Amateur Radio Emergency Service

Operations Manual

Toronto ARES acts ONLY at the request of The Canadian Red Cross or the Toronto Municipal Control Group or their agents as defined in the City of Toronto By-law 47-1998 
Copyright (c) October 16, 1991
Gordon G. Fraser VE3HSF
Updated: February 17, 1999
John Meskes VE3POJ

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

ARES COMMUNICATION SERVICES

ARES COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT SERVICES

ARES OPERATIONS

EMERGENCY OPERATIONS

CONTACTING TORONTO ARES

Appendix A. DEFINITION OF TERMS

Appendix B. ARL NUMBERED RADIOGRAMS

Appendix C. CALL RECORD

Appendix D. ARES CONTACT volunteer form

INTRODUCTION

AMATEUR RADIO EMERGENCY SERVICE

The Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) is organized on a national basis by the Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC), a national organization of amateur radio enthusiasts. The RAC appoints qualified amateurs to plan and organize an emergency response at the Provincial, District (multiple municipalities) and Municipal levels throughout Canada.

THE EMERGENCY COORDINATOR

The local ARES organization is headed by an Emergency Coordinator (EC) who is responsible for:

CITY OF TORONTO BY-LAW 47-1998

Note: This By-law has replaced By-law 31-96 which replaced By-law 52-84

What follows are some of the sections of interest to Toronto ARES in its capacity as a volunteer group of citizens who have communications services to offer the Toronto Municipal Control Group.

From the preamble, Toronto By-law 47-1998 provides, 

            "for the formulation and implementation of a plan for the
            provision of emergency services during emergencies affecting
            the City of Toronto."
The plan is formulated according to the by-law by the "Committee" defined in Section 1 Sub-section (g) as, 
            "The Toronto Emergency Planning Committee".
Section 1 Sub-section (h) defines "emergency" as, 
            "a situation caused by the forces of nature, an accident, an
            intentional act or otherwise that constitutes a danger of
            major proportions to life and property."
Section 13 Sub-section (c) specifies that the Municipal Control Group is authorized to, 
            "...obtain volunteer support from public agencies and
            other persons as considered necessary and to indemnify
            such agencies, their personnel, and other persons
            engaged in work that has been authorized pursuant to
            this by-law or any other law, from liability for any acts
            or omissions resulting from any actions taken pursuant to
            this by-law or any other law."
Section 17 states that when an emergency exists, 
            "... other persons participating in the implementation of a
            plan under the direction of the Municipal Control Group or of
            municipal employees acting thereunder, shall for the
            purposes of the Act be deemed to be employees of the Corporation
            to the extent to which Council is authorized to do so."

OVERVIEW OF THIS DOCUMENT

This document contains the Toronto ARES emergency plan including much supporting documentation.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This Operations Manual describes the various communication services provided by Toronto Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) to a user agency. The two user agencies recognized by Toronto ARES are the Canadian Red Cross and The Toronto Municipal Control Group as defined in By-law 47-1998. The services consist of pseudo "ad hoc", self-contained, communication networks which are combined together into an extensive communication system. The system is centrally managed, staffed and equipped by Toronto ARES. The "ad hoc" nature of the system is not a weakness but a feature that has no analog in the established systems in Toronto. The "ad hoc" feature means that Toronto ARES has the ability to custom design and dynamically modify the systems detailed in this document in order to satisfy the constantly changing communication requirements of an extended emergency.

