL ARES coordinator for the area to respond so that I can get signed up for the ARES training.
I complete the CERT training this weekend so then I will start on the available ARRL /ARES training that can be done without the required mentor etc.
The more frequent major hurricanes recently are an indication that this is a function that we need.
As to the acceptance from the Hurricane handlers the ARRL was asking for volunteers for the response to Michael but there was no response even with completely self contained and able to deploy for at least 7 days as requested from 40 miles away in Navarre.
This is why I am taking the training and getting better set up.
You never know when the site hit will be home.

You need to get a hold of your ARES leader. If need be contact your section head. The contact information is on the ARRL web site. ARES® – ARRL – Northern Florida Section Lots of really good information here for you.

Even when emergency managment requests people from outside of the area they coordinate these requests through their local contacts in the person's area. So if you responded directly as a person that generally is ignored. That is one reason to get a hold of your ARES leadership. If your county person is not responding get with your section ARES leadership. Contacts are in the above web site.

And in the mean time load up and go do some in the field contesting. Then you will know what you really will need and how to use it when you do it for real.

Lets face it a 16 foot scamp is pretty perfect for the one man in site for a while scenario. Hey if you can come to the Dayton hamvention they have an emergency vehicle exhibit area. Lots of really good ideas there.

[John in Santa Cruz]

a friend of mine is involved with the local ARES group, they do 2-3 field exercises a year where all the regional HAM clubs coordinate from various sites

i'd suggest finding out what local HAM group is involved with ARES, join them, go to a few of their events and get to know the movers and shakers as those are the ones who count, and go to their ARES exercises, they often last 2-3 days. THEN sign up to be on call...

I know the local ARES was /very/ involved in emergency response coordination during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake... many areas around here were without power for a week or more.

edit: ah, here's /our/ local ARES group, http://ares.santa-cruz.ca.us/ and the local HAM club is http://www.k6bj.org/

[Ed Harris]

Agree

Every time I am called up it is from the ARES leaders for my area,it is the only way agencies can really find experienced and qualified operators at all.
So I really like working with SATERN in an incident but they request help through ARES groups to get the ball rolling.

Again though in general no one is interested in a guy in a trailer regardless of how qualified,experienced or well equipped he might be.

Being ready and prepared can only be good but is also only a piece of the whole puzzle to put together to help serve in my experience.

The trailer and tower and repeater I pictured here is a great resource but only gets deployed because the people in charge are aware of it and me from my past involvement in the organizations and processes.

We drill a lot and several times a year run public service events as communicators and this does give us real experience for actual incident response.
We support over 3000 ridders for the Bike MS and have to cover a 60 square mile or so area with only what we can deploy ourselves.We run 3 separate nets for the entire ride and support over 50 vehicles and also use APRS tracking of all of them.
My trailer gets setup 30 miles away from Net Control and provides a UHF link to a cross band full duplex repeater that we built to allow for 2 simultaneous VHF nets to Net Control without needing cans at all.

I have had to use this exact setup in the field during incident response and the practice makes it all much easier to count on for sure.

I ended up in Joplin 2 days after the Tornado and some of the stuff we were tasked with was pretty intense while other things were dull and not challenging at all but each were of equal importance to the job at hand,it does require a certain mindset and commitment to be part of the bigger picture as needed.
I spent 2 days at the back of the FEMA Ice Trailers watching the Ice melt but I also spent weeks convincing folks one at a time that we had enough fresh breakfast for everyone not just the neighbors that they said needed it more than they did.

We also slept on pews in a slanted floored church for a few days and while uncomfortable it sure beat the victims that we aided who were sleeping in the roofless cars they were left with outside in the 100 degree Missouri early summer.

I actually felt guilty at first that I could use my air conditioned egg to rest in luxury while this was going on all around me but once I did move into my own bed I was also a lot more useful to everyone else so it can sort of work itself out too.

During the aftermath of Katrina a bunch of our group spent months in Mississippi running 911 services for a county there from VHF Ham rigs until they could get back on their feet. Sleeping on a High School floor and working in jungle like conditions are often just a part of the package but the help it provides can not really be measured and makes the whole effort worth it to me.


As was offered above the most important task is to learn to help without adding to the problem accidentally by just being there and this takes practice for sure.

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

a friend of mine is involved with the local ARES group, they do 2-3 field exercises a year where all the regional HAM clubs coordinate from various sites

i'd suggest finding out what local HAM group is involved with ARES, join them, go to a few of their events and get to know the movers and shakers as those are the ones who count, and go to their ARES exercises, they often last 2-3 days. THEN sign up to be on call...

I know the local ARES was /very/ involved in emergency response coordination during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake... many areas around here were without power for a week or more.

edit: ah, here's /our/ local ARES group, Santa Cruz County Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) and the local HAM club is SCCARC – Santa Cruz County Amateur Radio Club

[redbarron55]

I understand the need for training and the mere fact that I have a Trailer and equipment is not enough.
I have sent my application to the North Florida ARES and the person listed has forwarded it to the proper person a week or so ago and I still have heard nothing else.
I will attend the Emerald Coast Amateur Radio club that is associated with the local CERT program and proceed from there.

[computerspook]

Originally Posted by redbarron55

I understand the need for training and the mere fact that I have a Trailer and equipment is not enough.
I have sent my application to the North Florida ARES and the person listed has forwarded it to the proper person a week or so ago and I still have heard nothing else.
I will attend the Emerald Coast Amateur Radio club that is associated with the local CERT program and proceed from there.

Your local members of your local club will probably know how the emergency system works in your community.

The trailer and etc really is icing. You have to make sure the cake is ready for prime time. That is training and practice. And the more skills you have the more valuable you are. I really can think of any large scale incident I have responded to that I have not done something besides radio.

Setting up and repairing phones at various response centers including the fire department

Working with the custodial staff of a high school to prepare to flush the bad water which came in through the municiple water system so the water could be turned back on.

Fixing cars

Being a third adult watching children so that two could always be with them even if one needed a bathroom etc break.


Making coffee (weird story behind that one but I defer) actually the only time I make coffee


Tracking the use of bottled water to make sure we didn't run out


More hauling and carrying than I can count


etc


Unless you are ready to say yes sir to any reasonable request you are not ready.

As for training. One of the key reasons for this is so you have a basic understanding of who is supposed to be doing what.


If your local club is involved in response then they will be able to help you be prepared.

[computerspook]

PS if you have a friend who also has a camper and is/is willing to become a ham and go with you, you are like 10 times more valuable.

I have a friend with a small camper like mine. His is actually better set for what is needed for a post. We have been willing and have gone in places and did support for a couple weeks at a time. His trailer is the command post main radio setup, mine is the bunk house/feeding center. My radios don't get used a lot and are mostly used to coordinate getting living and comfort supplies to those in the field and rehabbing those who have completed a shift.

PS fiberglass trailers with the size and weight make excellent choices for small scale communications support operations.