[CALV-ARES] SET - Plans for Calvert - PLEASE RSVP

[N3AE]

All, 

I'm filling in for Dennis on the upcoming SET since he has to work those days. 

Looking for stations that want to participate in the 2013 Simulated Emergency Test (SET) which begins this Friday, October 4th at 1800 EDT and ends NLT 1800 EDT Saturday, October 5th. I suspect that there will be minimal activity during the late evening/early morning hours, but that's just my guess. 

The scenario for this year's SET is a Category 2 hurricane coming up the bay. Details in the attached SET Player's Handbook. The plan emphasizes use of digital modes (Winlink 2000) but voice com on VHF/UHF and HF will still be used. 

All operations would be from our home QTH's unless a particular op or mobile station wanted to deploy somewhere (park, whatever) to test out their field equipment and skills. If you use actual emergency power, all the better. 

Stations wanting to participate should RSVP me ASAP indicating which position they would like to fill. First come, first served, but PLEASE make sure you and your station can support the requirements indicated. 




Outline of plan for Calvert: 




1. All participating stations need to read the SET Player's Handbook (attached). 





2. We need an ARES net controller for a voice net on 146.985. Given the duration of the SET, probably a couple of ops willing to rotate into the net control spot, so if you're interested, let me know what time periods you prefer. Unlike a real event, I suspect activity will be sporadic/non-existant in late nighttime hours. Net control should be able to also monitor the Central Regional Net on 147.105 (Davidsonville). Would help if the net control stations had Winlink capability on 2M and/or HF. 





3. We need one or two stations to volunteer to be (simulate) the Calvert EOC. These stations, operating from their home QTH, will originate and receive traffic (voice and digital) and would monitor the net on 146.985 and also the regional net on 147.105 as needed. These stations SHOULD have 2M Winlink capability with the ability to monitor the 2M voice net AND run RMS Express at the same time. Ideally, this Implies two radios and two separate antennas, one for voice, one for WL2K, 





4. We need one or two HF-capable stations to monitor and check-in to MEMA on 3.820MHz or 7.243MHz. Per the SET plan, there may be some traffic Friday evening and then more on Saturday, They would communicate any relevant traffic on the Calvert ARES 2Mvoice net and/or WL2K digital. 




5. If we have enough stations willing to participate, we can have someone pretend to be the Red Cross station and another the Calvert Health Department station. 





6. N3AE will be the Winlink POC for receiving and forwarding any digital traffic out of or into the county. I'll be linked on both HF and 2M. 





7. To the extent possible, all stations that have 2M Winlink capability should try to use the store and forward capability of K3CAL-10 on 145.69. I've checked this out and it works. In brief, what one does is to send a normal Winlink message (packet WL2k session) to K3CAL-10. The addressee of the message is the destination station's callsign followed by @winlink.org. Example: a message to me would be addresses n3ae at winlink.org When the destination station connects to K3CAL-10, any stored messages for that station will be downloaded to them. 




8. Suggest any stations that have 2M Winlink capability try to send a message addressed to n3ae at winlink.org to the K3CAL-10 store and forward node BEFORE SET STARTS. That way, we can check out the functionality. I'll connect to K3CAL-10 periodically and check for messages. Folks having problems can contact me for help. To my knowledge, 2M Winlink to K3CAL-10 will require a 2M radio plus a packet TNC or a packet capable radio like the Kenwood D700 or D710, plus the appropriate cables. I've read that t he SignaLink USB can be used with the AGW Packet Engine software program to operate in the "Packet" mode but I have no experience with this setup. 




9. I strongly encourage all stations having Winlink capability (VHF or HF) try to connect to a Winlink CMS node as soon as possible if they have never done so before. Local 2M nodes are N1WR-10 in 145.69 (if it's up) and W3SMD-10 on 145.75. The practice is good, and by connecting to a node, you'll automatically be registered as a Winlink user. If already registered, connecting will restart the 400 day "inactivity" counter in Winlink's message system and keep your registration alive. Try sending a message to your own email account. For example, I'd send to an address of n3ae at comcast.net . Remember to put the string //WL2K as the first characters in the message subject (the Winlink system requires this to reduce spam). 





Let me know ASAP what positions you'd like to fill and any time constraints you may have so I can lay out a plan. 




Thanks ! 





Shawn - N3AE 
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