January 24, 2024
Good Morning ARES Members:

As I mentioned on the Sunday night ARES analog and digital nets, FEMA Region 1 (the six New England states) is going to be conducting monthly Winlink tests. The purpose of these tests is to exercise Region 1's Winlink capabilities and to test the response from amateur radio and SHARES stations.

Messages will be sent monthly to those who sign up. The following is the link to enroll:
forms.gle/sTibzJjZhftHXR4J9

There are a couple of important points:
The test is unannounced. A Winlink message will be send sometime during the month.
Stations have 72 hours in which to respond. This means you need to monitor Winlink regularly.
The message will include specific instructions on how to respond.
Region 1 will be tracking timely and correct responses. Stations failing these criteria three months in a row will be dropped from the distribution.
Again, the purpose is to tests FEMA's ability to use Winlink in an emergency to disseminate information and to receive situational awareness information from across the region. That is the reason for the strict criteria.

I asked the DEC's and EC's to participate in the January test. Connecticut had 24 stations enroll with 13 responses meeting the criteria. We had the most participation of the six states! Hopefully more CT ARES members will enroll and find this a useful exercise.

Please remember that this Announce group and the associate Alert group are for informational purposes to a wide audience (over 500 for the Announce group). Please do not reply to this or similar messages. If you wish to communicate with the sender please do so in a private email.

Thanks and 73.
Phil Crombie, Jr., K1XFC
Section Emergency Coordinator (SEC)
Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES)
Connecticut Section