The annual Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) Simulated Emergency Test (SET) is an opportunity for local ARES groups to demonstrate to public officials their ability to communicate under disaster conditions. For the Greene County Ohio ARES (GCARES) one public official not only observed the test but participated. Greene County Sheriff Gene Fischer, KX8GCS, checked in when the Resource Net Control, Bob Baker, N8ADO, of Beavercreek, called for volunteers. Although the suggested scenario called for only using simplex, GCARES used the Xenia Amateur Radio Weather Net (XWARN) repeater for its resource net to maximize number of amateur operators who would be able to volunteer. Once checked into the resource net volunteers were asked to switch to a simplex tactical net to communicate with the GCARES Command Center located in Beavercreek Township Fire Station 64. Sheriff Fischer, at the Dayton Amateur Radio Association (DARA) meeting the evening before the SET told Greene County ARES Emergency Coordinator Henry Ruminski, W8HJR, that he would participate in the SET so that he could determine how well his handheld radio would perform under the test conditions. While it was more than adequate for checking into the resource net on a repeater, he learned that it was lacking for effective simplex operation from outside the Sheriff's office. The sheriff had an intense introduction to ham radio in the Spring of 2017 when the Dayton Hamvention moved to the Greene County Fairgrounds and Exposition Center in Xenia. He was very active during that Hamvention as his department dealt with traffic control and other issues created by the influx of more than 25,000 hams. A number of hams that year, urged him to get an amateur radio license. He also had some urging at home from his wife, Gail, who had been licensed but let it expire. Both decided to take the Technician License course offer by GCARES in the Fall of 2017. Both passed the technician exam in November of 2017. Gail became KE8IFF and Gene, KE8IGE. The next month both received vanity calls; Gail, her former call, KA8DQK and Gene, KX8GCS. He said the X is for Xenia where they live and where he served in the police department for many years. The GCS is for Greene County Sheriff. Gene took the GCARES General course in the Spring of 2018 and upgraded. The SET was relatively successful according to Ruminski. The goal was to communicate from as many fire, health and law enforcement locations as possible to the command station. While the signals could have been better from some locations, most stations were able to communicate with command. The lessons learned will be used to improve emergency communication plans for the future.
Very nice report. Unfortunately way too many of these well meaning exercises are presented in same , easy and statistical way - counting the number of participants. In years past, when Field Day counted as an emergency exercise, we always had "BS session" - how to do BETTER next year. As you pointed out - it is all "relative " anyway and hopefully will be limited to SET in the future.
