Amateur Radio Resource Typing - scc-ares-races. · PDF fileAmateur Radio Resource Typing ......

Amateur Radio Resource TypingThe Santa Clara County ARES/RACES

Mutual Aid Communicator (MAC) Program

Michael E Fox, N6MEFMay 22, 2011

1Copyright (C) 2011 Santa Clara County ARES/RACES. All rights reserved.

Agenda

• Introduction and Overview

• Resource Typing

• Implementation Experience

Copyright (C) 2011 Santa Clara County ARES/RACES. All rights reserved. 2

Introduction and Overview


What Is Amateur (“ham”) Radio?

• A non-commercial (i.e. non-paid), licensed service defined by FCC Title 47, Part 97– 97.1 Basis and purpose.

• (a) Recognition and enhancement of the value of the amateur service to the public as a voluntary noncommercial communication service, particularly with respect to providing emergency communications.

• Licensing involves a written test covering radio technology, operating practices and FCC rules

• Three classes of amateur license: technician, general, extra class


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What are ARES / RACES / ACS?

• ARES: Amateur Radio Emergency Service– A division of ARRL Field Services– MOUs with various organizations such as Red Cross

• RACES: Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service– Official unit under Homeland Security– Defined in FCC Title 47, Part 97.407– Officially activated during communications emergencies

• ACS: Auxiliary Communications Services– Service of State Office of Emergency Services– Includes RACES, MARS, and other radio comms groups

• Increasingly, organizations are joint ARES/RACES/ACS– Use the appropriate rules for the incident or activity

Copyright (C) 2011 Santa Clara County ARES/RACES. All rights reserved.

What is an Santa Clara County ARES/RACESMutual Aid Communicator?

• Amateur radio operator (any license class)• Willing to be deployed outside his/her own city

– Typical shift is 8 hrs; be prepared for 12 hrs

• Meets basic/minimum requirements– Administrative– Training– Equipment– Experience– Performance– Ongoing Participation

• Nominated by city Chief Radio Officer, approved by county CRO• Typically deployed as one of several standardized functions


Field Operations

• Deployment may be portable, mobile or stationary

• Handles formal and informal message traffic• Example assignments:

– “Eyes and ears”: checkpoints, observation posts, damage surveys, crowd observation

– CERT: team or command post communicator– Fixed site communications: Red Cross or other shelters,

schools and school districts, fire stations– Information assistance: public locations


Net Control

• Usually deploymed to a fixed site, such as a base, incident command post or agency, city or county Emergency Operations Center

• Manages check-in/out of net participants• Tracks health & welfare of net participants• Manages communications flow of the net• Maintains traffic logs and records for the net


Packet Operations

• E-mail-like communications• No reliance on Internet or commercial facilities

– But can gateway between packet radio and Internet e-mail

• Fast, accurate, automatic control• Ideal for multiple types of communications

– Simple text messages– Complex lists: addresses, supplies, drug names– Structured forms, such as: ICS, RIMS, hospital, CERT– High traffic volume, automatic logging, automatic printing,

dashboard-like status summaries


Communications Shadow

• Equipped for extended (and quiet)portable or mobile operations

• “Shadows” an incident official or other dignitary• Maintains open communications for the principal

– With the incident command post– With other officials or dignitaries– When on the move– During meetings and breaks


MAC Program Entrance Requirements

• Candidate is designated “MAC in Training” (MIT) by EC• Candidate completes nomination requirements• Emergency Coordinator nominates candidate when ready• County RACES Chief Radio Officer can accept or decline• Once accepted, the individual becomes a MAC

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Nomination Requirements:• Administrative• Training• Equipment• Experience• Performance• Ongoing Participation

MACEC

NominationCRO

Acceptance

Details in the MAC Program Handbookhttp://www.scc-ares-races.org/mac

MIT


Administrative Requirements

• Must be 18 years of age or older

• Valid Technician class or higher Amateur Radio license

• Valid California Driver’s license or California State-issued ID card

• Reliable transportation

• Read “SCCo ARES/RACES MAC Program Handbook”

• Read “SCCo ARES/RACES Performance Stds and Best Practices”

• Registered with Santa Clara County as a Disaster Service Worker

• Completed/agree to complete Livescan and background check


Standard Equipment• 2 hr Carry Kit

– Nearby at all times• In car is o.k. if nearby

– Resource Net Level 1 Ops• Damage reports

– Resource Net Level 2 Ops• City net check-ins

• 12 hr Go Kit– Fully independent ops for 12 hrs– Return home to retrieve

• Extended Kit (optional)

• Recommended for everyone– Required for MACs: 2hr & 12hr

13http://www.scc-ares-races.org/operations.html


Training and Experience

• Minimum training for MAC entry– ICS 100, 200, 700– Introduction to Emergency Comms– Fundamentals of Emergency Comms– … or equivalent training/experience

• Other training courses– Ham crams– Advanced classes

• Drills– Quarterly (city and county)– Advanced

• Public service events– Parades, races, festivals, 4th of July, etc.

