Rockingham County ARES®

Donuts, Coffee and a Slide Show

Who doesn't like a day that starts with donuts and coffee?  It definitely made for a good start to a great day. After a quick fill of sugar and caffeine, we received an overview of how the Harrisonburg/Rockingham Emergency Communications Center (HRECC) works, and what failures they might have which would require ARES assistance.  The presentation then moved on to discuss HAM equipment and resources, from dual band radios and antennas to survival supplies in the case of a lengthy and/or remote deployment.  The presentation ended with a safety overview about using Public Safety Radio Sites.

HRECC's life goes in circles.  That is, calls typically come into them via cell phone or landline, either to a local 7 digit (non-emergency) number, or to 911.  They handle those calls, dispatching police, fire and EMS as needed over radio links.  The emergency responders keep in contact with HRECC over the duration of the incident or event. When a call comes in, they strive to have units dispatched within 1 minute.

Several things may create a need for ARES to support HRECC.  Landlines and cell phones can go out of service, either locally within the HRECC facility, locally within parts of the calling area, or over the entirety of the area they serve.  Their own radio equipment may experience problems which disrupts their ability to communicate with the emergency responders.  They might also experience a situation where the HRECC building itself becomes unsafe for habitation, and those operations need to be moved temporarily.  Any of these cases, and more we haven't mentioned, might be cause for ARES to be called upon to fill in and rebuild the missing links.

Training also reviewed some procedural items, starting with a reminder that we are relay agents and not interpreters.  Tactical calls signs should be used to identify stations, which helps everyone involved (not just HAM's) to understand who is doing what where.  Most messaging would be very rapid and informal, but some forms existed for documenting and transmitting more lengthy, sensitive messages which were less time dependent.  Those forms would typically be handled at the HRECC station, so most operators out in the field would need only a notepad to scribble down quick notes.

To help facilitate communications, we need some equipment.  The use of multi-band equipment is suggested for a few reasons. First, and foremost, the local terrain has a great deal of variety which lends itself to both VHF and UHF frequencies in many cases.  Secondly, many (although not all) dual- or multi-band radios have the ability to be quickly configured as a cross-band repeater.  This can be useful for linking two mountaintop towers using UHF, or for extending the range of your UHF HT from inside a building through the cross-band repeating radio out in your vehicle.  With multi-band operations, additional antenna considerations may be needed.  A single-band 2 meter antenna may work well enough on 440 to work low power with a nearby signal from your HT, but would likely be a poor choice for a link between two distant locations.  Other situations might exist where a diplexer is employed allowing a directional antenna on one band to reach back to NetControl, while a small vertical was being used on another band to link with your HT.

The use of cross-band repeat may help reduce message handling errors by providing a “direct link” between the affected area an HRECC.  It will not work, however, without the right equipment (cross-band capable radios and antennas), and without the knowledge to configure the necessary settings on the radios.  It is suggested that a copy of the manual be kept with the radio, as well as a “cheat sheet” outlining how to configure useful, but less used features. It is for these reasons that we must practice.  We must practice using our equipment, and preparing to set it up in ways we might not do on an ordinary day.  We must also practice message relaying using simplex only.  The equipment necessary for cross-band repeat may not be available, and we must become proficient in the most simple forms of message handling to ensure we can adapt to all cases.

The Scenario: Outage due to EMP in the Bergton Area

A localized EMP in the Bergton area has taken out communications in a part of the county where communications were difficult to being with.  We can point fingers at those NAVY guys later for the mess they have caused, but for now, we need to take action.  What has happened?  Where are we needed?  How do we get there?  What equipment should we bring, and what frequencies will we use?

Lunch time (quite a tasty lunch, by the way) was spent organizing and devising a plan while we ate.  We were provided with a list assigned locations to set up: relay points at the Little North Mountain (LNM) and Bergon (Bergton Radio) tower sites, a group of HAM's at Bergton Fire (the fire station), and a few to run the radios in the HRECC building of course.  Norman KA4EEN, Ray K4NRA, and Rob KF4ZXO stayed with us for the training until this point, but had other commitments in the afternoon.

