Summits & Parks On The Air and EMCOMM
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I usually do a "Field Day & EMCOMM" presentation right around Field Day, highlighting how Field Day is good practice for deploying Amateur Radio in an emergency. But the recent West Georgia Amateur Radio Society presentation by WD8LQT about Summits on The Air brought to mind how much both Summits on The Air (SOTA) and Parks on The Air (POTA) also provide valuable EMCOMM experience for both those taking to the field and chasers at home in their shacks,
Both SOTA and POTA, like Field day test our ability to setup, troubleshoot, and operate radio equipment in a remote location in a short period of time. The short setup and operating windows, remote location, and the additional challenge in many cases of having to pack up gear for for use at the remote location is great practice for prepping for being deployed.
Both SOTA and POTA allow you participate as a field operator or at home. In the case of the person in the field, the location may be a relatively easy one accessible by car, or as challenging as a multi-day backpacking excursion. In the latter case, learning to pack up for an extended field trip would be very educational if you were to ever be field deployed to a disaster area. Remember, one of the tenets of EMCOMM deployment is to be as self-sufficient as practical, so as not to put further demands on resources in a disaster area.
Power Source Considerations
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A recent round-table discussion on portable operation with limited power and its application in EMCOMM resulted in a question about solar power as a sole power source for Summit or Parks on the air operation. The question prompted a whole line of reasoning about not just alternative power, but the many factors involved in selecting and utilizing a variety of power sources.
Volts & Amps & Watts (Oh, my!)
The first thing to determine is the voltage and current demands you have to operate as planned, or the voltage and current limitations you face and must operate your equipment within. In an ideal situation you control the former, in some situations, such as EMCOMM, you may need to operate at the limits of the latter.
Since most amateur radio systems can operate off 12 volts (or something around 12 volts, usually ranging from 12-15V), you will normally be working with voltage in that range. If not, then you'll have to ensure voltage is somewhere within the range your equipment will handle. Handhelds, for instance, will often operate at lower power with as little as 7.2 volts input.
Automated Packet Reporting System (APRS)
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APRS is packet-based digital tracking and communication system. It's best known for allowing operators to report their position or weather station data by internet or radio and be tracked using APRS clients and websites like aprs.fi, but APRS is useful for more than that. APRS also allows simple short messages between operators, sort of a radio-based text-messaging system. As a matter of fact, there is a text-message gateway available, allowing an operator to use their APRS setup to send text messages to cell phones and receive responses!
Since APRS allows for position reporting it has applications in search and rescue, damage assessment situations, and public service events like running and bike races. By embedding amateur radio operators into the field teams their progress can be monitored via APRS utilizing both online and offline mapping systems.
Although this makes APRS a potentially robust tool for public service, it's also useful for other activities, such as our summer balloon launches, where the balloon carries an APRS transmitter we then track to recover the balloon payload, which usually includes cameras and other electronics.
Tabletop Exercises
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Tabletop exercises are a useful tool for developing the skills to operate in a real-world situation, with the opportunity to identify many challenges and pitfalls before ever going through the effort of staging an actual exercise or deploy to an actual disaster.
Why tabletop versus a Simulated Emergency Test type exercise? Well, they are easier to plan and execute, all you need is a meeting place, and even the table is optional! Trying to coordinate an actual drill may require coordination with served agencies and place demand on physical resources like repeaters, radio equipment, or even served agency locations; all of this takes time and often places demands on other organizations.
Tabletop exercises can often be executed in an hour or two, where actual drills typically run much longer, placing more demands on the time of volunteers.
Tabletop exercises provide an opportunity to develop a plan or just work the bugs out of existing plans by playing "What if" games and talking through option when dealing with mission critical information such as knowing primary and backup repeaters, what to do when repeaters are down, frequencies and timetables for simplex communication, etc.
Why Digital Communications?
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We've been covering various digital modes over the past few months, particularly PSK, APRS & Winlink.
While digital voice modes like D-Star, Fusion, and others offer some other EMCOMM related enhancements to our conventional analog modes, the real improvement in our ability to communicate comes from our ability to automate various functions and communicate complex data more efficiently, digital modes that allow us to harness the power of computers.
While operators tended to deploy more as "shadows" of key personnel like ambulance drivers, police, fire, or shelter employees in decades gone by, the growing ability of local, state, and federal agencies to interoperate has virtually eliminated the need for such services.
As a result, our mission required change, and are still changing. Communities with active Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) often embed amateur radio operators as members, serving as a CERT member, enhancing their team with additional communication capabilities. Amateur Radio operators have been included in Search and Rescue (SAR) and Damage Assessment teams during disasters as well.
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