Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES®) volunteers in the Maryland-DC Section activated in the wake of regional flash flooding on May 27. Hit especially hard was Ellicott City, where vehicles were reported to have been washed away by fast-moving flood waters upward of 10 feet deep. At least one person was reported to be missing.
“As many watched Alberto, radio amateurs in Maryland watched more and more rain locally,” said ARRL Assistant Maryland-DC Section Manager and Public Information Coordinator Ken Reid, KG4USN.
By 5 PM, heavy rain, as much as 8 to 10 inches, soaked portions of central and southern Maryland.” The flooding disaster was the second since 2016 in historic downtown Ellicott City, which was still recovering from the earlier event. High water also affected Arbutus, Dundalk, and Catonsville. Section leadership asked radio amateurs in the flood-affected areas to check on the health and welfare of their neighbors. Reid said high-water rescues were needed in Perry Hall and Patapsco State Park.
When the flooding quickly became serious in several locations, MDC Section Manager Marty Pittinger, KB3MXM, activated ARES in eight central Maryland counties at 6:30 PM EDT, and 15 minutes later, more than 40 ARES volunteers reported to their respective 2-meter nets in five counties. The majority of flood-affected communities were in Anne Arundel, Prince Georges, and Howard counties. Amateur Radio volunteers in the MDC Section provided additional situational awareness, and Pittinger interfaced with Atlantic Division leadership, Maryland Section Emergency Coordinator Jim Montgomery, WB3KAS, and state and local authorities.
“Many county [emergency operations centers] in affected areas were also activated. Anne Arundel County ARES and Howard County ARES were in communication with their local Emergency Management Agencies and were both told to stand by in case of need,” Reid said. Maryland Governor Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency.
“Regular situational awareness updates were shared throughout the nets to ensure communication readiness for served agencies, community leadership, neighbors, first responders, and fellow radio amateurs,” Reid said. Conventional telecommunications continued to function throughout the heavy weather, which caused road closures and power and natural gas outages.
The MDC ARES volunteers remained in duty until 10:15 PM on May 28. During the activation, radio amateurs made use of VHF, UHF, and HF capabilities, as well as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) modes.
Source:ARRL
Equipment
Mercury III LDMOS Power Amplifier Kit
Mercury III https://www.km3km.com/ Read more
QRPGuys K8TND Regenerative Receiver – $40
“How better to explore the world of shortwave listening than with a regenerative receiver. The QRPGuys K8TND Regenerative Receiver covers the 60... Read more
ANAN-7000DLE 100W HF & 6M Transceiver
The ANAN-7000DLE HF & 6M 100W SDR Transceiver offers top of the line performance is a compact rugged package, it is based on the work of the OpenH... Read more
New ! Kenwood TPZ-D553
Kenwood TPZ-D553 Product name TPZ-D553TPZ-D553SCH: lithium-ion battery KNB-74L (7.4V / 1100mAh) standard accessory TPZ-D553MCH: lithium-ion battery KN... Read more
Harbor Freight Solar Panel for Ham Radio [ Video ]
As an easy introductory solar project I purchased Harbor Freight’s 45 watt solar kit for my ham radio use. Read more
Logikit SCAF-1 – the Deceptively Simple Filter
Tired of noise? Noise that isn’t the signal you want to copy? White noise, line noise, hiss? And off frequency stuff you don’t want... Read more
Review
Expert Sun MB1 SDR Transceiver 160m – 2m [ Video ]
Details of the new Expert Sun MB1 SDR Transceiver. It covers 160m to 2m and delivers 125W on the HF bands and 60W on 2m. This radio is available from... Read more
Measuring Crystals with NanoVNA and other tools
Measuring Crystals with NanoVNA and other tools Read more
What is POTA? Parks On The Air Ham Radio
What is POTA? Parks On The Air Ham Radio Read more
Ailunce HD1 review by Rowen Warren(KE0RTL)
Ailunce HD1 Review A few weeks ago, I received my Ailunce HD1. This is my full review of the radio. The radio itself is high quality. The quali... Read more
Heil HS2 Hand PTT switch for 2 radios with MFJ-1263
“In this video you will find information about the Heil HS2 handheld PTT switch that I use with my 2 Kenwood radios (TS-2000 and TS-990), thanks... Read more
App - Mobile
Tutorial – Using the new routing function in RT Systems featuring RFinder
Once again RFinder and RT Systems have partnered to kick radio programming up a notch. This tutorial will show you how to get the most o... Read more
DX Alert App ( Mobile )
DX Alert App Instead of being connected to a DX cluster directly you can use DX Alert to monitor the cluster for you and get notifications on your pho... Read more
The World Wide Repeater Directory
RT Sytems and RFinder – The World Wide Repeater Directory bring integrated routing to radio progamming! Once again RFinder and RT Systems... Read more
Learn Morse Code in Minutes A Day [ APP ]
– Learn Morse Code with different modes of learning, using the letter frequency and spaced repetition to help you learn. – Customize your... Read more
Ham Radio Prefixes – Android App
Enter a call sign and get immediately all the geographical informations (country, ITU zone, CQ zone, GMT). Google Play: https://play.goo... Read more
New ARRL Repeater Directory Will Leverage Crowdsourcing Technology
ARRL partner RFinder, the creator of a web and app-based directory of Amateur Radio repeaters worldwide, will supply all data for the 2017-2018 ARRL R... Read more
Digital Modes
FT8DMC 3rd Anniversary-Activity Days 2020
To commemorate our 3rd anniversary, special event stations will be on air during the FT8DMC Activity Days from 1. to 31. July 2020. All stations will... Read more
K1JT , JOE TAYLOR HINTS AT POSSIBLE NEW MODE!
In a post to the WSJT-X email group today, Joe Taylor K1JT hinted at some ongoing experimentation of a new digital mode with sub-modes. His post was a... Read more
WWSA GACW Contest Rules.
WWSA GACW I – Dates Second weekend of June of every year. From Saturday 15.00 UTC until Sunday 15.00 UTC. 24 hours period. II – Goal To co... Read more