[SFDXA] Amateur Radio, Federal Government Engaged in Joint 5 MHz Communication E...

[Bill]

 From Chuck W4ROA:
Bill W2CQ


        Amateur Radio, Federal Government Engaged in Joint 5 MHz
        Communication Exercise

    *
    *
    03/27/2014
    Amateur Radio operators and federal government stations are engaged
    in a 12-day nationwide test of their capability to communicate with
    each other on HF in the event of an emergency or disaster. The High
    Frequency Interoperability Exercise 2014 (*HFIE-2014*
    <http://hflink.net/hfie2014/>) is running concurrently with the
    federal National Exercise Program (*NEP*
    <http://www.fema.gov/national-exercise-program>) 2014. Activity is
    taking place on two of the five 60 meter channels. The primary
    center-frequency channel is 5358.5 kHz, and the secondary
    center-frequency channel is 5373.0 kHz. Amateur Radio is secondary
    to government users on the band. The joint readiness exercise that
    began March 27 will continue through April 7 and include all areas
    of the US. Participants will use Automatic Link Establishment (*ALE*
    <http://hflink.com/automaticlinkestablishment/>), a standardized
    digital selective calling protocol, to establish communication
    between stations.
    “The HFIE has been a semi-annual exercise for some years,” explained
    HFIE-2014 Coordinator Bonnie Crystal, KQ6XA. “Previously, HFIE has
    been a ham-only exercise. This year, we scheduled HFIE so it
    coincides with the NEP.”
    Participation in the interoperability exercise is open to all
    ALE-capable federal government radio stations and to all ALE-capable
    US Amateur Radio stations. The FCC has granted permission for radio
    amateurs to communicate with federal government stations for the
    duration of the exercise.
    Crystal said ALE signaling “sounds like turkey gobble,” adding that
    ALE calls last about 15 seconds. Stations listening “may also hear
    the operators then start talking on USB voice,” she said. “The
    signals can be up to about 40 seconds long, if there’s texting
    riding on it, using a very rapid type of ARQ [automatic repeat
    request] handshaking.”
    “Once someone links with another station, they have the choice of
    using SSB voice or sending/receiving up to about 80 characters of
    text,” Crystal said. “Or they can switch to some other mode, such as
    CW or PSK or PACTOR.”
    ARRL Regulatory Information Manager Dan Henderson, N1ND, said the
    exercise offers an excellent opportunity for those amateurs with ALE
    capability. “It is a good exercise that highlights one of the key
    elements under which US amateurs were granted secondary status on
    the 60 meter band,” he said. The amateur community's ability to
    participate in an interoperability exercise with governmental
    communications is a great way to assess where things stand in this
    area — and to explore the next steps to take. We encourage those
    amateurs familiar with the ALE protocols and have the station
    equipment to participate in a meaningful way to do so.”
    Crystal said that in past years some hams who work for federal
    government radio systems have participated in HFIE during their
    off-hours as Amateur Radio operators. “We got together with some of
    them and worked out a way to enable federal stations to do some ALE
    interoperability testing on the 5 MHz channels with hams, since they
    already are authorized on the exact same channels as hams.” Crystal
    said it was just a matter of getting the National Telecommunications
    and Information Administration (*NTIA* <http://www.ntia.doc.gov/>)
    and the *FCC* <http://www.fcc.gov/> to allow hams and government
    stations to communicate. The Special Temporary Authority (STA) was
    approved on March 24.
    Federal government station HF radios stations have the ALE
    capability built into the hardware. Amateur Radio operators
    implement ALE protocols using computer software with their ham gear.
    “The STA allows for on-the-air testing of interoperability between
    the hardware and software-generated ALE implementations,” Crystal said.
    The HFIE is a semi-annual ham radio readiness exercise coordinated
    by the *HFLINK* <http://hflink.com/> organization and the *Global
    ALE High Frequency Network* <http://hflink.net/> It is open to all
    ALE-capable ham radio stations. Technical and operational
    *guidelines* <http://hflink.net/hfie2014> for ham and federal
    government stations are available on the HFIE-2014 website.
    The National Exercise Program 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, 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.