Amateur Radio Military Appreciation Day – ARMAD 2011 will be held on 28 May 2011 (the Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend).
The purpose for having Amateur Radio Military Appreciation Day is to give a shout out in support of those serving on the Front Line as First Responders and Military Personnel. As well as those that have served and families that have given their all in support of Freedom around the World.
Did you know that the *WYOMING* Reflector (Conference) EchoLink Node: 256748 is online and available to support emergency communications and general amateur operations. Please let those in Wyoming and elsewhere know that the *WYOMING* Reflector is operational and ready for use.
The *NEBRASKA* Reflector (Conference) EchoLink Node: 256740 has become an active resource for Amateur Radio and Public Safety in Nebraska. A Tuesday night net was recently started by KC0EQA and KC7RIY with the initial net having 20 operators checking into the net.
The Tuesday net is scheduled to start at 20:00 Central Time via the *NEBRASKA* Reflector.
(Originally posted on 7 April 2009)
*KANSAS* * NEBRASKA* Reflector Net is now held on Wednesday night at 20:00 Central Time (02:00Z Winter 01:00Z Summer) via the *NEBRASKA* Reflector EchoLink Node: 256740, it is also available via Asterisk Node: 2095
The BridgeCom Systems CS-540XB Crossband Bidirectional Repeater is designed to handle Interoperability needs on VHF and UHF. The CS-540XB can direct radio traffic from VHF to UHF and UHF to VHF for public safety, private and government applications where Interoperability is required.
Features Include:
There’s been a lot of activity in the past month in several different areas regarding communications support.
Thanks again to those that are helping with everything.
Emergency Operations – Regulations regarding radio communications.
A station in, or within 50 nautical miles of Alaska may transmit emissions J3E and R3E on the channel at 5.1675 MHz (assigned frequency 5.1689 MHz) for emergency communications. The channel must be shared with stations licensed in the Alaska-Private Fixed Service. The transmitter power must not exceed 150 W PEP. A station in, or within 92.6 km of, Alaska may transmit communications for tests and training drills necessary to ensure the establishment, operation, and maintenance of emergency communication systems.
AMATEUR RADIO
Sec. 97.401 Operation during a disaster. A station in, or within 92.6 km (50 nautical miles) of, Alaska may transmit emissions J3E and R3E on the channel at 5.1675 MHz (assigned frequency5.1689 MHz) for emergency communications. The channel must be shared with stations licensed in the Alaska-Private Fixed Service. The transmitter power must not exceed 150 W PEP. A station in, or within 92.6 km of, Alaska may transmit communications for tests and training drills necessary to ensure the establishment, operation, and maintenance of emergency communication systems.
[ 71 FR 66465 , Nov. 15, 2006]
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Sec. 97.403. Safety of life and protection of property. No provision of these rules prevents the use by an amateur station of any means of radio communication at its disposal to provide essential communication needs in connection with the immediate safety of human life and immediate protection of property when normal communication systems are not available.
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Sec. 97.405. Station in distress. (a) No provision of these rules prevents the use by an amateur station in distress of any means at its disposal to attract attention, make known its condition and location, and obtain assistance.
(b) No provision of these rules prevents the use by a station, in the exceptional circumstances described in paragraph (a) of this section, of any means of radio communications at its disposal to assist a station in distress.
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GMRS
Sec. 95.143. Managing a GMRS system in an emergency. (a) The stations in a GMRS system must cease transmitting when the station operator of any station on the same channel is communicating an emergency message (concerning the immediate protection of property or the safety of someone’s life).
(b) If necessary to communicate an emergency message from a station in a GMRS system, the licensee may permit:
(1) Anyone to be the station operator (see Sec. 95.179.); and
(2) The station operator to communicate the emergency message to any radio station.
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Public Safety / Industrial Business
Sec. 90.407. Emergency communications. The licensee of any station authorized under this part may, during a period of emergency in which the normal communication facilities are disrupted as a result of hurricane, flood, earthquake or similar disaster, utilize such station for emergency communications in a manner other than that specified in the station authorization or in the rules and regulations governing the operation of such stations. The Commission may at any time order the discontinuance of such special use of the authorized facilities.
[ 49 FR 36376 , Sept. 17, 1984]
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Sec. 90.411. Civil defense communications. The licensee of any station authorized under this part may, on a voluntary basis, transmit communications necessary for the implementation of civil defense activities assigned such station by local civil defense authorities during an actual or simulated emergency, including drills and tests. The Commission may at any time order the discontinuance of such special use of the authorized facilities.
[ 49 FR 36376 , Sept. 17, 1984]
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Sec. 90.417. Inter station communication. (a) Any station licensed under this part may communicate with any other station without restriction as to type, service, or licensee when the communications involved relate directly to the imminent safety-of-life or property.
