Today we participated in the bi-annual FEMA graded exercise for Seabrook Station. In case you don't know it, East Rock ARES provides communication support for the state's emergency plan by staffing amateur radio stations at the EOCs located in each town in the 10 mile planning zone around Seabrook, the reception centers in Manchester, Dover, and Rochester, as well as the state's Incident Field Office in Newington.
At about 8 AM, the ARES net was activated, with Rose KB1SOE as Net Control at the PCARC club station in Greenland. Shortly after, the hams began rolling in to the various EOCs in towns up and down the seacoast. Igor (N1YX) and Rick (N1ZXZ) quickly got the IFO station on air and began relaying messages to the net. Over the next few hours, we passed 5 status updates, and a couple of direct messages. Overall, the event went well, and we look forward to the next drill, in 2012.
