Harris County ARES

It came to my attention last night that the website was not properly sending emails when it should have been. It ended up be a bug in the script that actually sends emails out of a queue in the background. This has been rectified and all queued emails have been sent.

As such you may get some emails from previous times when they were queued. The emails were sent from the queue without regard for the original sending time/date.

Labels: aresdb, Website

Harris County ARES was given permission to stand-down from any further preparations concerning hurricane Dean.

ARES members are asked to continue to monitor both the web-site and 147.000 for any future announcements about activation or to assist those counties to the south of us that may have needs where we can help. There is still the possibility of providing some assistance if southern counties push some of their residents our way as a part of their evacuation plan.

Your District 14 leadership team wishes to thank everyone for staying informed and being prepared.

Labels: Hurricane Dean 2007

This is not a drill, but this is what we drill and train for.

We have numerous requests for operators at EOC locations. The State has called for the activation of all agencies, State, Federal, Local and Commercial. It is essential that we get commitments for staffing some of the slots as soon as possible. These are 12.5 hour shifts (To match the EOC Shifts) but I have broken it up into 6.5 hour blocks primarily for the overnight times to make it a bit easier to work into everyone's schedules.

Please check http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pCnbScbiY7HkDJpcHNkBjCA and let me know via any means ( houston.transtar+dean@gmail.com preferred) what shift you will be able to fill. Be advised that the schedule may be changed and you may be asked to ride out an extended period of time or arrive for your shift early enough to avoid the storm if the storm does swing our way. Please try to fill a full 12 hour shift if possible, although we understand that it is not always so.

The link above will be updated as assignments are made.

ECs: Please let me know of any new requests for Operators as they arrive so that their scheduling can be included here.

Kevin Colby
K5WTF
http://k5wtf.blogspot.com

Labels: Hurricane Dean 2007

As you are aware, there is a Category 4 hurricane approaching the Gulf of Mexico. At the present time, Dean is predicted to hit south of the Texas/Mexico border but that could change.

The ARES organization has been asked by Harris County EOC and the City of Houston for operators. The City of Houston (Houston Emergency Center) is looking for a team of 4-6 operators to ride the storm out. You will be fed and housed at the Houston Emergency Center (N. Shepherd and Donovan). If you are interested in becoming part of this team, please contact me at the number listed below OR send me an email (n5lyg@n5lyg.org). Before you commit, please make sure your personal needs are taken care of.

This is what it's all about:

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.

Bill Rimmer, N5LYG
281.733.0705 (cell)
www.n5lyg.org

Labels: Hurricane Dean 2007

If you are using Winlink during an emergency, you may need to turn off your Whitelist!

If people outside Winlink try to send you a message before you send them a Winlink message, their message may bounce!

There are several options:
- send everyone possible a Winlink message first! (an impossible task!), or
- turn off your whitelist. It may be turned on.

What is a whitelist???!!!
Every time you send a winlink message to a smtp address, that address is added to your whitelist which says it is OK for Winlink to accept a message back from them to you. You can look at your whitelist easiest by logging on to your WebMailAccess at http://winlink.org/MailAccess.htm and looking in your User Settings. It will also allow you to turn it off. Just make sure you "Save"

If this increases your spam, you can use the blacklist to exclude specific people.

You can also turn the whitelist off by sending the following message via telnet or HF or packet
==============================
TO: SYSTEM
Subject: OPTIONS
--------------------------
Whitelist: OFF
==============================

Labels: Hurricane Dean 2007

The Harris County Office of Emergency Management (HCOEM / Transtar) has asked Harris County ARES to begin staffing both Transtar and the George R. Brown (GRB) convention center beginning 0700 on Wednesday 22 Aug 2007. Operators will be asked to volunteer for 12 hours shifts running from 7-7. Operators will need to be in place 30 minutes prior to the beginning of their shift for a smooth operational turn over.

An informal net will be running on 145.170 (-)(123.0) to provide communications between GRB and Transtar until such time that the net needs to go formal, and/or, the need for additional nets arise. Your quadrant will also be in an informal net mode during this time as well. Operators will need to bring their HT, or other portable radio, and ample batteries to get them through their shift. You may wish to bring a small cooler with drinks and snacks if you so desire. You can reach the 145.17 from the GRB with a HT with no problems.

We all understand how unpredictable forecasting hurricane tracks can be, so even if the track of Hurricane Dean takes it in to the south of Harris County as currently predicted, the HCOEM will be operational for no less than 36 hours in order to continue to evaluate the need. To sign up for a shift send an email to houston.transtar+dean@gmail.com.

Additional information will be on the ARES web-site later this evening and accessible either via link on the front page or going directly to http://www.harriscountyares.org/blog.html

Labels: Hurricane Dean 2007

I have published the scheduling spreadsheet that I will be maintaining for the event. This link will update periodically as changes are made. Please contact K5WTF via here to sign up for an open slot.

The current schedule can be found here.

Labels: Hurricane Dean 2007