ARESCOM Management Team


Minutes of the 2004 Second Meeting
ARRL Board of Directors
July 16-17, 2004

21. On motion of Mr. Walstrom, seconded by Mr. Butler, the following resolution was ADOPTED:

WHEREAS the ad-hoc committee, also known as ARESCOM, was created by direction from the ARRL Board of Directors to develop a comprehensive program to enhance the current ARES emergency communications capability to include rapid and accurate handling of long range (interstate, national, and international) emergency communications; and

WHEREAS this same ad-hoc committee has exceeded the Board's expectations by demonstrating a working network which implements the basic capabilities of the comprehensive program requested by the Board,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the ARRL Board commends the members of the ad-hoc committee for their efforts and expertise in inaugurating the current network; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the ARRL Board encourages further development and expansion of the inaugural network to broaden the coverage and continue its expansion; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the ad-hoc committee be requested to extend its charter until the January 2005 ARRL Annual Meeting of the Board of Directors for the purpose of completing a plan of implementation that insures the following:

1. ARES is assured the prominent role in the management of this national network;

2. The ARES officials at all levels and appropriate ARRL HQ staff will be given the opportunity to formally critique the operation of the network to assure that the requirements of ARES and its served agencies are being met by the operation of the network;

3. The Winlink 2000 technical experts will positively address the results and findings of this critique;

4. A plan be developed to assure timely upgrading of the network as new technologies emerge and future ARES requirements evolve; and

5. Complete the negotiations and agreements necessary to assure ARRL access to the Winlink 2000 software.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Board encourages the deployment of e-mail via Amateur Radio (as exemplified by Winlink 2000) as an additional emergency capability provided to agencies served by ARES.

22. On motion of Mrs. Craigie, seconded by Mr. Harrison, the following resolution was unanimously ADOPTED:




NEWINGTON, CT, Jul 20, 2004--

"ARESCOM" Plan to Enhance Emergency Communication Capability

The Board adopted a resolution encouraging further development and expansion of an inaugural network to enhance the emergency communications capability of the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES). The Board had designated an ad hoc committee, dubbed "ARESCOM," to develop an augmented ARES telecommunications system that would include rapid and accurate handling of long-range emergency communications between states, nationally and internationally. ARESCOM recommended deployment of a digital e-mail system based on Winlink 2000 software.

The Board's motion encouraged the deployment of e-mail via Amateur Radio--as exemplified by Winlink 2000--"as an additional emergency capability provided to agencies served by ARES."

In its report, the committee said situations arise when ARES must "pass message traffic across the nation quickly and accurately," and it said the need for such a nationwide capability within ARES is likely to increase in light of the ARRL's Citizen Corps partnership with the Department of Homeland Security.

A two-part series appearing in the August and September 2004 issues of QST, "Winlink for ARES," by ARRL South Texas Section Emergency Coordinator Jerry Reimer, KK5CA, outlines an enhanced ARES network that would include e-mail capability over HF links. Winlink 2000--a worldwide Amateur Radio digital radio e-mail system--already is widely used by the blue water boating and recreational vehicle communities to pass e-mail around the world.

"The momentum is moving strongly in favor of our recommended digital message source," said the report of the committee, chaired by Great Lakes Division Vice Director Dick Mondro, W8FQT.

Members of the ARRL Programs and Services Committee witnessed a Winlink 2000 demonstration at ARRL Headquarters the day before the board meeting. ARESCOM said it wants to adapt the already-proven communications network to meet the needs of served agencies and other organizations involved in providing disaster communications.

"The digital network will provide a value-added service for ARES and will continue to be viewed very positively by our served agencies," the committee said in its report. "This allows ARES to be viewed as modern and necessary instead of antiquated and invasive."

The ARRL Board extended the committee's charter until its January 2005 meeting so ARESCOM can complete an implementation plan that ensures that ARES has "the prominent role" in managing the national network and that ARES officials at all levels as well as appropriate ARRL Headquarters staffers have an opportunity to formally critique the network's operation to ensure it meets the requirements of ARES and its served agencies.

In addition, Winlink 2000 technical experts are to "positively address the results and findings of this critique," ARESCOM will develop a plan "to assure timely upgrading of the network as new technologies emerge and future ARES requirements evolve" and it will complete necessary negotiations and agreements to assure ARRL access to the Winlink 2000 software.