• Available to EVERYONE!– Required min. participation for MACs

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http://www.scc-ares-races.org/activities


Standards of Performance

• What are they?– An objective set of performance

standards for emergency communicators

• Where did they come from?– Distilled from county training courses and

best practices

• How are they used?– Recommended for all– Required min. standard for MACs– Objective standard for MAC evals

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http://www.scc-ares-races.org/operations.html


Performance Standards Summary

• Professionalism– Assignment, team member, served agency, independence, training

• Communications Technique– Verbal comms, radio technique, written comms, call signs,

• Safety– Personal safety, fatigue, stress, cold, heat, lightning, floods, land/mudslides,

earthquakes, fire• Methods and Procedures

– County nets, resource net, message passing, maintaining contact, logging and record keeping, served agency protocols, relieve briefings

• Equipment– Go kit, maintaining control over radio, HT equipment, mobile equipment,

packet equipment, HF equipment• Documentation

– Personal documentation, operations documentation; forms16Copyright (C) 2011 Santa Clara County ARES/RACES. All rights reserved.

Example from Performance Standards

• From Communications Technique section:– “Verbal communications is effective, clear and concise

• Maintains a clear speaking voice• Controls tone of voice, even under stress• Has a good command of the English language• Uses plain English, no 10-codes, Q-codes, etc.• Properly uses/pronounces letters and numbers• Properly uses phonetics and can recite all ITU standard phonetic letters• Properly speaks numbers, including multi-digit numbers and decimal points• . . . “

– “Radio technique is effective• Makes only necessary transmissions• Leaves pause at beginning of transmission to allow repeater to key up• Leaves sufficient gaps between transmissions for others to break in• . . . “


Tracking & Completing the Process

• Candidate– Formulates plan with help of EC

• City Chief Radio Officer– Designates candidate as MIT– Coaches and facilitates

• Candidate– Manages own progress– Completes “MAC Candidate Record”– Submits form to CRO

• City Chief Radio Officer– Nominates candidate to CRO

• County Chief Radio Officer– Reviews nomination with staff– Notifies candidate of acceptance

18http://www.scc-ares-races.org/mac


MAC Status is a Baseline

• Baseline administrative, training, experience, equipment and performance criteria

• More advanced capabilities vary by individual– Some focus on higher proficiency in a particular area– Some seek to develop a broader skill set– Experiences at agency/city/county may differ– Time, energy, experience, maturity, technical, … all differ

• Result: each individual within the pool of MAC resources has broadly different capabilities


Resource Assignment Challenge

• Requesting resources– What types of resources are available to request?– How to request a specific type of resource?– When a resource arrives, what capabilities does he/she have?

• Assigning resources– How many resources of type X do we have?– How do we identify which resources have which capabilities?

• Using individual knowledge doesn’t scale– No one person can know everyone’s skill level


Available ResourcesResource RequestCapabilities Available?

Capabilities Needed?

Resource Typing


What is “Resource Typing”?

• From www.fema.gov:– Resource typing is categorizing, by capability, the

resources requested, deployed, and used in incidents

• Why bother?– For ease of ordering and tracking– Emergency manager is able to effectively and efficiently

request and receive resources through mutual aid


Source: http://www.fema.gov/pdf/emergency/nims/fire_haz_mat.pdf

http://www.fema.gov/�

Resource Typing Applies to Apparatus


Metric Type I Type II Type III Type IVPump Capacity 1,000 GPM 500 GPM 120 GPM 70 GPMTank Capacity 400 Gal. 400 Gal. 500 Gal. 750 Gal.Hose, 2.5 in. 1,200 ft. 1,000 ft.Hose, 1.5 in. 400 ft. 500 ft. 1,000 ft. 300 ft.Hose, 1 in. 200 ft. 300 ft. 800 ft. 300 ft.Personnel 4 3 3 2

Fire Engine (Pumper)

