[CW] Communications Interoperability Training with Amateur Radio Community Set

[David J. J. Ring, Jr.]

Communications Interoperability Training with Amateur Radio Community Set


http://www.arrl.org/news/communications-interoperability-training-with-amateur-radio-community-set

Communications Interoperability Training with Amateur Radio Community 
Set

10/24/2017

Elements of the US Department of Defense (DOD) will conduct a 
“communications interoperability” training exercise November 4-6, once 
again simulating a “very bad day” scenario. Amateur Radio and MARS 
organizations will take part.

“This exercise will begin with a national massive coronal mass ejection 
event which will impact the national power grid as well as all forms of 
traditional communication, including landline telephone, cellphone, 
satellite, and Internet connectivity,” Army MARS Program Manager Paul 
English, WD8DBY, explained in an announcement.

During the exercise, a designated DOD Headquarters entity will request 
county-by-county status reports for the 3,143 US counties and county 
equivalents, in order to gain situational awareness and to determine the 
extent of impact of the scenario. Army and Air Force MARS organizations 
will work in conjunction with the Amateur Radio community, primarily on 
the 60-meter interoperability channels as well as on HF NVIS frequencies 
and local VHF and UHF, non-Internet linked Amateur Radio repeaters.

Again this year, a military station on the east coast and the Fort 
Huachuca, Arizona, HF station will conduct a high-power broadcast on 
60-meter channel 1 (5330.5 kHz) on Saturday from 0300 to 0315 UTC. New 
this year will be an informational broadcast on Sunday, on 13,483.5 kHz 
USB from 1600 to 1615 UTC. Amateur Radio operators should monitor these 
broadcasts for more information about the exercise and how they can 
participate in this communications exercise, English said.

“We want to continue building on the outstanding cooperative working 
relationship with the ARRL and the Amateur Radio community,” English 
said. “We want to expand the use of the 60-meter interop channels 
between the military and amateur community for emergency communications, 
and we hope the Amateur Radio community will give us some good feedback 
on the use of both the 5-MHz interop and the new 13-MHz broadcast 
channels as a means of information dissemination during a very bad day 
scenario.

Contact English for more information or questions about this exercise.

>From  ARRL

73
DR