Alabama #1 in ARES Activity – 2015 Simulated Emergency Test

2015’s Simulated Emergency Test (SET) was a great success for Jackson County ARES/RACES, it was the first time Jackson County has been involved in the annual exercise. Jackson County paired with Madison County for a simulated train wreck. The exercise went very well and was a great learning experience and a ton of fun. Our combined counties finished 4th in overall ARES Activity and 3rd in Section/Local Nets. The totals are below (from July QST):

Section Totals

Alabama – 8833 points – Top Spot in ARES Activity

Alabama – 2766 points – 3rd in Section Local Nets

County Totals

Jackson, Madison Co. – 921 points – 4th in ARES Activity

Jackson, Madison Co. – 431 points – 3rd in Local Nets

As net control for the initial exercise and for the majority of the event I learned a lot and found several weaknesses I had in managing a large number of people compared to the normally much smaller nets I’m used to. The most critical issue I found was the inability to manage everyone’s locations that checked in mobile within the 1,940 square mile area shared by the two counties. Dispatch software and an APRS digipeater/gateway are both in the works to remedy this issue and give us the ability to keep track of who’s mobile and where they’re located in case they need to be redirected due to potential danger. Otherwise the linked repeaters worked great and later we split into two separate county nets to allow each county to run their own exercise plans separate from the initial combined exercise. Overall everyone did an amazing job especially considering it was their first time!

Great work and a huge thank you to everyone that participated! Lets get ready for this year’s SET Exercise!