Initial plans were to use a separate frequency for each “leg” of communications.  This resulted in 3 or 4 frequencies all planned for simultaneous use.  It was eventually decided that we would use a single frequency everywhere for simplicity, and the tower sites could be used to relay messages only if needed. It was expected that they would be needed, given the terrain and distances.  A backup frequency was also selected at the time, but no plans were made for its use.  Discussions were also had over whether or not to try to use 440.  The decisions were largely based on what equipment people had  with them.Passing Traffic

Passing Traffic

Passing slow moving traffic on some of these back roads can be difficult, but it is nothing compared to the challenge of relaying radio traffic in an emergency situation. While we all knew deep down that the scenario of the day was pretend, treating it like the real thing is what makes the training effective.  Once we were all in place, a small bit of initial radio traffic came through successfully.  Then the floodgates opened up.

The scenario started with Bryan K4RMY, Gerald KN4FM, Anne KA1SLK, and Jay KD4OXQ at Bergton Fire. While all locations were online, we initially discovered that they could reach Matthew KD4UPL, Ellsworth K4LXG, and Bob N1QEQ at the LNM tower site directly.  LNM successfully relayed the initial messages back and forth between Bergton Fire and Chris KI4BAQ and John W4ZAO who were stationed at the HRECC.  We also managed to quickly confirm that James NN4JM, Herb AA2BF, and Deeter KI4STU at Bergton Radio could reach LNM full quieting with only a 5W 2 meter signal.

Eventually, we relayed traffic about a 2 vehicle accident, a structure fire, a power outage, an allergic reaction, and some domestic violence.  It was a busy day in Bergton!  Many of these incidents were happening simultaneously. Shortly after we started, but while we were handling traffic for multiple incidents, a report came in that signals from Bergton Fire on the main frequency were interfering with a weather station.  From that point on, all communication within the local Bergton area was moved to the backup frequency, and the Bergton Radio tower site was used to relay the information back to LNM.  While the primary purpose of the training scenario was designed to practice using simplex only, a dual band repeater was successfully set up and tested between LNM and the HRECC after the main part of the drill was completed.

Equipment Overview

Equipment varied from HT's to multi-band high-power rigs, and transceived electromagnetic waves using a variety of home- and commercial-made single- and multi-band antennas.  Basically, it was all comprised of typical HAM VHF and UHF gear, as typical as we typically are. Most of the radio equipment was set up in vehicles at the remote sites, although a few HT's were also employed, as well as the not-so-mobile station within the HRECC building.  Bergton Radio used a mag mount (NN4JM) for one radio, and a ¼ wave vertical (KI4STU) on the second radio that had been previously repaired using part of an 11meter antenna whip.  A J-pole was also mounted near the base of the tower. A commercial base type triband antenna (K4RMY) and push up pole (KD4UPL) were in use at LNM, as well as a homemade J-Pole on a homemade mast (KN4FM) being employed at Bergton Fire.Lessons Learned

Lessons Learned

This is what it's all about.  We wouldn't need to train if we knew it all, and implemented it perfectly every time.  There's always someone new (we hope) who needs to learn the ropes, and someone experienced who learns something by seeing through the eyes of a novice again.  The day ended with an excellent debriefing session discussing a variety of topics.  Naturally, a few mistakes were made, and discussed during the debriefing. Ideas were raised for future improvements.

Some of the radio traffic originated with HAM's instead of with the emergency personnel.  This generally is not the right way to do things, especially when the traffic is an attempt by the radio operator to obtain information that they think might be asked for later.  This occupies the airwaves, and may delay an emergency message.  Special cases always may exist, such as trying to validate that critical information was indeed received and delivered successfully.  The few cases were discussed thoroughly during the debriefing.

When the backup frequency was put into use, it resulted in the two radios at the Bergton Radio site overloading each other's front ends.  At first, this interfered somewhat with messages coming from LNM, but when we realized what was going on we were able to adapt.  Simply ensuring that we did not transmit on the local Bergton frequency while LNM was talking with us solved the problem. Because this did introduce some (albeit small) delay in the handling of traffic, it was not an ideal solution, but seemed better than the time that would have been wasted due to repeated messages or mistakes in copying.  A better solution, suggested at the debriefing, would have been to us multiple bands, since 2 meter transmissions would have been less likely to interfere with 440.  Unfortunately, we did not have a UHF radio at our disposal, so we had to make due with the tools we had.

Other topics of discussion included clearer deployment plans and the use of APRS.  It was unclear to some what the methods were to check in once they arrived at their assigned location.  Had this been a real emergency, we would not have even had the planning time that we did, so this type of coordination, as well as advanced frequency planning, is important.  The use of APRS might also have been helpful in not only determining when HAM stations were in place (or how soon they might be), but also in keeping accurate track of the location of emergency vehicles, should the HRECC have needed that information.