The communication services provided by Toronto ARES are:

Voice Traffic
allows the user agency the ability to pass messages over a voice network connecting several locations in and around Toronto. The messages may be written, not unlike telegrams, or unwritten where personnel of the user agency may converse verbally with each other.
Data Traffic
allows the user agency the ability to pass messages over a digital radio network connecting several locations in and around Toronto. These messages are entered by keyboard and transmitted to another location. Typically these messages contain lists of items or details of such complexity and length that using the Voice Traffic service is impractical.
Dispatch
allows the user agency the ability to direct the movements of radio equipped vehicles over a voice network connecting the dispatch location and the vehicles. The dispatcher is located in the user agency's management centre. Amateur radio operators and their equipment ride in the agency's vehicles to provide the radio link.
Surveillance
allows the user agency the ability to monitor and control activities in an area using a voice network. The monitoring is carried out by amateurs, using hand held radios, either working by themselves or in conjunction with representatives of the user agency. Typically the amateurs monitor hallways, parking lots, and crowds to report any problems that arise.
Paging
allows the user agency the ability to contact their executive managers even though such personnel may be scattered over the whole of Toronto. Typically an amateur would be assigned to 'shadow' a manager by staying reasonably close to him and conducting any message to/from him that is required. Alternatively, the manager himself can take the microphone and speak directly to another colleague. This unique service allows an organization who has many managers, to maintain contact and coordinate with each other even when dispersed over a large area.
The communication services described above are managed, staffed and equipped by Toronto ARES. The management structure consists of a System Manager who is responsible for all communication networks. Each ARES serviced site has a Site Manager who is responsible for all ARES activities at that site. These managers have their own communication network called the Command and Control Network. In this way the communication system can be controlled and modified without delay in response to changing communication requirements as specified by the user agency.

The operational requirement for all the amateurs and their equipment are defined according to the type of communication they are required to provide. This definition allows the amateur to ensure that his equipment is consistent with the requirements of the operation. Very few amateurs are able to participate in all services, however this definition allows each amateur to judge his participation in each service based upon hard criteria.

Each of the operational requirements below are described under headings of Duties, Equipment, Skills, and Miscellaneous Information:

ARES COMMUNICATION SERVICES

In Ontario, ARES is an official provider of emergency communication to the Red Cross. In that capacity we have held many emergency exercises. As well, many amateurs in Toronto ARES have been providing emergency communication during exercises as well as actual emergencies for more than 25 years. We have identified typical configurations of radio stations that are common to many if not all emergency scenarios. Each of these configurations is called a network in this document.

Toronto ARES has a set up time of four (4) hours minimum. Toronto is so well served with emergency professionals that a quick response by ARES is not considered necessary. However, because of the population density and the resulting avalanche of radio traffic that will result in an emergency, ARES can provide operators, expertise, equipment and radio channels to handle the overflow.

The local population of twenty-five hundred (2500) amateur radio operators provides excess capacity in manpower and resources in Toronto. The installed amateur radio VHF and UHF full duplex repeater base exceeds thirty (30). Many of these repeaters are emergency powered and have phone patches. Several have linking facilities which allows a user with a hand held radio in Toronto to talk directly to such widely scattered places as North Bay, Collingwood, London, and Kingston and most areas in between. See Section 5.8 for more specific information on linked voice repeater systems in Southern Ontario.

It can be demonstrated that the interest in emergency work by amateurs in general is high, provided that amateurs are treated with respect for their expertise and are given specific non-trivial communications tasks to accomplish during an emergency. Many times amateurs are treated as unreliable links in the community response because they are not organized in a military manner similar to the Police or Fire Departments. This fact is known in the amateur radio community and is an inhibiting factor in ARES recruitment. Authorities do not realize that ARES has been involved in every major disaster in Ontario since 1930 and as a result has accumulated a great amount of expertise as a provider of emergency communication.

With proper integration, and well defined missions for amateur radio in Municipal emergency plans, membership in ARES will grow from the current levels of seventy (70) in Toronto to about three hundred and fifty (350) which has been calculated to be the ideal strength. To that end, the purpose of this operations manual is to provide the amateur radio community with a focus in their efforts in support of the services defined herein. As well, this operations manual allows ARES to design exercises and training sessions to indoctrinate amateurs in the services defined herein as well as to verify the correctness of specific areas of this plan.

