NE-FL D-STAR System

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FEMA US&R Training – good info for all

May 6

Posted by mikelee in ARES Training, Go Kits, Tropical Cyclones | No Comments

Jason (W4LTL) recently found some training materials which are used for FEMA Search & Rescue teams, commonly referred to as a  FEMA”Task Force” – such as Nevada Task Force-1 which was deployed in the Katrina disaster (amongst many, many others from around the country). The information provoked me to write about the subject, since many of you will be familiar with the recent disaster in Fukushima, Japan – when a number of heavy rescue teams were deployed from the States, one of which was from Los Angeles (CATF-2 – California Task Force 2). As Amateurs, we will likely encounter these designations and symbology when we respond to a real-life disaster.

Before you read on – a couple of items that may deserve a place in our go-kits (you’ll see why in the paragraphs that follow):

  • a can (or two) of International Orange Spray Paint
  • a few carpenter chalk sticks or large Magic Markers

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The reason for sharing this information is as follows:

  • Most important – we all need to be SELF-SUFFICIENT for some period of time (typically at least 72 hours) before outside help arrives when a wide-spread disaster strikes (even in the case of the Tornados in Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia),  During that time, there is opportunity to do a self-assessment – to insure that our household is accounted-for, to obtain or collect pre-positioned supplies and instruments AND to attend to our friends and neighbors in our immediate area.
  • Next, as we do our self-assessment and help others in our immediate area, it would be prudent to mark the structures and areas searched using a STANDARDIZED, FEMA-recognized terminology, such that we reduce the burden to arriving Outside help and enable them to proceed to other buildings, structures or areas that REALLY need their help.
  • So, the use of the Standardized, FEMA Terminology and Symbology AVOIDS CONFUSION – something that is not in short supply during a disaster situation. This is precisely why we train for things like Net Control, using standardized scripts and procedures – to avoid confusion when the ^&*(  really hits the fan. We need to be able to operate as if the procedures were second nature to us.
  • Yes – even though we are Amateur Radio Operators, we are CITIZENS FIRST – and in many ways, First Responders in our neighborhood (regardless if you’re officially CERT Trained or not). In that capacity, it is better that we are FORCE MULTIPLIERS by using standard practices, terminology and symbology.
  • In all of this material below, it is important to recognize that you don’t need to be part of a formal FEMA Task Force to be helpful – we can easily substitute FLTF1 (Florida Task Force-1) with WB6RTH – it is only an IDENTIFIER – albeit a FEMA Task Force Identification is more credible, since very few of us are formally trained in things such as building structures – etc..

So, onward with the training materials (excerpted by WB6RTH from the FEMA US&R FOG), however a couple of caveats – (1) I am NOT a certified CERT Trainer, although I am CERT trained and certified, and (2) I am NOT a FEMA trainer, although I have been through much of the FEMA Task Force Training in a previous life:

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The FEMA US&R (Urban Search and Rescue) procedures are based on a document from FEMA called the National Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) Response System – Field Operations Guide (FOG), the latest version dated September 2003. In the document, FEMA describes the National US&R Response System Organization, going from the national level to individual team member roles and responsibilities. Each team is meant to be a self-sufficient organization, with specialists in the areas of Safety, Structures, Information Technologies, Planning, Canine, Technical Search, Rescue, Heavy Equipment and Rigging, Medical, HazMat, Logistics and Communications.

Each team packs it’s own technical equipment, communications and supplies and is dispatched by FEMA Headquarters to support ESF #9 capabilities in the disaster zone. The significance of the US&R standards is that it allows ALL DEPLOYED ESF9 teams to respond in a coordinated and seamless manner.

Structures and Hazards Evaluation

US&R teams approach a building to be searched in the following manner:

  • Looking AT the outside front of the building, the front face is designated as SIDE-A, the left side wall is SIDE-B, the rear wall is SIDE-C and the right-side wall is SIDE-D
  • When starting a search of the INSIDE of the building, US&R teams will divide the interior into quadrants (if at all practical), with the left-front being Quadrant-A and proceeding in a CLOCKWISE direction to the left-rear, right-rear and finally the right-front being Quadrant-D.
  • Multi-story buildings are designated with the ground-floor bing Floor-1 and moving upward (regardless of what elevator buttons might say). Floors below ground are designated B-1, B-2, etc..

