By: Bill Sexton, AAA9PC/N1IN
Posted: 01 DEC 04
Enhanced cooperation between amateur radio's emergency service organizations was the subject of a groundbreaking conference on November 20 attended by regional leaders from New York and New Jersey.
The 20 participants included members of the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARRL), Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (FEMA), and Army, Air Force and Navy-Marine Corps contingents of the Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS).
Steve Ewald, WV1X, Assistant Field Service Manager, attended on behalf of American Radio Relay League headquarters at Newington CT. He was joined by ARRL Field Services Officers Pete Cecere, N2YJZ, Eastern New York Section Manager, and Tom Carrubba, KA2D, New York City-Long Island Section Emergency Coordinator.
Army MARS' newly-designated New York ARRL liaison officer, Richard Meirowitz, WA2ELE, organized the session, which was chaired by state MARS director Steve Pertgen, W2FXJ. It was hosted by Castle Point VA Medical Center in the Hudson Valley north of New York City.
Informal cooperation is nothing new to ARES, RACES and MARS members, many of whom participate as individuals in two or even all three of the organizations. The daylong focus at Castle Point was on launching more formal collaboration regionally and nationally.
Keynote speaker Robert Hollister, N7INK, Eastern Area Coordinator from Army MARS headquarters, Ft Huachuca AZ, said he hoped MARS management and ARRL headquarters would both pursue the goal of interoperability. To jump-start that, he provided an overview of the Department of Defense MARS program with emphasis on the emergency communication support to a wide variety of military and government response agencies.
The amateur and military services already collaborate once a year on Armed Forces Day, when operators from both are invited to communicate across the bands-Hams listening on previously-announced military frequencies and responding on their own, and vice versa. Several pilot operations have also employed ARES/RACES members in past Army Reserve exercises at the local level.
A suggestion was made that the ARRL use its contacts with the Federal Communications Commission to obtain clearance for a similar program of year-round interoperability in training and emergency situations.
It was also proposed that the amateur community assist MARS in its mission of providing early-warning notification of emergency situations-"Essential Elements of Information" (EEI) messages-for relay to DoD and the Department of Homeland Security.
After Hollister's briefing on overall MARS operations, MARS eastern area emergency operations chief John Scoggin, W3JKS, of Wilmington DE described the organization's emergency operations as deployed in countrywide Army Signal exercise Grecian Firebolt last summer. State MARS Director Pertgen then outlined ongoing operations in the immediate region.
For ARRL, Steve Ewald called attention to the Emergency Communication Certification courses and tuition grants available for Hams completing them.
The familiarization talks were followed by discussion of specific areas where interoperability can be put to work. Bob Hollister suggested that ARES/RACES participation in the next annual Army Signal exercise be worked out on a state-by-state basis.
Also proposed was designation of MARS-ARRL liaison officers at the state level, following the example of Dick Meirowitz in New York.
A retired aerospace engineer with three U.S. patents to his name, Dick has been a Ham since 1949 and MARS member since 1952 (while still in college). At the suggestion of state director Pertgen, Meirowitz ran his own feasibility test of MARS-ARES-RACES collaboration during the Grecian Firebolt-04 Army Reserve exercise last summer. It was, Dick said, "a small but successful joint effort."
Outside New York, Meirowitz is known among MARS members as co-leader of an antenna construction seminar conducted on the air several years ago. He is currently developing a broadband field antenna for emergency use. Dick holds the position of Army MARS Antenna Coordinator on the special staff of Army MARS Chief Robert Sutton.
Participants in the conference:
| Ken Akasofu | KL7JCQ | Dutchess County NY ARES/RACES |
| Joe Bruno | WB2VVS | NYS RACES Region 2 Radio Officer |
| Mike Carl | KB2AUJ | AF MARS NY Region 1 Emergency Coordinator |
| Tom Carrubba | KA2D | ARRL Section Emergency Coordinator/NYC-LI ARES |
| Robert Casino | N2GDY | Navy-MC MARS Southern NY Assistant Director |
| Pete Cecere | N2YJZ | ARRL Eastern NY Section Manager |
| Steve Ewald | WV1X | ARRL HQ Public Service |
| Robert Ficker | K2UTB | Navy-MC MARS Southern NY Director |
| Claire Heil | WA2VZK | Army MARS State Emergency Coordinator/NY |
| Bob Hollister | N7INK | Army MARS / ARRL DEC / Cochise Cty AZ RACES |
| Eugene Marquardt | WQ2Y | Castle Point VA Medical Center |
| Richard Meirowitz | WA2ELE | Army MARS NYS ARRL Liaison |
| Gerald Murray | WA2IWW | AF MARS/NY |
| Tony Pazzola | W2BEJ | AF MARS NYS Emergency Coordinator |
| Steve Pertgen | W2FXJ | Army MARS State Director/NY |
| Dave Popkin | W2CC | Army MARS State Director/NJ |
| Nat Raynor | N2NEI | Army MARS/NY |
| Bill Sexton | N1IN | Army MARS Public Awareness Coordinator |
| John Scoggin | W3JKS | Army MARS Eastern Area Operations Officer |
| Frank Stone | KB2YWR | ARRL Eastern NY Section Emergency Coordinator |