Metric Type I Type II Type III Type IVAerial 75 ft. 50 ft.Elevated Stream 500 GPM sameGround Ladders 115 ft. samePersonnel 4 same

Fire Truck – Aerial (Ladder or Platform)

Source: http://www.fema.gov/pdf/emergency/nims/fire_haz_mat.pdf

Resource Typing Also Applies to Personnel

Example: EOC Operations Section Chief


Metric Type I Type II Type IIIExperience, Training, Comprehension

• Supervisory role in Ops Section in 3 or more federally declared disaster situations in 3 different states

• Organized & supervised subunits in fed or non-Fed declared disaster

• Extensive experience and training in ICS

• Supervisory role in Ops in 1 federally declared disaster situation

• Org & supervise subunits – non-Fed declared disaster

• Experience and training in ICS

• Training and/or experience in Ops for non-federally declared disaster situations

• Training in ICS

Equipment Laptop w/ wirelessinternet; satellite/cell phone; standardize forms

Laptop w/ internet; satellite/cell phone;standardized forms

Equipment provided by requesting State: laptop, comms, standardized forms

Source: http://www.fema.gov/pdf/emergency/nims/incident_mgmt.pdf

Santa Clara County ARES/RACESMAC Resource Types – Generalized Capabilities


MAC Type Description of Capabilities

Type I(Specialist)

• All Type II capabilities, plus• Any type of assignment – most critical, highest traffic• Lead operator for large, complex assignments• Plan, design, set-up and operate multi-freq, multi-operator• Primary resource and liaison for planning of information flow

Type II(Advanced)

• All Type III capabilities, plus• More advanced/complicated/higher traffic assignments• Lead operator role for small to medium • Higher power, better antenna(s), additional equipment

Type III(Independent)

• All Type IV capabilities, plus• Dispatched/assigned as individual resource• Capable of fully independent operation anywhere in county

Type IV(Baseline)

• Mutual Aid Communicator• Baseline training, experience, equipment, skill set

Type V Licensed Amateur Radio Operator

Santa Clara County ARES/RACESMAC Qualifications at a Glance

Resource Field Comms Net Control Packet Shadow HF(future)

Type I Field Comm I Net Control I Packet I Shadow I HF I

Type II Field Comm II Net Control II Packet II Shadow II HF II

Type III Field Comm III Net Control III Packet III Shadow III HF III

Type IV Mutual Aid Communicator



Requirements by TypeExample: Field Communications


Metric Type I Type II Type IIIPrerequisites • All Type II req’s • All Type III req’s • All MAC req’s

Training • ICS 300• Cross-band Repeating• Comms planning (TBD)

• Field Ops Level 2 • ICS 100, 200, 700• Field Ops Level 1

Experience • 8 SPECS/SVECS• 8 city nets• 1 county drill• 1 public service

• 8 SPECS/SVECS• 8 city nets• 1 county drill• 1 public service

• 8 SPECS/SVECS• 8 city nets• 1 county drill• 1 public service

Equipment • Mobile dual-band w/ cross-band repeat

• DC supply; charger• Extended power (>12 hrs)

• Mobile dual-band (min. 25w) radio

• 12 hrs battery power• Base antenna, mast,

coax, etc.

• 2-hr carry kit• 12-hr go kit• Performance

Standards

Knowledge • Cross-band repeat setup• Managing problems

• Radio operations• Managing problems

• Radio operations• Net usage• Mike-Mike scale• Managing problems

Verifying Performance

• What we know from experience– Training attendance is a poor predictor of performance– Event participation is a poor predictor of performance

• So, how do the professionals verify performance?– Performance reviews– Peer reviews– Objective standards and documentation


SCCo ARES/RACES MAC Performance EvaluationExample: Field Communications


Metric Type I Type II Type IIIQuality County Performance

Standards & Best Practices

County PerformanceStandards & Best Practices

County PerformanceStandards & Best Practices

Activity Plan, design and set-up field information flow and communications support for an approved country drill, event or incident

• Traffic Rate• Medium to high

• Traffic Types• Multiple ICS-213• Multiple informal

• Multi-frequency• F1 – full ops• F2 – light duty

• Traffic Rate• Low to medium

• Traffic Types• Min 2 ICS-213• Min 2 informal

Logs and Records

• ICS 201 Incident Briefing• ICS 202 Incident Obj’s• ICS 205, 211, 214, 309

• ICS-205 Comm Plan• ICS-211, 214, 309

• ICS-211 Sign-In/Out• ICS-214 Activity Log• ICS-309 Comm Log

• Performance evaluations are during regularly scheduled events• In other words, we practice like we would perform at an incident

