[Oremem] Additional information regarding 03 OCT 02 VA Exercise...
John E Jewkes-AAA0OR-AAA0ID
[email protected]
Tue, 24 Sep 2002 21:23:02 -0700
Below, please the basic plan as presented by VA Staff in
VISN20 (Service District 20, Veterans Information Svc Network).
I will then follow up with Suggested Army/Navy MARS frequencies
and traffic handling exercise components..
73 de
John Jewkes, SMD US ARMY MARS
Oregon/Idaho State Director
AAA0OR OR/AAA0ID ID/AAR0MI OR
W6HNC
----------------------------Forwarded Message----------------------
Ed, I am impressed with the QUAKEX 2002 exercise you have developed. I
am also impressed with the fine list of amateur volunteers on the
spreadsheet.
John, thanks for participating.
We should probably send the communications plan including the spreadsheet
to the amateur radio players via email. It is important that we verify
which locations will have HF capabilities. It seems OK to me for them to
operate at home and communicate to the VA facility via telephone except
in the Portland-Vancouver Area. We should probably add a column to the
spreadsheet to display existence of HF capability and a column for the
Tactical Call Sign.
This is just a draft we can make changes to suit you.
FREQUENCIES:
High Frequency, single sideband:
75/80 meters - 3.985 MHz.
40 Meters - 7.245 MHz.
20 Meters - 14.300 MHz.
The first choice for HF communications within VISN 20 will be 75/80
meters. The first choice for communications with the East Coast and
Albuquerque will be 20 meters. If you are unable to communicate using
first choice due to band conditions try 40 meters. If the frequency is
busy, move up 5 kHz. at a time until you find a free frequency.
Other HF modes such as PSK 31 or CW may be used in future exercises.
Very High Frequency (VHF):
From: To:
Frequency:
VISN 20 (Vancouver) Portland VA 147.570
MHz. Simplex
VISN 20 MARS (Portland)
147.570 MHz. Simplex
VISN 20 ECC (Vancouver)
146.475 MHz. Simplex
VISN 20 American Lake
147.060 MHz. + BAWFAW Repeater, tone 110.9 Hz
American Lake Puget Sound
146.640 - Tacoma Repeater
Spokane Walla Walla
146.720 MHz. - Ritzville Repeater
Roseburg White City
146.940 MHz. - Wolf Creek Repeater
VHF communications is planned between the facilities listed above to
provide a back up link. For instance, if one of the two locations does
not have HF communications the other can relay a message. Other modes
such as Packet or IRLP may be used in the future.
Ultra High Frequency (UHF) may be used as a backup as directed by VISN
20. Non-availability of UHF is not a problem.
OPERATING: All communications will be in an efficient business like
manner. If any simulated emergency traffic is generated, it should be
preceded by, "This is a VISN 20 Quakex 2002 exercise message." If
phonetic spelling is needed, the only the ITU recommended phonetics will
be used. Contacts will be initiated by using a tactical call sign for
the facility you wish to contact. The tactical call sign will be
assigned by the net control and will probably be the name of the
facility. We may need to work on some of these. Conclude the contact
with your amateur radio call sign per FCC rules. Operators are requested
to be familiar with message handling procedures. Only simple messages,
if any, will be handled during this exercise. It may be necessary to
deviate from this plan to get the message through. Participants are
encouraged to comment on this plan prior to the exercise. You may want
to test the VHF links prior to the exercise. The email addresses of the
participants are in the spreadsheet.
Sequence:
1. Starting soon after 1:00 p.m., the HF net will be conducted by Oregon
Army MARS in Portland, tactical call is Net Control. All listed VISN 20
facilities plus EMSHG Operations, Albuquerque and New England will be
contacted by Net Control in a roll call fashion on the frequencies listed
above and ask for a signal report and the call sign of all the operators
on duty. Stations close to Portland, OR will be contacted first, those
farthest away last.
2. Once this is completed, the Net Control will contact the facilities
associated with the VHF frequencies listed above and request they contact
each other and subsequently report the quality of the communications to
the Net Control.
3. In the event of a disaster, the most important communication will be
between VISN 20 and the participants. However, it may be necessary, due
to band conditions, for a message to be relayed via a helpful facility.
The Net Control will request that each HF station attempt to contact the
other participating HF stations in the order shown in the spreadsheet.
Stations will request a signal report which will subsequently be
reported to the Net Control.
4. If there is time, a simple message handling exercise may be
conducted. Please be prepared with ARRL message forms.
Mike Fogarty AC7RU
[email protected]
360 693-5181 Voice
360 693-1894 Fax
360 606-4894 Cell
------------------------------End Forwarded
Message-------------------------
Spreadsheet did not arrive in this message (preceeding) so I have
requested it be
re-sent to me. My suggestions are as follows:
Region 10 Frequencies: KFC Primary, KMH secondary, Oregon Assigned KZA
as 'second back-up frequency'. Exercise begins at 1301 Local (Pacific
Time) on 03
OCT 02. (DTG 032001Z OCT 02). Would suggest Navy/MC MARS operate on
their 7X2E/7X3B net frequencies (namely 7381.0 USB Dial and 4003.5 USB
Dial) as
well as having a station (if available) to check-in on The Army Nets for
traffic passing
and relays. Would also suggest at least one Army MARS station operate on
theirs as well
for same purposes. Would suggest that AF MARS operate on their regional
frequencies, and
hope that a copy of those arrive prior to exercise as well, and that at
least one station from
NMCM and ARMARS check-in on the net(s) as well for same inter-operability
messages.
Most stations, by agreement with VA Staff, would not need to go to a VA
facility unless
they desire to do so voluntarily. ALL VA Facilities are equipped with VHF
and UHF gear
and will have HAM Operators stationed therein. (Frequencies above are
only a portion
of the entire listing). Example: When VHF/HF NCS calls for "Stations
checking in to the
VA Exercise Net" you would check-in on the HAM Bands using your HAM
callsign, the
VA you are close to/would support and your Affiliation. Such as: "This is
KB7ABC, Near
White City VAD, Liaison for Army MARS... Over.". On the MARS frequencies,
of course
you would use your MARS Callsign and advise NCS which facility you are
near. Most VA
facilities will allow use of phones during this exercise to send/receive
traffic to/from your
station. In a REAL incident, of course, phones could be out, so we would
need to rely on
Ham Bands or MARS BANDS to do this. VA has requested assistance from
several HAMs
and MARS members to get as many as possible of their staff licensed as
HAMS and MARS.
Once this has occurred (Future) we can request CLUB Callsigns for the
MARS stations and
not have to worry about 'deploying' to operate with them.
----------------Suggestions/thoughts Welcomed at this
point----------------------
73 de John AAA0OR OR/W6HNC/AAA0ID ID/AAR0MI OR
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