When a US&R team begins the assessment of a building, they immediately look for two MAJOR things:

  • Is the structure even safe for a US&R team to start search, or will it require a Structure Assessment, then
  • Does the structure require a Hazardous Materials assessment (commercial building, factory, etc) – in most cases, residential-only structures may not have as compelling a need for a HazMat assessment – but you can NEVER ASSUME that this is the case.

When initially performing the assessment of a structure, the following are standard procedure:

  • A 2-foot by 2-foot square box is outlined at any entrance accessible for entry into the structure. Aerosol cans of spray paint (International Orange color ONLY) will be used for all markings
  • All normal entry points to the building should be marked (if practical) so that other Task Force personnel approaching the building can identify it as having been already evaluated and searched.
  • Specific markings will be CLEARLY made inside the Orange Box to indicate the condition of the structure and any hazards at the time of the assessment.
  • An arrow will be placed next to the box indicated the direction of the safe entrance to the structure, if the markings are not immediately adjacent to the entrance.
  • The TIME, DATE and Identifier of the team or Task Force will be noted outside the box at the UPPER RIGHT-HAND SIDE. This information will be made with Carpenter’s Chalk or lumber crayon (not the spray paint, so as to be legible).
  • If subsequent assessments are made, they shall be noted with the new TIME, DATE and Identifier with carpenter’s chalk below the original entry, or a new marking box can be used if it invalidates the original information.

The depiction of various markings is as follows:

A completed Building Assessment Designation follows, which indicates the following:

  • The building was initially searched on 15-July-1991 at 13:10 local time
  • HazMat was found to be present, with Natural Gas being the primary substance
  • California Task Force 1 was the group who performed the search
  • The building has some structural problems and may require some shoring or bracing

Here is a real-life picture of a Structure and Hazard Assessment

Victim Search

Note that thus far, the assessment is only for the integrity of the Structure, not to potential occupants or victims. This next section pertains to the search of structures for the purpose of identifying, extracting or marking victims.

A separate and distinct marking system is used  related to conspicuously denote information related to victims, their location and their status. The marking system is designed to be used IN CONJUNCTION with the Structure and Hazards Evaluation markings (above).

  • An “X” that is 2-feet by 2-feet will be made with International Orange Color spray paint. This “X” will be constructed in two separate operations (see below),
  • A single SLASH (upper left to lower right) will be drawn upon ENTRY to a structure, along with TIME and IDENTIFIER of the group performing the search,
  • A closing SLASH (upper-right to lower-left), will be drawn upon Task Force EXIT from the structure or area,

  • Distinct information will be placed into each of the four quadrants of the “X” to clearly denote the search status and results at the time of the assessment. The markings will be made with carpenter chalk, lumber crayon or black Magic Marker
  • The LEFT Quadrant will contain the US&R Team Identifier
  • The TOP Quadrant will contain the DATE and TIME that the task force personnel LEFT the structure (remember, this is ON EXIT)
  • The RIGHT Quadrant will contain the Personnel Hazards (e.g., asbestos, snakes, rats, etc)

  • The BOTTOM Quadrant will contain the number of live and dead victims still inside the structure (or “0” – zero if no victims)

  • Situation updates are noted as they might be available. Either previous search markings are crossed-out

AND…..

We’ve all heard, read and been indoctrinated to the Incident Command System (ICS), so following are the forms that are used during a typical FEMA Task Force deployment – many of which already apply to us as amateurs:

Antenna and Family Day – 16-April (Saturday)

Apr 10

Posted by mikelee in Antennas, Feedlines and Duplexers, ARES Events, D-Star Users, Go Kits, Work Party | No Comments

We will be having an Antenna and Family Day on Saturday, 16-April at the Favor Dykes State Park. Doug (N4FPS) has graciously reserved the Pavillion, which is about 50 meters from the water, where there is also an elevated walkway from which we can fish and enjoy the water.

We are anticipating a session to learn about antennas, starting with construction and tuning of an Off-Center-Fed-Dipole (OCFD) for 80-10m which should be about 150-feet in length. That antenna will be installed at the Flagler EOC in the following weeks after the replacement coax is installed. After the OCFD, we’ll also experiment with various antennas, including a Buddi-Pole for barefoot portable HF operation, a Lil’Tarheel for 40-6m and a Butternut HF-9V vertical antenna which is rated to 2kw. We’ll do final construction and tuning of all the antennas, then be able to compare performance of each of the antennas.

