N4INU
09-17-2001, 08:09 AM
Bill Sexton, N1IN (sextonw@juno.com) writes " "What next?" wasn't just a rhetorical question for
the hams who volunteer in MARS, the Military Affiliate Radio
System, following the terrorist assault in New York and Washington.
With vital communications hubs at least as vulnerable to
attack as airliner cockpits, one of government's predictable first
concerns in the midst of enemy activity had to be keeping in touch
with all its agencies and offices across the country. The
availability of hundreds of trained volunteer operators spread
throughout the 50 states provides one of the keys to that
connectivity.
And available they were on Tuesday morning 11 Sept.
Within 15 minutes of the first incident in New York, the
first of many alert messages had been transmitted by a MARS
member to the Pentagon. Within an hour, a coast-to-coast
backup net was forming.
The initial call for assistance came from the National
Communications System, Department of Commerce. An
e-mail alert just before 10 a.m. EDT (1400Z) ordered
NCS participating stations to operational level 2,
"emergency potential exists." The alert, said the NCS
message, "is requested by the FBI, the National Coordinating
Center for Telecommunications, and
the General Services Administration."
This activated a national coordination net, and by 2
P.M. more than 200 stations had checked in. Among the
participants were FEMA outposts, FAA offices, the American
Red Cross, and state emergency operations centers as well
as the MARS members enrolled in SHARES, the
HF "Shared Resources" program of the NCS.
A general alert to all MARS members came soon
afterward along with a formal request for assistance
from FEMA headquarters.
By the end of two days of operations, Army MARS
Chief Bob Sutton N7UZY could report from Ft Huachuca
AZ that 23 state and regional nets had been activated
with 229 individual stations participating. U.S.
Army Europe’s MARS contingent also responded. Air
Force and Navy-Marine Corps MARS operations were in
addition to these.
During this period there was no attack on the
communications lines, although a massive surge of calls
had the same effect of blocking normal connections into
Washington and New York in the initial hours. But MARS
and its allies in NCS SHARES had demonstrated their
effectiveness in a genuine emergency of international
scope.
The MARS program dates back to the 1925 when
licensed amateurs were invited to assist the military
in times of emergency. The NCS had its beginning
in the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. Fear of another
type of attack
prompted President John F. Kennedy to create the
program by executive order. Army MARS became a
part of the then-new SHARES HF collaborative in 1990.
At that time many government bureaus and branch
offices had HF radio equipment for use within their own
agency. SHARES provided the frequency planning and
network organization for them to interact if
telephone and digital lines should fail.
Amateur participants, selected by Navy-Marine
Corps, Air Force and Army MARS managers, provide
skilled net control stations as well as broad
geographical coverage, and they are geared to handle
digital and ALE links in addition to
voice on designated frequencies outside
the ham bands.
In both MARS and SHARES, the ham mission
of long-distance connectivity differs from ARES
(Amateur Radio Emergency Service) and RACES
(Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service), which
primarily conduct close-in communications support
(as within the Manhattan disaster zone.)
Wilbur Goll of Shawnee KS (ham call sign W0DEL,
Air Force MARS call AFA3HY) is the volunteer
who serves as central area net control for
SHARES. He counted 63 Army MARS, 44 Navy-Marine
Corps MARS, and 28 Air Force MARS stations in the initial operation.
His log showed 54 federal agency offices,
35 Civil Air Patrol stations, and 6 commercial
carriers such as AT&T.
Interestingly, one of the first government
agencies to require emergency communications
was SHARES itself. Located in an office
building near the Pentagon, the SHARES staff was
immediately evacuated. Operations chief Kenneth
Carpenter KD6DBX, a retired Marine Corps
communicator, quickly returned to the air with
portable equipment at a safe Northern Virginia
location.
Regional SHARES nets also activated across
the country, bringing in many additional hams.
Among the busiest was the Northeast
Coordination Net which provided links from Arlington
VA., near the Pentagon, to Long Island, NY
immediately outside the disaster zone, to
New Hampshire and western Pennsylvania. During
the first hours 29 stations, the bulk of them hams
in the MARS organizations, stood by to
handle traffic.