The Board praised ARESCOM for exceeding its expectations by demonstrating a working network that implements the basic capabilities of the comprehensive program it had requested. It also commended the committee's members for their "efforts and expertise" in inaugurating the system.




Ad Hoc Committee on ARES Communications (ARESCOM)
July 2004
Final Progress Report & Recommendations

Introduction -- The ARESCOM committee mission is to develop a comprehensive program to enhance the current ARES emergency communications capability to include rapid and accurate handling of long range (inter-state, national, and international) emergency related message traffic. This committee was appointed by President Haynie as a result of Minute 25 of the July 2003 BOD Meeting. Background -- there are situations when the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) must have the capability to pass message traffic across the nation quickly and accurately, and future expectations of ARES for such a nationwide capability will likely increase, with the ARRL's Citizens Corps partnership with the Department for Homeland Security. This capability is not currently available to ARES.

Winlink 2000, a Worldwide Amateur Radio Digital Radio Email Network, will allow delivery of message traffic anywhere in the World where Internet services are active, or amateur Winlink Participating Network stations (PMBOs) are operating. The delivery of these messages may be accomplished automatically in a matter of minutes using simple SMTP email formatting. The momentum is moving strongly in favor of our recommended digital message source. Based solely on its own merits, and on positive word-of-mouth publicity, Winlink 2000 is already a mature established worldwide network, which is currently experiencing a tremendous growth.

Accomplishments -- The ARESCOM Committee has been meeting, via the ARRL Teleconference Bridge, twice a month for approximately 90 minutes per session. Since its' formation on September 28, 2003, we have had nineteen regular sessions and one joint session with members of the Programs & Services Committee for a total of twenty eight and one half hours. This equates to 228 man hours in nine months. We have, through F&ES, issued two reports to the section managers, section emergency coordinators and section traffic managers proposing the use of Winlink 2000. We have done several PowerPoint Presentations geared to Winlink 2000. The purpose of these was to increase public awareness -- over and above that done via the ARRL Web, Reflectors and distribution of reports via F&ES. The in-person presentations resulted in a far greater number of people responding with favorable positive input than what was received after information was sent via electronic media.

An EchoLink conference has been set up via the W8FSM Conference Server and meets every Wednesday evening at 8 PM Eastern Time for all to join in discussions about Winlink 2000 ARES technical matters technical and other concerns.

A small ARRL HQ committee, consisting of Steve Ford, WB8IMY, Joe Carcia and Dan Miller, have put together a WINLINK 2000 demonstration for the P&SC and any other interested Board Members on Thursday July 15 2004.

Several Web articles have been published about Winlink 2000. Regardless of which viewpoint is portrayed, these are providing additional public awareness.

An ARES forum on Winlink 2000 was presented at Hamvention to an audience of over one hundred persons. Questions were answered and the end result was a favorable review with many requests for additional information.

An article entitled "Winlink for ARES" authored by Jerry Reimer, KK5CA, SEC of the South Texas Section, has been published in the August 2004 issue of QST in the Public Service Section with a continuation in September 2004. (Appendix A)

The three NTS Chairs, on June 28, 2004, sent a letter to all section managers embracing the Winlink 2000 Concept. (Appendix B)

Overall, our findings indicate that information sent via email and first class U.S. Mail was not well received due to many misunderstandings, however personal presentations where questions could be answered on the spot proved to be extremely well accepted with many requests for additional information.

Recommendation -- Past experiences have shown that a national program must first prove its value and worth on a local basis before it can be rolled out over a larger area. This can only be achieved through the cooperative efforts of everyone who is to be involved in the end result. ARES and ARRL Section leadership, as well as those with technical software and hardware expertise must work together with public service agencies that are willing to do testing and experimentation.

For five years, the Winlink 2000 system has been successfully serving its users in the boating and RV areas 24x7. We aren't recreating the wheel. We are simply attempting to adapt an already proven communications network to meet the needs of the public service agencies and the needs of all organizations involved in providing disaster communications. This is currently being accomplished at the local levels with many of our Sections, and with the full cooperation and assistance of the Winlink Development Team. The digital network will provide a value added service for ARES and will continue to be viewed very positively by our served agencies. This allows ARES to be viewed as modern and necessary instead of antiquated and invasive.