The typical network configurations that we have identified are: Voice Traffic, Data Traffic, Dispatch, Surveillance and Paging. A response to an emergency would not use just one of these networks. Several would combine together into communication systems tailored to fit the response. In what follows, each of the network configurations is identified followed by short descriptions of their typical use.

VOICE TRAFFIC

The Voice Traffic network is set up to allow the user agency to pass any messages between radio stations located at various places in and around Toronto. Typically the traffic on this network concerns itself with agency generated messages.
COMMUNITY REQUIREMENTS
Community agencies usually have several sites that require radio communication among them. Several of these sites may be in buildings owned by the agency. Other sites might be in areas that are being used temporarily by the agency.
NETWORK SOLUTION
Amateur repeater coverage on VHF with each of the sites operating base stations of moderate power and an external antenna provide enough power and coverage to unify all locations in and around Toronto.

DATA TRAFFIC

The Data Traffic network is set up to pass large amounts of the user agency's traffic. This network is only set up by the System Manager when it becomes apparent that the data flow between some locations is too large to handle by the Voice Traffic network.
COMMUNITY REQUIREMENTS
The user agency has a requirement for large amounts of data to be passed among several locations. Typically this data consists of lists of goods, or names and address of individuals or other information in a written form.
NETWORK SOLUTION
Amateur digital repeaters are available on VHF and UHF to pass any data traffic generated by the serviced agency. ARES provides data radio operators and terminals into which may be typed the data to be transmitted. The ARES equipment applied to this service will include printers to make a hard copy of the data received at any location. The agency may want its own high speed typists to enter the data into the network. AC power must be provided on site to operate the printers.

DISPATCH

Dispatch of radio equipped vehicles occurs on one of three dispatch networks. The agency's vehicles can be put on the air by allowing amateur radio operators to ride in the vehicle with a radio and mobile whip antenna attached to the outside of the vehicle with a magnet. The dispatch operators are located at or near the community agency's command center. This proximity allows instructions and directions to be passed to the mobiles without delay.
COMMUNITY REQUIREMENTS
The City of Toronto and the Red Cross have many vehicles that are not radio dispatched. In an emergency these vehicles and their management are critical to the services provided by the agency.
NETWORK SOLUTION
Amateur voice repeaters are available to provide coverage for dispatch networks. Toronto is divided into three sections. The central section is defined as being South of Eglinton Avenue. The western section is defined as North of Eglinton and West of Yonge Street. Similarly East is defined as being North of Eglinton and East of Yonge Street. Various repeaters located in those geographical areas provide proper coverage. This plan supports three dispatch networks, one in each section of the city.

SURVEILLANCE

Surveillance occurs when amateurs using hand held radios walk in a designated area monitoring the area for pre-defined activities.
COMMUNITY REQUIREMENTS
The serviced agency might have a requirement that individual amateurs with hand held radios observe an area and report any activities of interest to that agency. For instance, agencies might have to monitor the flow of vehicles and foot traffic in an area or around a building, monitor hall ways, or link various positions in and around a building by radio.
NETWORK SOLUTION
Typically the amateur hand held VHF radio has about 1200 channels in it. The local coverage is very good even using the low power position on these radios. The Site Manager would select a simplex frequency that would provide the network with its working frequency.

PAGING

Paging occurs when there exists a direct radio link among all who are part of the management team of the user agency. It allows them instant communication to any other individual in the team. It also provides for a round-table discussion among managers.
COMMUNITY REQUIREMENTS
Many times in a disaster the actual management team of an agency is scattered about over a relatively large area. It is difficult, for many reasons, for them to get together and have meetings. It is impractical for them all to work out of offices where they could rely on phone service among them; phone service typically would not allow for conference calls. The only way to allow them to cooperate fully in their efforts is to provide the group with their own private radio channel on which they may pass information or round-table among themselves at any time.
NETWORK SOLUTION
Amateur repeaters can be assigned such that hand held radio coverage is established among various individuals that are important players on the management team of the user agency. The amateur so assigned must 'shadow' the person he is assigned to and provide instant communication between that individual and any other individual on the team.