We’ll have various HF radios available, including an Icom IC-7000, a Yaesu FT-100D, an Icom IC-7200 and others. We might even have an ACOM 1010 linear to provide us with up to 800w of power to bust-up pileups that might be on the bands. There are numerous HF contests running that weekend, so the bands should be busy and allow us to have a good time.

We’ll have the antenna session starting at about 10am and would like to invite entire families for a “Pot Luck” dinner starting at about 6pm onwards (kids of all ages are most welcome). No cost to join – just plan to bring a dish that can be shared.  We’ll plan to be out of the park before dark.

Please come and join us – we’d love to meet family members and just sit and relax in one of the most beautiful parks in the Flagler/St.Johns area.!!

Members of FPCARC and ARES  - please plan to  join us..!!

EMCOMM-1 – Upcoming Article in September QST

Apr 8

Posted by mikelee in ARES Training, Go Kits | 1 Comment

Rick Palm and I completed an article to be published in the September issue of QST that is EMCOMM focused. I recently gave a presentation (October 2010) in the Flagler ARES meeting – after which Rick asked that we co-author an article about the creation of the EMCOMM-1 vehicle.

Some pictures below of the vehicle – but look forward to Rick’s article when you receive the issue in mid August. My only contribution was a post-script to Rick’s article explaining the purpose of the building of the vehicle.

The communications vehicle is built on a Mercedes-built Sprinter 2500 cargo van (no windows) with the 158″ wheel base. Included in the vehicle are over 460AH of 12VDC, an external shore-power receptacle (standard 30A RV connector) and a 2kw pure-sine-wave inverter. Air conditioning is installed in the roof, but is only available when on external or generator power. Radios that are permanently installed include everything from dual HF radios for 160-6m all mode operation, an Icom 910H for V/U/23cm all mode and satellite operation, Dual computer displays with Baron Weather service (via XM satellite), Depiction software for situational awareness and modeling –  and significant test equipment for repair and recovery of commercial and governmental radio system. Also normally attached to EMCOMM-1 is an MQ 15-kw diesel generator which powers the vehicle and associated stations surrounding the genset using a custom power distribution system which can operate an entire Field Command Post as might be necessary after a severe weather event. Both EMCOMM-1 and the genset are powered with diesel – with better storage characteristics and is more commonly available than gasoline during disasters due to the military’s use.

NE Florida Depiction Project – Startup

Apr 6

Posted by mikelee in ARES Training, Flagler ARES Admin, Go Kits, Volusia ARES Admin, Work Party | 2 Comments

A small working group, led by Doug (N4FPS) and myself have started a project to identify and collect data elements that would be necessary or useful in an emergency situation, whether a major weather event or a smaller contained incident.

One of the keys to managing or mitigating the impacts of any event is to know as much as possible about the environment you’re working in. The scope of our Depiction  is the Georgia line to the north, Deland to the south, Putnam County to the west and the coastline to the east.

There will be thousands of elements of data that might get loaded into a Depiction model at any point in time, along with standard information such as USGS National Elevation Data (NED) which is used in flood forecasting, Road Networks for calculating  routes and alternates, NWS for current weather and forecasts, and earthquake data from the USGS.

We will soon be dividing the data collection efforts amongst the working group, so that we give experience to everybody who wants to participate in the method of data collection, as well as the way that we manipulate the data in order to be readable by Depiction (nothing better than learning by DOING).

We will be posting updates to indicate the best found sources of Depiction loadable data, so that all can benefit from our research and be able to duplicate whatever we create, if they wish. The power of Depiction (or any other GIS system, for that matter), is in SHARING a commonly used set of information, in a standardized manner. We’re targeting to be done by the end of April – after which we’ll starting an integration effort with Amateur radio systems such as APRS (live) and WinLink so that we can share a Common Operating Environment, using wireless tools without dependence on the internet.

We’re also planning on holding a Depiction Conference sometime in the near future – open to all  in the North East Florida area (or further, if you want to travel)  in order to educate folks on the capabilities of Depiction, as well as to inform them on how we’ve used Depiction for events and real emergency situations. Half of the day will likely be spent on training the attendees on HOW to use Depiction. Stay tuned for more details.