Live presentations must continue to be offered, just as we've been doing this year, to capitalize on the tools which are working the best for us. In addition to our responsibility for making sure our ARES and Section leadership understand the need for stronger digital networking -- and that WINLINK 2000 already has the potential to meet the current emergency communications needs -- we must continue to expand our scope of awareness to include the technical experts and public service agencies. After all, it is these people who have responsibility for disaster preparedness in which we hope to serve. Through their desire to assist with this early stage of WINLINK 2000 development, we can 1) determine their specific needs, 2) address, modify and correct system shortcomings, and 3) begin to build a nationwide ARES Network based upon these successes.

In order for the WINLINK 2000 technology to permit effective public service the committee has determined that there must be a management strategy put in place to ensure uniform application and access of the system throughout the field organization.

The committee recommends that a robust educational and management effort be developed to ensure that ARES organizations at the local level provide the requisite interfaces, and are properly trained in providing those served with the support and guidance to use the system effectively.

It is recommended that the Board endorse the use of Winlink 2000 in the ARRL Field Organization as well as integrating ARES and NTS into one unified emergency communications team. This would require action by F&ES to create the organization and provide the education and leadership needed to insure its success.



Respectfully submitted,

Richard J. Mondro, W8FQT (Chair)
Gerald F. (Rick) Muething Jr., KN6KB
Robert E. Griffin, K6YR
Bdale Garbee, KB0G
Andrew J. Oppel, N6AJO
Joseph A. Nollmeyer, W3YVQ
Stephen R. Waterman, K4CJX
Peter A. Cecere, N2YJZ
Michael M. Barrett, K3MMB
Steven R. Ewald, WV1X (ARRL Staff)
Dan Miller, K3UFG (ARRL Staff)




Appendix:

A. August 2004 QST Article
B. Letter to section managers from NTS Leadership
C. ARES/NTS/NTSD/Winlink 2000, An Integrated Approach







Minutes of the 2005 Annual Meeting
ARRL Board of Directors
January 21-22, 2005

20. On motion of Mr. Walstrom, seconded by Mr. Fallon, the following resolution was unanimously ADOPTED:

WHEREAS, the ARRL Board of Directors in July, 2003 ordered the establishment of an ad hoc committee of members to develop a comprehensive program to enhance the current ARES emergency communications capability to include rapid and accurate handling of long range (interstate, national, and international) emergency communications; and

WHEREAS, this ad hoc committee, later referred to as ARESCOM, has been constituted and has worked tirelessly to not only complete its appointed task, but has also implemented and made available as an additional ARES tool a working network; and

WHEREAS, the ARRL Board of Directors in July, 2004 encouraged the deployment of e-mail via Amateur Radio (such as Winlink 2000) as an additional emergency capability provided to agencies served by ARES and requested ARESCOM to extend its efforts to conclude in January 2005; and

WHEREAS, the ARESCOM participants have worked tirelessly and professionally to complete its appointed task and develop and implement a working, functional network to serve ARES;

NOW BE IT RESOLVED, that the ARRL Board of Directors extends its full appreciation to all of those who served as members of ARESCOM for their personal and professional contributions in both completing the assigned task and making an implemented, functional network available to ARES.





26. On motion of Mr. Walstrom, seconded by Mr. Fallon, the following resolution was ADOPTED:

WHEREAS, an ad hoc committee constituted by the ARRL Board of Directors tasked to develop a plan to implement a network to serve ARES at all levels (later known as ARESCOM) has completed its assigned task and also has implemented a functional digital network as a new tool for ARES; and WHEREAS, the resulting functional digital network requires continuing direction and guidance;

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the ARRL Board of Directors establishes a committee, hereafter known as the ARESCOM Management Team. The team shall be appointed by, shall report to, and shall be overseen by the ARRL Field and Educational Services Department; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the function of this ARESCOM Management Team shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

a. Resolve remaining implementation details;

b. Oversee the overall management of the ARES digital network operation in cooperation with network subcomponent operators to promote continuous operation under all conditions;

c. Encourage and support new, alternative digital network modes when such modes can be effectively used to expand the current ARES digital network;

d. Work with emergency management officials at all levels to promote the use of the ARES digital network.







Minutes of the 2006 Annual Meeting
ARRL Board of Directors
January 21-22, 2006

***** Yet to take place *****



Among other items on its agenda, the ARRL Board is expected to discuss the process of developing effective band plans to support rule changes the League recently requested in a Petition for Rule Making RM-11306. The petition asks the FCC to regulate the amateur bands by necessary bandwidth rather than by mode. The Commission will accept public comments on the petition until February 6.