ARES COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT SERVICES

ARES provides the management services required to establish and maintain the complex of communication networks that are used during an emergency.

The top management position is the System Manager. There is only one System Manager on duty at any time. His duties are similar to a Duty Officer. He is the top ARES official on duty with responsibilities encompassing the whole ARES communications effort as well as providing liaison between the management of the user agency and ARES. This management integration allows ARES communication services to be tailored to the changing needs of the user agency as the emergency matures.

The second management position, the Site Managers, concern themselves with the proper management of each site that has ARES personnel working at it. They are responsible for management liaison with the officials of the user agency located at each site and ARES personnel.

SYSTEM MANAGER

The System Manager is the communications Duty Officer. He is responsible for the establishment and maintenance of all networks operated by Toronto ARES during an exercise or emergency. He is responsible for the interface between ARES and the management of the agency that ARES is servicing.
DUTIES
EQUIPMENT
SKILLS
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION

SITE MANAGER

The Site Manager is responsible for the management of all ARES activities at an ARES serviced site. A site is defined as any location where ARES establishes at least one radio station.
DUTIES
EQUIPMENT
SKILLS
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION

ARES OPERATIONS

This section of the manual describes each of the operations that, in total, makes possible the communication services defined above in section 2. In what follows each of these operations is defined in detail so that any amateur can read them and assess his ability to carry them out.

There are few amateurs who have the equipment to be active in all of these operations described below. However, most amateurs have enough equipment to operate several of them.

COMMAND AND CONTROL

The Command and Control operator is responsible for establishing and maintaining a node on the Command and Control Network at an ARES serviced site. The Command and Control Network allows ARES to manage its communication resources. The network is confined to the 70 cm band.
DUTIES
EQUIPMENT
SKILLS
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION

VOICE

The Voice operator is responsible for establishing and maintaining a node on a Voice Traffic network at an ARES serviced site.
DUTIES
EQUIPMENT
SKILLS
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION

PORTABLE

The Portable operation is responsible for establishing and maintaining a node on a network using a hand held radio station.
DUTIES
EQUIPMENT
SKILLS
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION

DISPATCH

The Dispatch operator is responsible for establishing and maintaining the communication network among ARES controlled mobiles.
DUTIES
EQUIPMENT
SKILLS
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION

MOBILE

The mobile operator is responsible for establishing and maintaining a radio station in a designated vehicle.
DUTIES
EQUIPMENT
SKILLS
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION

DATA

The data operator is responsible for establishing and maintaining a data node on a data network at an ARES serviced site.
DUTIES
EQUIPMENT
SKILLS
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION

NTS

The National Traffic System (NTS) operator is responsible for providing the interface between the National Traffic System and local traffic networks involved in the emergency.
DUTIES
EQUIPMENT
SKILLS
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION

EMERGENCY OPERATIONS

If an emergency is currently underway and the reader is acting an an agent for the Red Cross or The Toronto Municipal Control Group as defined by Toronto By-law 47-1998 then turn to Section 6, "Contacting Toronto ARES".

INITIAL CHECK-IN PROCEDURE

Each amateur wishing to volunteer time to the emergency shall conform to the following check-in procedure.

Assemble your initial traffic for net control:

Check-in with your traffic.

Traffic to you might consist of the following:

ARRL MESSAGE FORMAT

The following is an outline of a Radiogram. It is placed here to guide you rather than to be completely defined. Log all the times in GMT. Print all message information received. 
--------------------------------------------------------------
NNNN|Precedence|Originating station|Word count|Place|Time|Date

Address Line 1
Address Line 2
Address Line 3
Telephone number

Message

SIG: Name and Title of person sending radiogram

Received
      Station:             Date:            Time:
Sent
      Station:             Date:            Time:

Ops Call:
--------------------------------------------------------------

NNNN = number of message.
Precedences recommended by RAC are defined as follows: Radiogram pads can be purchased from: 
      Radio Amateurs of Canada Inc,
      720 Belfast Road, Suite 217,
      Ottawa, ON,
      K1G 0Z5

USE OF PHONETICS

Primary emphasis is on the capitalized syllables. 
LETTER  WORD   PRONUNCIATION
==============================
A     alpha       AL fah
B     bravo       BRAHVOH
C     charlie     CHAR lee
D     delta       DELL tah
E     echo        ECK oh
F     foxtrot     FOKS trot
G     golf        GOLF
H     hotel       ho TELL
I     india       IN dee ah
J     juliette    JEW lee ETT
K     kilo        KEY lo
L     lima        LEE mah
M     mike        MIKE
N     november    no VEM ber
O     oscar       OSS cah
P     papa        pah PAH
Q     quebec      keh BECK
R     romeo       ROW me oh
S     sierra      see AIR rah
T     tango       TANG go
U     uniform     YOU nee form
V     victor      VIC tah
W     whiskey     WISS KEY
X     xray        ECKS ray
Y     yankee      YANG key
Z     zulu        ZOO loo

NUMBER    PRONUNCIATION
=======================
0           ZE row
1           WUN
2           TOO
3           TREE
4           FOW er
5           FIFE
6           SIX
7           SEV en
8           AIT
9           NIN er

PUNCTUATION MARK
=============================
period            ECKS ray
question mark     QUEER ree

UNUSUAL WORDS, LETTERS, FIGURES
===============================
AN UNUSUAL WORD is transmitted as follows: 1. say the word,
2. say the words "I SPELL",
3. spell the word. (use phonetics if in poor conditions)
LETTER GROUPS are transmitted as follows: 1. say the words, "INITIAL GROUP",
2. spell the letters using phonetics.
NUMBERS are transmitted as follows: 1. say the word, "FIGURES" before each number group,
2. say the numbers.
A LETTER is transmitted as follows: 1. say the word, "INITIAL",
2. spell the word using a phonetic.
A CIPHER is transmitted as follows: 1. say the words, "MIXED GROUP",
2. spell the letters using phonetics and,
3. say the numbers.
NOTE: a cipher refers to a group of characters containing both letters and numbers.

EMERGENCY EQUIPMENT

The following is a check list of equipment and personal articles which may be included in an Emergency Response Kit.
RADIO EQUIPMENT
DOCUMENTS AND IDENTIFICATION
PERSONAL

KEY WORDS USED IN VOICE OPERATION

The following words are used by all voice operators working for ARES during an emergency or exercise. Note that all use of jargon or "Q" signals is STRICTLY PROHIBITED. All voice communication must be done in plain language ONLY. Please observe the following key words. Typically, most amateurs use these words every day however, if you are not in the habit of using them then please be mindful of them when using voice during an ARES operation.
AFFIRMATIVE"Yes" or "Permission granted"
ALL AFTER"Repeat all your transmission after .... "
ALL BEFORE"Repeat all your transmission before .... "
BREAK"I wish to stop your transmission" Also used at the end of address and at end of text in message handling to enable repeats to be requested. Also used to terminate message with one station and start message to another during the same transmission. For instance, "Thank-you VE3ZZZ for your report. BREAK VE3AAA are you ready to copy?"
BREAK BREAK(Double break) This is used when a station has very time critical emergency traffic that must be passed on frequency. Stations hearing a double break must relinquish the frequency immediately to the calling station.
CLEAR"Transmissions to this station completed" This station is now free to establish communication with another station.
CORRECT"You are ____" or "That is ______".
DISREGARD"The transmission was in error. Disregard it.
FIGURES"Following numerals are to be copied as a group."
FROM"This is station ..."
GO AHEAD"Begin sending." Used the same as "Over".
INITIAL"A single letter or initial follows."
I SPELL"I will spell the next word"
NEGATIVE"Not received" or "No"
OUT"End of transmission. No response expected"
OVER"End of Transmission. Awaiting your response"
READ BACK"Repeat entire message"
ROGER"Have received last transmission" (Does NOT mean AFFIRMATIVE)
SAY AGAIN"Repeat last transmission"
STAND BY"I will monitor" or "Please monitor"
THIS IS"This is station ... "
VERIFY"Verify entire message with addresses"
WILCO"I will comply" or "Will do"
Eg: The boss wants to know if you have handed in the log sheets.
- AFFIRMATIVE: Yes, I've handed them in.
- WILCO: No, but I will hand them in now.
- ROGER: I copied the message. I'll ask someone in charge.
- YES: So, what else does he want to know?