(b) Any station licensed under this part may communicate with any other station licensed under this part, with U.S. Government stations, and with foreign stations, in connection with mutual activities, provided that where the communication involves foreign stations prior approval of the Commission must be obtained, and such communication must be permitted by the government that authorizes the foreign station. Communications by Public Safety Pool eligibles with foreign stations will be approved only to be conducted in accordance with Article 5 of the Inter-American Radio Agreement, Washington, DC, 1949, the provisions of which are set forth in Sec. 90.20(b).
[ 43 FR 54791 , Nov. 22, 1978, as amended at 62 FR 18933 , Apr. 17, 1997]
For those that have been working with ALERTradio ERC for a while will probably know about High Speed Multi Media (HSMM) which is a term often used in Emergency Communications and Amateur Radio.
Ubiquiti Networks makes a number of products that are highly suited to the HSMM applications. One of the most unique products from Ubiquiti Networks is The Bullet(tm) with all the necessary hardware for wireless Ethernet present in a waterproof outdoor module. Plug the unit into a Ethernet cable and a antenna with a N-Type connector and you can quickly have a deployable wireless link.
It’s time again for Amateur Radio Military Appreciation Day (ARMAD) on 23 May 2009, here in Madison/Huntsville, AL. We will be setting up at a new site this year. When more information come available we will announce the site location.
The Asterisk Amateur Radio Network will be join with the Drake State Technical College Amateur Radio Club promoting the use of amateur radio along with giving thanks and appreciation to our men and women who have served and who are serving now in the Arm Forces. This will be a great day for all to come out and support the troops on a job that continues to be at the fore front of our mission for the country and the world.
We hope to have HF/VHF/UHF radio system setup for operations. Making contact to other ARMAD or any amateur radio stations. We will also use VoIP systems such as Asterisk, IRLP and Echolink for those who would like to call in. There is also a special IRLP reflector for all IRLP station to call into. This IRLP reflector is experimental node 0011. This is a special IRLP reflector and you will need to make sure your IRLP node are setup to make the call into. More information will be put out on these special parameters in a few days. So stay tune.
For Asterisk call in, one can call in on AST node 2048, this way you will be able to talk to IRLP and echolink nodes alike. For Echolink nodes one can call in on the Kansas Reflector, node 44445 and W4WWM-L, node 54572. Any of these connections will be fine. We would also like to try something new. We will have a control Ham Radio operator standing by for third party calls. This way we can also show the power of Asterisk PBX. So look for more special information on how this will happen here on this site.
Anyway we will look for all to come out and support this great day for ARMAD and to make radio contacts using our hobby, amateur radio to communicate. 73 and Stay tune for more info!
Will / W4WWM
Remember the Manual …
Ever been in the situation during normal conditions (let alone an emergency operation) where you were trying to figure out a particular function that you knew that a piece of equipment (e.g. radio, repeater controller, generator, etc.) has, but just couldn’t remember how to get it work.
Do you have a Quick-Guide available for the equipment that you are going to use during operations?
Remember that there will be times when someone else will need to use your equipment – Will they know how to use your equipment without the manual or Quick-Guide?
In the 1800s there was the frontier of West. Today we have digital frontiers to explore. The digital frontiers may not always be digital voice or data that appears within this new frontier.
Some may remember the days of 1200 baud packet that was quite popular in the 1990s. This technology is now present in APRS, with even a hint of low-speed data showing up within the VHF and UHF bands via D-STAR enabled radios as well as telemetry.
For those that have radios such as the Icom ID-1 it is possible to have 100kbps data from the Internet available in your vehicle. In order to do this a base station with a ID-1 or a D-STAR 1.2GHz data repeater is required.
Most of us have some form of a wireless network in our home or business that operates via the 802.11 standards. Did you know that this same equipment can be used in Amateur Radio with higher RF power and higher gain antennas? Within Amateur Radio this technology is known as High Speed Multi Media or HSMM. The primary bands for HSMM are 2400, 3300 and 5800 MHz. The 902 MHz band can also be used for high speed data. One of the key advantages to HSMM is in its nature of being able to take a “off-the-shelf” wireless network adapter and access point add a higher gain antenna to them, and for longer range RF amplifiers can be added under FCC Part 97 rules.
Imagine having access to high speed video, IP-phone and Data Connectivity in your vehicle,or during special events and emergency incidents being able to provide data, video and voice to the agencies served. As well as providing “last mile” coverage into a disaster area.
Did we mention telephone service? With the development of Internet telephone services as well as telephone servers such as Asterisk which provide flexible interoperability between PSTN, Internet Phone and Radio dial tone can be presented along with the last mile capabilities of High Speed Multi Media create a resource that can be highly beneficial to the community and the nation.
What is next in the Digital Frontiers? As it was in the 1800s with the migration West the same is occurring with the digital migration. With networks such as Asterisk the migration is made easier as analog and digital technology is made one. On the Internet you can find more information about Asterisk and HSMM at http://www.asteriskradio.net.