Elements to Include in Depiction (for each county in the Depiction area) :

1. Evacuation Shelters
2. Fire  / Rescue Stations
3. Law Enforcement Stations
4. Red Cross Offices
5. Salvation Army Offices
6. Bridges
7. Amateur Repeater Locations FM, D-STAR, APRS, WL2K, SEDAN
8. GMRS Repeater Locations
9. County Communications Infrastructure Locations
10. FCC  Database Amateur Radio Operators
11. Amateur Radio Volunteers (East Coast District)
12. Amateur Radio Volunteers (Crown District)
13. Cert Volunteers
14. Other Volunteers
15. Landing Zones
16. Central Office Locations (Phone, Internet, Electric, Water, Gas, etc).
17. Cell Towers
18. DOF Fire Towers
19. DOF Offices
20. FPL Substations and Primary Lines
21. Rail Road Lines
22. Water / Fire Hydrants and Mains
23. Water Towers
24. EOC’s
25. Mobile Home Parks
26. Gas lines / Mains
27. Commercial Radio / TV Stations
28. Hazmat locations
29. Gasoline, Fuel Stations on or near Evacuation Routs
30. Evacuation Zones
31. Evacuation Routs
32. Custom areal and road maps
33. Flood Zones
34. Nursing / Assisted Living Facilities
35. Prisons / Jails
36. Schools / Colleges / Universities
37. Public Lands Shapefiles
38. Public Boat Ramps
39. Hospitals
40. National Weather Service Offices
41. DOT Weigh Stations
42. DOACS Inspection Stations

The Joy of HF..!!

Apr 4

Posted by mikelee in Go Kits | No Comments

I’ve missed operating HF for many years – not living in a single place for any length of time while traveling/working puts a real crimp on antenna installation opportunities, but Doug and Phil were kind enough to help me yesterday and were successful in putting up an OCFD for 80-6m yesterday and I’m lovin’ HF once again..!!

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Perhaps that’s why DStar has been such a joy – something that can be used regardless of what apartment or condo I rent and when I’m mobile. DStar has also been the best way to train-up a cadre of guys to learn the installation and maintenance of repeaters – something that has been needed for many years.  Now that the team is built and the repeaters are installed (4-of 5 at the time of this post), more time becomes available to doing other things like operating HF and helping to build the FEMV organization as part of the Flagler Emergency Management organization.

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So at last – HF..!! Last night was the Missouri QSO Party and there were lots of stations to talk with on 75/40 and 20m… more than 40 contacts in less than 30 minutes. Very cool..

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FT-2000 with an Alpha-99 and a Ten-Tec 2kw tuner at home, while the portable station is an Icom 7000 with an Acom 1010 amp for 800PEP. Okay, I know.. “but Mike, you have 2 HF rigs on the EMCOMM-1 vehicle – why PORTABLE as well..??” – simply for a transportable, emergency station that can be located wherever needed.

What’s that on your Dashboard..??

Oct 28

Posted by mikelee in Go Kits | 2 Comments

I’ve had a number of people ask me recently, “What are those GPS units on your dashboard – and why do you have three of them..??!”.

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Needless to say, they were not amateur radio operators – but the question is still a good one. Two of the three are radios, including an Icom-2820 for DStar, and an Icom-7000 for V/U /HF analog. But the third unit is kind of special – it looks like a standard Garmin Nuvi GPS, but it has some special internals……..

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The 3rd unit is a Garim Aera 510 – a  Nuvi sized unit that not only displays street maps, but is also loaded with aviation data, including airport data, approaches, frequencies, NEAREST capability for emergency landings, etc.  Even though I don’t fly with the unit (I have a Garmin 696 which has a very large screen, at 7″ compared to the Aera’s 4.3″ screen), it is VERY useful for yet another purpose. It is the only street/aviation GPS unit from the Garmin line that is also capable of receiving and displaying XM Weather in both street and aviation modes.

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Since I spend most of my time in northern Florida, with all of it’s thunderstorm and severe weather situations, the capability of “seeing” severe weather while mobile and UNTETHERED via  cellphone is quite unique and compelling. While many might say, “but Mike – come on… get real – you can SEE the thunderstorm approaching, right..??!!”. To wit, my answer is, “sure – during the day, but what about at night or when the weather is really bad and you don’t know how much more there is behind the cell directly in front of you..??”.

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Since many of us volunteer our time and resources to the ARES mission – that of serving as weather spotters, communicators, radio technicians and sometimes just gofers – having a clear weather picture can sometimes be invaluable – not only out of curiosity, but for safety of life.

