[CTSARA] Operator Needed For CT Disaster Drill on July 31

[Jon Perelstein]

As some of you may know, the State of CT is conducting a statewide disaster
simulation drill from July 28th thru July 31st.  The simulation consists of
your basic "run-of-the-mill" Category 3 hurricane hitting CT head-on, with
resulting massive destruction.  A key component of the testing will be
simulated communications outages at the local, region, and state levels
(e.g., police and fire repeaters down) and another key component will be
large-scale shelter openings with shelters run by Red Cross and CERT (where
available).

The state has declined to include ham radio in the communications testing
(Red Cross, for example, will be using its 46MHz radios and CERT units will
use whatever radios they have).  It appears that CT ARES will be conducting
a simulated emergency test on the 28th, but in general it will be a
separate test run by ARES and will not be integrated with the state's
drill (I haven't actually received any formal notification of the ARES
test, but that's the rumor).

Be that as it may, the City of Stamford has expressed an interest in having
SARA test backup radio communications between the Stamford shelter
(Stamford High School again) and the Stamford EOC.  It turns out that the
City of Bridgeport and the Town of Stratford have expressed similar
interests to GBARC.  In response, Stamford, SARA, GBARC, Bridgeport, and
Stratford have agreed on a communications test as part of the simulated
shelter operations.  We've decided to structure it as SARA and GBARC
passing simulated shelter logistics data, shelter population data, and
shelter status data from their shelters to their respective EOCs (e.g.,
from Stamford High School to Stamford EOC), and then from the EOCs to Red
Cross in Bridgeport.  We have decided to use digital communications in the
form of VHF/UHF NBEMS traffic (including FLDIGI, FLWRAP, and FLMSG).

The shelter exercise will take place on Tuesday, July 31.  We need an
operator who is familiar with NBEMS to set up and operate at Stamford High
School for about two hours during the midday (probably 11-1).  Ideally, the
person will be someone with:

1.  The necessary equipment, including a VHF/UHF FM rig suitable for
deployment, an antenna suitable for deployment, and a computer loaded with
the necessary software.  Note that a car-based system is acceptable if you
don't have an antenna that can be ground deployed.

2.  Experience at using NBEMS, including sending file attachments.

If you are interested but don't have all the equipment, please contact me.
 I have a spare J-Pole and might even be able to rustle up a rig and
computer.

If you are interested but don't have enough experience with NBEMS, please
contact me.  We have two weeks before the drill and we can get you trained
in that time.

This is a good opportunity to further cement our relationship with the City
(especially because they expressed the interest) and a good opportunity to
show that SARA is at the forefront of where emergency communications is
going.

73s
Jon, WB2RYV