[FLARES] Sarasota County Search & Rescue Drill

[Ron Wetjen]

2002 Tactical Search & Rescue Drill
"Pinelands TSAR"

Sarasota and Manatee County Amateur Radio operators provided
communications assistance for the 10th Annual Sarasota County Search &
Rescue Drill.

On Tuesday, June 4th, Amateurs set up a 100' portable tower and
Communications Trailer at the drill site.  The tower would be used to
provide Amateur simplex coverage at the drill site at the Laurel Road
Landfill property.

At 7:30 AM Wednesday, June 5th, the Communications Trailer was activated
at the Command Post, utilizing Amateur, FRS, and 800 MHz equipment.

At 8 AM, South County "Task Forces" staged at the Venice Police
Department, Venice Hospital, Taylor Ranch Elementary School, and at the
Community Center in North Port.  Amateurs were assigned to each of these
task forces.

The "Task Forces" are designed to clear major roadways after a storm ...
each having an "assigned" route to clear.  This drill simulated an 800
MHz Trunked system outage, so Amateurs shadowed the "Task Force Leader"
and relayed communications from the "Command Post".

At 9 AM, the "Task Forces" received instructions via the 145.130 MHz
Venice Repeater to deploy.  Team members communicated with each other
via VHF simplex, 800 MHz simplex, or FRS radios, while communications
with the "Command Post" was maintained via the Venice Repeater.

Once the Teams arrived at "check in", communications switched from the
repeater to 146.580 MHz simplex.  

After a briefing with the "Team Leaders", various pieces of equipment
from each Task Force were "deployed" to perform various tasks.  For
example, the K9 S&R teams were sent to look for missing persons, Front
End loaders were sent to clear roads, Verizon was transported by boat
across a pond to restore phone service.

In the meantime, North County "Task Forces" began staging at 10:30 at
Sarasota Memorial Hospital (the Longboat Key Task Force staged with this
Task Force), Oak Park School, and Doctor's Hospital.  These teams
maintained communications with the "Command Post" on the 146.730 MHz
Sarasota Repeater, and received their instructions to deploy at 11:30.

These teams made their way to the drill site, and performed the same
functions as the earlier teams.

After the teams finished their objectives, lunch was served by the
Salvation Army, and participants received a "2002 Tactical Search &
Rescue" T-shirt.

After the North County teams finished, Amateurs demobilized the tower
and Communications Trailer, and returned the equipment to Sarasota.

Amateurs participating in the drill include:

Ed Gansen, K8DSS - Leader/Command Post
Al Alviani, N4LML - Command Post
Jack Doyle, WX1JAD - Command Post
Harvey Hernandez, N4TEC - Command Post
Roxena Doyle, W1ROX - Venice PD/Venice Hospital Task Force
Jay Goley, WJ4UF - Taylor Ranch Task Force
Jim Frey, W8ISZ - North Port Community Center Task Force
Jon Link, K4III - Sarasota Memorial Hospital Task Force
Tony Sapuppo, KR4EJ - Longboat Key/Sarasota Mem. Hosp. Task Force
Steve Simpson, KF4MBN - Longboat Key/Sarasota Mem. Hosp. Task Force
Glenn Alvord, KL7HX - Oak Park School Task Force
Ron Wetjen, WD4AHZ - Doctor's Hospital Task Force
Andy Murray, KG4DVD - Division of Forestry
Dave Armbrust, AE4MR - set up/take down
John Ferguson, K4KBP - set up/take down
  
Amateurs contributed 136 man-hours to this drill.

Amateur Radio performed flawlessly, while 800 MHz simplex and FRS had
coverage problems on the drill site.


Ron, WD4AHZ