[RVRC] HF Link ALE Test

[E. Drew Moore]

From: "John Garmendi" <gar3j at earthlink.net>
To: "ELDRED MOORE" <drumor at optonline.net>






Drew,


 


Can you please share with RVRC . Some members may find this of
interest.


 


73,


 


John N2DV


 


US Ham Operators and Government Test HF Radio
Communications

 

Disaster Communications
Compatibility Exercise Uses Automatic Link Establishment

 

Washington, DC, and San
Francisco, CA – 27 March 2014 - US Amateur Radio operators (ham  
operators)
and Federal Government radio stations are engaged in a nationwide test 
of their
capability to communicate with each other by shortwave radio, in case of 
an
emergency or disaster. They are participating in a 12-day joint 
readiness
exercise running from 27 March through 7 April, covering all areas of 
USA, using
a digital High Frequency (HF) radio system known as Automatic Link 
Establishment
(ALE). This High Frequency Interoperability Exercise 2014 (HFIE-2014) 
runs
concurrent with the federal National Exercise Program (NEP) 2014.


 

ALE is a
standardized digital signaling protocol used by each radio service, ham 
and
government, to establish HF communications between their own stations. 
For the
first time, the government regulatory agencies (FCC and NTIA) have 
authorized
these stations to communicate with each other using ALE. HF radio 
enables long
distance communication independent of terrestrial communications 
infrastructure,
internet, or satellites.

 

To facilitate the
communication testing, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) 
secured
temporary authority from the National Telecommunications and Information
Administration (NTIA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). 
Federal
Government radio stations and hams are allowed to communicate with each 
other
using ALE during the exercise. Under existing rules, hams have secondary 
access
to 5 HF radio channels on which Government stations are the primary 
users.


 

HF radios used by Federal
Government stations have the ALE capability built into the hardware. 
Amateur
Radio operators have implemented the same ALE protocols using their 
personal
computers with ham radio equipment and software. The Special Temporary 
Authority
allows for on-the-air testing of interoperability between the hardware 
and
software-generated ALE implementations.

 

Participation in the
interoperability exercise is open to all ALE-capable Federal Government 
radio
stations and to all ALE-capable US Amateur Radio stations. While five 
channels
are available if needed, the test plan calls for using only two of the 
channels
in order to minimize impact on other stations not participating in the 
exercise.
Specifics of the STA are as follows:

 

(1) Temporary modification
of the authority granted at NTIA Manual section 7.3.8(4), which 
authorizes
Federal Government stations to communicate with stations in the Radio 
Amateur
Civil Emergency Service, to allow communications with any Amateur Radio 
station
utilizing Automatic Link Establishment, limited to the five channels in 
the 5
MHz band which are available to the Amateur Radio Service on a secondary 
basis,
for the period March 27th through April 7th 2014.

 

(2) Concurrent waiver by
the FCC of that part of FCC rule 97.111(a)(4) which limits 
communications with
US Government stations to transmissions necessary to providing 
communications in
RACES, limited to the five channels in the 5 MHz band which are 
available to the
Amateur Radio Service on a secondary basis, for the period March 27th 
through
April 7th 2014.

 

The HFIE-2014 is a
semi-annual ham radio readiness exercise coordinated by the HFLINK 
organization
http://hflink.com and the Global ALE High Frequency Network
http://hflink.net

It is open to all
ALE-capable ham radio stations. Technical and operational guidelines for 
ham and
federal government stations are available at: http://hflink.net/hfie2014

 

National Exercise Program
(NEP) 2014 is a complex emergency preparedness exercise with activities
sponsored by government departments and agencies, designed to educate 
and
prepare the whole community for complex, large-scale disasters and 
emergencies.
As part of the National Preparedness Goal (NPG), it enables a 
collaborative,
whole community approach to national preparedness that engages 
individuals,
families, communities, the private and nonprofit sectors, faith-based
organizations and all levels of government.

 

Media and Technical
Contact: Bonnie Crystal, KQ6XA, HFIE-2014 Coordinator

Email: hfie2014 at hflink.net

Website: http://hflink.net