CONTACTING TORONTO ARES

You are an agent of the Red Cross or The Toronto Municipal Control Group and are contacting ARES to provide communication services as defined in Section 2 of this manual. Your call-in to the ARES organization will require that you define what services you need and assemble the information required by ARES to set up on the sites you specify. [See Appendix "C" for our response worksheets].

As a volunteer organization with no paid staff, ARES can only say that the members will respond as soon as possible. An approximate set up time for a full ARES response is four (4) hours.

CALL-IN PROCEDURE

When you call ARES please have the following information available in order give it to the ARES executive that you contact [See Appendix "C" for our worksheet]:

Appendix A. DEFINITION OF TERMS

RACRadio Amateurs of/du Canada. The national organization representing amateur radio interests.
ARESAmateur Radio Emergency Service. This is the emergency planning and response part of each country's amateur radio organization.
NTSNational Traffic System. This is the message handling part of each country's amateur radio organization. It serves the Public by maintaining traffic networks across Canada and North America on which radiograms are passed on a daily basis. During times of emergency ARES makes extensive use of NTS to pass much of the welfare traffic generated by the emergency.
NETWORKA network is a radio channel set up by prior agreement among several radio stations in order to pass traffic.
TRAFFICTraffic is the general term for messages that are passed on a network. There are two kinds of traffic.
FORMAL TRAFFICFormal traffic consists of messages that are written down before they are sent. Usually the traffic is in the form of a radiogram which looks very similar to a telegram.
INFORMAL TRAFFICInformal traffic consists of unrecorded, verbal messages that may pass over the network.
HTHandie Talkie. This is the amateur version of a Police Mitre or a walkie talkie. It usually has about 800 - 1200 synthesized channels in it and has a keypad on the front of it similar to a telephone's keypad.
AUTOPATCHThe keypad can be used to access computers on the network that allow the user to make phone calls on the regular telephone system.
LINKThe keypad may also be used to link networks together such that HT coverage may be extended to other areas in and around Southern Ontario.
SECSection Emergency Coordinator. The coordinator responsible for all ARES activities in Ontario.
DECDistrict Emergency Coordinator. The coordinator responsible for all ARES activities in an area consisting of several municipalities.
ECEmergency Coordinator. The Emergency Coordinator is an appointed official of R.A.C. He is responsible for forging a coherent emergency communications group in his area as well as publishing an emergency plan for his area.
AECAssistant Emergency Coordinator.
FSKFrequency Shift Keying. Allows the frequency of a transmitter to be moved or shifted a specific number of hertz. This shifting allows digital codes to be transmitted.
FMFrequency Modulation - A human voice or tones may be passed on a radio channel using this mode. FM is used on VHF and UHF PHONE networks.
PHONE or VOICEA form of radio in which the human voice is carried from point to point using radio. Typically PHONE is used in FM and SSB transmissions.
VHFVery High Frequency. The portion of the radio spectrum with a frequency between 30 Mhz. and 300 Mhz.
UHFUltra High Frequency. The portion of the radio spectrum with a frequency between 300 Mhz. and 3000 Mhz.
FILEA group of stored characters that is handled as a unit by a computer.

Appendix B. ARL NUMBERED RADIOGRAMS

Appendix C. CALL RECORD

Appendix D. CONTACT FORM

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