From Essex County NJ, David Muckle KB2BNW
(Army MARS call AAR2CB) was operating within sight
of the plume of smoke over the World
Trade Center. Arthur Walsh AB4BG (Navy MARS
call NNN0FAD) checked in from Annandale VA,
noting close proximity to the Pentagon. Leland Willett
(N2EMG, Army MARS call AAR1ML) checked in from
Baldwin, Long Island, near JFK Airport.
Don Gibb WA2VSL (Air Force MARS AFA1NY) returned
home at Conestoga PA from an early doctor's
appointment to discover his Northeast
Region net going full blast. Don operates the
Northeast regional coordination station
for SHARES and quickly took control.
Jeffrey Bixby W4BIX (Air Force MARS call AFA2EA)
of Arlington VA, close by the capitol, offered his
mobile station for use when it became known government
buildings were being evacuated.
Chief Sutton credited Army MARS members with
initiating 49 "essential elements of information"
reports for use by Pentagon planners, including
early damage and transportation status reports.
“We want to personally thank all of those
that were involved in the
MARS support after this incident,” Sutton said.
“You have done a great job.
He cited the work of Delaware state MARS
director Bob Harding who, responding to a
broadcast call for operator assistance from the
Delaware Army National Guard, established a radio
link with the Guard’s alerted helicopter units,
activated ALE (automatic link establishment) with the
National Guard Bureau, signed in on the
SHARES regional net, and monitored local nets
for six hours until sufficient guard personnel
arrived on site.
“A terrible day that will never be forgotten,”
Harding summed up in his after-action report.
The Army MARS eastern area coordinator
Bob Hollister, N7INK, whose
territory included all the Tuesday incidents,
messaged members afterward: "As we stop and take
a moment to reflect upon the events of the past 48
hours I would ask each of you to renew your commitment
to yourselves and your families to continue to
make this country strong against the enemies
and to prepare to meet what may be even more
serious challenges in the
future."
"
the hams who volunteer in MARS, the Military Affiliate Radio
System, following the terrorist assault in New York and Washington.
With vital communications hubs at least as vulnerable to
attack as airliner cockpits, one of government's predictable first
concerns in the midst of enemy activity had to be keeping in touch
with all its agencies and offices across the country. The
availability of hundreds of trained volunteer operators spread
throughout the 50 states provides one of the keys to that
connectivity.
And available they were on Tuesday morning 11 Sept.
Within 15 minutes of the first incident in New York, the
first of many alert messages had been transmitted by a MARS
member to the Pentagon. Within an hour, a coast-to-coast
backup net was forming.
The initial call for assistance came from the National
Communications System, Department of Commerce. An
e-mail alert just before 10 a.m. EDT (1400Z) ordered
NCS participating stations to operational level 2,
"emergency potential exists." The alert, said the NCS
message, "is requested by the FBI, the National Coordinating
Center for Telecommunications, and
the General Services Administration."
This activated a national coordination net, and by 2
P.M. more than 200 stations had checked in. Among the
participants were FEMA outposts, FAA offices, the American
Red Cross, and state emergency operations centers as well
as the MARS members enrolled in SHARES, the
HF "Shared Resources" program of the NCS.
A general alert to all MARS members came soon
afterward along with a formal request for assistance
from FEMA headquarters.
By the end of two days of operations, Army MARS
Chief Bob Sutton N7UZY could report from Ft Huachuca
AZ that 23 state and regional nets had been activated
with 229 individual stations participating. U.S.
Army Europe’s MARS contingent also responded. Air
Force and Navy-Marine Corps MARS operations were in
addition to these.
During this period there was no attack on the
communications lines, although a massive surge of calls
had the same effect of blocking normal connections into
Washington and New York in the initial hours. But MARS
and its allies in NCS SHARES had demonstrated their
effectiveness in a genuine emergency of international
scope.
