Bob Wilson, W3BIG, EPA Section Emergency Coordinator, has sent out the following for a SET on October 1st.

A brief overview of the SET scheduled for Saturday, October 1, 2022 (1000-2200 LOCAL) is copied below and also attached in an MS Word document. More detail will follow, but each county ARES unit has the flexibility to participate in a method it deems practical and meaningful. Flexibility is encouraged to take advantage of the equipment, techniques and personnel resources available.  Thank you for participating in this important annual exercise.


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Some more comments from George Miller, W3GWM, EPA Section Manager:

Looks good! I’m on board for flooding and weather related emergencies.  That’s what I anticipate the most. Up here I would be cutoff by flooding and flash flooding.  The Susquehanna River will close most crossings up here plus flash flooding will make things difficult due to deep valleys and many small streams.

Continue to use 3918 KHz as primary HF for SSB. I doubt we have enough CW operators, but try to incorporate some CW traffic as a test of our ability to use this mode.

We have never designated an alternate frequency for emergencies. It’s time we start looking at alternatives.  40 meters is not a good choice unless short skip is in. I have extensive experience with 40M from my years as an NCS for ECARS. Communication at less than 200 miles is rare daytime and atmospheric noise makes 40 tough at night.

I suggest designating an HF 75M frequency below 3850 as an alternate.  Also, let’s take a look at 60 meters. This is an interesting band sharing quantities of 75M and 40M. Let’s try 40M, but don’t expect success on 40. Unless you want to communicate with Ohio and Michigan 40M is not good for emergency use, especially at this point in the solar cycle.

Keep in mind that the SET is a communications exercise.  Let’s use every mode of communications available to us. 

I will be monitoring HF Winlink, HF SSB and local repeaters. Please address Winlink traffic to me as W3GWM. I will respond with a message via Winlink or HF. 

As the exercise escalates I’ll activate EPAEPTN on 3918. Since a Cat 4 storm will give us lots of advanced notice, we have the luxury of advanced planning and activating local nets ahead of the storm.

I expect all ARES members to participate, even if you only check in to the local Net. 

EC’s/AEC’s, send me SITREPS with information about the number of operators participating, locations of shelters, number of people in shelters, and damage assessment for evaluation for moving ARES members from non-affected areas. (Simulated.) Messages should be either ARRL Radiograms or ICS-213 (for Winlink).

FEMA/PEMA traffic will be simulated. Traffic normally routed to PEMA should be routed to me.

This is our first true SET for the entire section in many years. It’s long overdue. 

Keep in mind, there are no failures. We are evaluating and identifying problems to be resolved later. Have fun. Encourage all ARES members to participate and welcome any non-ARES hams into the nets.

React as necessary and remember to keep Bob, W3BIG, and me informed at least hourly.

We are COMMUNICATORS. Let’s communicate. 

You are not limited to Saturday, October 1st, but I expect EVERY county to be active with an SET during October.  I strongly encourage everyone to sign on to the Section Wide SET.

Suggestions are always welcome. Keep up to date on the Section planning and evaluate your local readiness ahead of time.

Perhaps a Zoom Conference for all EC’s and AEC’s is called for. I’d like one at least one Zoom conference prior to the SET and an “After Action” session after.  EC’s, send Bob and I an After Action Evaluation of your groups performance. Identify problems in your reports. Also highlight your successes and outstanding individuals participating.

More information will be sent as plans develop.