[FLARES] Sarasota County Search & Rescue Drill

Thu, 6 Jun 2002 13:30:21 -0400

you all have to much fun down there in Sarasoto County!!!!

kd4efm lkld
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron Wetjen" <[email protected]>
To: "Florida ARES/RACES list" <[email protected]>; "ecwcf"
<[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, June 06, 2002 11:55
Subject: [FLARES] Sarasota County Search & Rescue Drill

> 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
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