The MARS program dates back to the 1925 when
licensed amateurs were invited to assist the military
in times of emergency. The NCS had its beginning
in the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. Fear of another
type of attack
prompted President John F. Kennedy to create the
program by executive order. Army MARS became a
part of the then-new SHARES HF collaborative in 1990.
At that time many government bureaus and branch
offices had HF radio equipment for use within their own
agency. SHARES provided the frequency planning and
network organization for them to interact if
telephone and digital lines should fail.
Amateur participants, selected by Navy-Marine
Corps, Air Force and Army MARS managers, provide
skilled net control stations as well as broad
geographical coverage, and they are geared to handle
digital and ALE links in addition to
voice on designated frequencies outside
the ham bands.
In both MARS and SHARES, the ham mission
of long-distance connectivity differs from ARES
(Amateur Radio Emergency Service) and RACES
(Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service), which
primarily conduct close-in communications support
(as within the Manhattan disaster zone.)
Wilbur Goll of Shawnee KS (ham call sign W0DEL,
Air Force MARS call AFA3HY) is the volunteer
who serves as central area net control for
SHARES. He counted 63 Army MARS, 44 Navy-Marine
Corps MARS, and 28 Air Force MARS stations in the initial operation.
His log showed 54 federal agency offices,
35 Civil Air Patrol stations, and 6 commercial
carriers such as AT&T.
Interestingly, one of the first government
agencies to require emergency communications
was SHARES itself. Located in an office
building near the Pentagon, the SHARES staff was
immediately evacuated. Operations chief Kenneth
Carpenter KD6DBX, a retired Marine Corps
communicator, quickly returned to the air with
portable equipment at a safe Northern Virginia
location.
Regional SHARES nets also activated across
the country, bringing in many additional hams.
Among the busiest was the Northeast
Coordination Net which provided links from Arlington
VA., near the Pentagon, to Long Island, NY
immediately outside the disaster zone, to
New Hampshire and western Pennsylvania. During
the first hours 29 stations, the bulk of them hams
in the MARS organizations, stood by to
handle traffic.
From Essex County NJ, David Muckle KB2BNW
(Army MARS call AAR2CB) was operating within sight
of the plume of smoke over the World
Trade Center. Arthur Walsh AB4BG (Navy MARS
call NNN0FAD) checked in from Annandale VA,
noting close proximity to the Pentagon. Leland Willett
(N2EMG, Army MARS call AAR1ML) checked in from
Baldwin, Long Island, near JFK Airport.
Don Gibb WA2VSL (Air Force MARS AFA1NY) returned
home at Conestoga PA from an early doctor's
appointment to discover his Northeast
Region net going full blast. Don operates the
Northeast regional coordination station
for SHARES and quickly took control.
Jeffrey Bixby W4BIX (Air Force MARS call AFA2EA)
of Arlington VA, close by the capitol, offered his
mobile station for use when it became known government
buildings were being evacuated.
Chief Sutton credited Army MARS members with
initiating 49 "essential elements of information"
reports for use by Pentagon planners, including
early damage and transportation status reports.
“We want to personally thank all of those
that were involved in the
MARS support after this incident,” Sutton said.
“You have done a great job.
He cited the work of Delaware state MARS
director Bob Harding who, responding to a
broadcast call for operator assistance from the
Delaware Army National Guard, established a radio
link with the Guard’s alerted helicopter units,
activated ALE (automatic link establishment) with the
National Guard Bureau, signed in on the
SHARES regional net, and monitored local nets
for six hours until sufficient guard personnel
arrived on site.
“A terrible day that will never be forgotten,”
Harding summed up in his after-action report.
The Army MARS eastern area coordinator
Bob Hollister, N7INK, whose
territory included all the Tuesday incidents,
messaged members afterward: "As we stop and take
a moment to reflect upon the events of the past 48
hours I would ask each of you to renew your commitment
to yourselves and your families to continue to
make this country strong against the enemies
and to prepare to meet what may be even more
serious challenges in the
future."
"