Peer Review Performed by MAC Evaluators

• Patterned after Amateur Radio “VE” process• MAC Evaluator requirements

– Eligibility• Amateur Radio operator license; never suspended or revoked• Active status MAC; never suspended or revoked• Hold at least one Type II qualification

– Detailed MAC Program Knowledge• Performance Standards, MAC Handbook, Evaluator Handbook

– Evaluator Training– Mentored Evaluation– Approval

• Evaluator numbers scale up with program sizeCopyright (C) 2011 Santa Clara County ARES/RACES. All rights reserved. 30

Earning a Qualification is Straight Forward

• Candidate completes requirements for the skill level– Prerequisites, training, participation

• Candidate undergoes a standardized evaluation– Conducted during drills, approved public service events, …– Candidate simply operates their assignment normally– Evaluator observes performance vs. county Performance Standards– No “gimmes” and no “gotchas”– If passed, qualification is recorded in county database– If not, attend more training, get more experience, try again

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Skill LevelRequirements

PassEvaluation?

Qualified

Y

N


View and Track Status, Print Credentials

• View color coded qualification status summary

• Drill down to individual details in each qualification

• Print qualification credentials• City/agency:

– Simplified reports– Rosters include qualifications – List of MACs by Qual Area

• County:– DSW/Qual dispatch report– List of MACs by Qual Area


http://www.scc-ares-races.org/activities

Improved Resource Assignment

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Resource Request

Resource Field Comms Net Control Packet Shadow HF(future)

Type I Field Comm I Net Control I Packet I Shadow I HF I

Type II Field Comm II Net Control II Packet II Shadow II HF II

Type III Field Comm III Net Control III Packet III Shadow III HF III

Type IV Mutual Aid Communicator


Request by Type Assignment by Type


Implementation Experience


Theory vs. Practice

• Other amateur radio resource typing efforts were investigated – why reinvent the wheel?

• Common threads– Rely on having a license, attending certain courses, and

having certain equipment• We know from experience that none of these are good predictors of

performance

– Qualifications too broad to be meaningful• Didn’t solve the problem of what resource type to order

– Little to no documented implementation• Existence of a web page does not indicate implementation or

acceptance


Santa Clara County ARES/RACES Implementation History


Date Activity

13-Aug-2009 New program presented to EC Council – Level 1 defined

19-Sep-2009 MAC Drill with West Valley Cert – first informal evaluations

20-Sep-2009 MAC Program Handbook v1.0 posted – Level 2 finalizedMAC Program Kick-off - after SPECS (21st) and SVECS (22nd)

Various Drills and Public Service Events with MAC Evaluations

6-Aug-2010 MAC Program Handbook v1.1 posted – Level 3 finalized

Various Drills and Public Service Events with MAC Evaluations

Soon MAC Program Handbook v2.0• Rename initial “levels” to proper ICS “types”• Continuing participation requirements

Results – as of October 2010

• 160+ registered in program– Qualifications are optional and we expect some to not be interested

• 74% of active participants have or are pursuing qualifications– 34% hold at least one qualification; many hold more than one– 40% have at least one partial qualification– 26% are active but have no qualification activity

• Qualifications now used for county event assignments– Net Control class now teaches how assignment by type is done– ADECs get weekly dispatch report for their go kits

• DSW status, MAC qualifications, other participation– County staff assignments for drills, events managed by type

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All accomplished at regularly scheduled drills, events, meetings.“What we already do, where and when we already do it.”


More Info in the MAC Program Handbook

Table of Contents:• Performance Standards• How to Become a MAC• Roles and Responsibilities• Resource Assignment & Typing• Advanced Qualifications• Evaluations• Recognition• Advanced Qualification Definitions• MAC Response Teams• ICS and NIMS• Records Management• Program Management

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http://www.scc-ares-races.org/mac


Next Steps

• Rename the resource types– It was initially unclear how many types were needed– Started with level 1 (lowest); added levels 2 and 3 (highest)– “Upside down” from standard ICS type numbering– We will renumber the current levels to types:

• Level 3 Type I; Level 2 Type II; Level 1 Type III

• New training course on event planning– Based on ICS planning process– Add to Type 1 requirements

• Define HF resource type(s)


Thanks for your interest today

Michael E. Fox – [email protected]

MAC Program Info: http://www.scc-ares-races.org/mac


mailto:[email protected]�

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