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I often travel from the Jacksonville or Orlando airports back to Palm Coast (or reverse), oftentimes when I’m tired – and the Aera 510 gives me additional “eyes-in-the-sky” and an enhanced level of safety due to the additional “situational awareness”.  Is it for everyone – surely not, but if you have the need, I would definitely recommend this unit. An XM-Weather subscription is required in order to receive and decode the weather info – count on $30-50/month for the service if you chose to get this unit (in addition to the cost of the unit itself).
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I’ve been using the Aera for over a year and its operation has been flawless – a great tool in the toolbag, and a great friend and copilot in the “cockpit” when you’re already tired and want to get home but the weather just isn’t cooperating.

Above: Garmin Aera 560 – click to enlarge

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Antenna Upgrades for EMCOMM-1

Oct 26

Posted by mikelee in Antennas, Feedlines and Duplexers, Go Kits, NET Operations | No Comments

The recently completed MS-150 event taught us much regarding what functions are most necessary – one of the lessons is that YAGI’s are often as important (or more so) than just omni-directional antennas. Many say that the GAIN from the Yagi’s is little more than a high-gain vertical, like the Diamond X-500. But in NetControl mode when communicating using established repeaters, the advantage of a Yagi isn’t just in the forward gain, but also in the REJECTION to the backside of the antenna, as well as the side (often exceeding 20db). This makes for less interference and a quieter NetControl operation.

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I’m a fan of Arrow Antenna’s, solid-element yagi’s – they’re reliable, well constructive and (relatively) inexpensive – but recently, they’ve had availability problems due to a serious illness in the owner’s family. So I recently purchased 3 mono-band 2m beams from Cushcraft (A148-3S) – well constructed and reliable, like all Cushcraft products. Their 3-element beam is about $65 – about the same price as Arrow’s 4-element yagi. Either way, you can’t go wrong.

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Remember – the advantage of a yagi is not just in Gain, but in REJECTION as well..!!

New SatPhone Technology – Very Cool

Oct 25

Posted by mikelee in Go Kits | No Comments

Radio related, but not HAM….

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I’ve been a satellite phone user for about 10 years now – purchasing an Iridium phone before my first trip to Antarctica (the first of 4 trips) – made my first call from Cape Horn – the convergence of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans at the southern tip of South America. No cell phone service anywhere within 100 miles..!!

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Well, that was about 10 years ago – when both GlobalStar and Iridium were still thriving – both using LEO (Low Earth Orbit) technology, with a large number of orbiting satellites (Iridium has 77 + spares). Call quality was okay, but  we often heard doppler effect due to the velocity of the satellites compared to the ground station. In the last 10 years, GlobalStar is nearly dead and Iridium is struggling, satellites are constantly de-orbiting and no replacements launched in a long time – so it was time to look for alternatives.

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As many of my friends know, I travel internationally quite often – many times to remote locations, or places that have natural or political “disturbances”. Having a non-reliable Iridium phone is worse than not having anything at all. So the search started – and ended with the new Inmarsat phone called the ISatPhonePro. This is a 10 ounce unit that operates using one of four geostationary satellites placed over the four quadrants of the earth. Global coverage to everywhere from 70N to 70S latitude across all longitude lines, with no doppler shift, but with longer latency times due to the 23,500 mile orbit over the earth.

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For any of you interested, or having similar requirements, the phone is quite inexpensive – at approximately $600 on a 1-time purchase, with airtime averaging about $0.95 per minute (or slightly higher, depending on the specific plan that you subscribe to). Okay – that may sound like a lot, but consider this – it’s $0.95 per minute to ANY LANDLINE IN THE WORLD (cellphone termination is $0.15 per minute more). Still sound like a lot..??  Well, did you know that AT&T Roaming service to most countries is $1.99 PER MINUTE..??!!!  Hard to believe that using a new technology satellite phone is actually CHEAPER than using my cellphone with AT&T when roaming the globe.

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Okay – but isn’t there a cheaper way, you might ask..??   Sure – when I’m in Singapore, or HKG or Manila, I’ll always purchase a prepaid SIM card and use an UNLOCKED Samsung (simple, non-smart) phone so that I can have cheap  local calling – it’s convenient and inexpensive. All good things… but when the S^&% hits the fan and the phone circuits are down due to tsunami, or political unrest, or typhoon (hurricane) – the Intelsat SatPhone saves the day…

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But consider this – when not traveling internationally, the ISatPhonePro stays in my Go-Kit. It goes with me EVERYWHERE unless I’m just around town, including on domestic trips. As an example – what would you do, if you were on a trip to San Francisco and an earthquake hit..??  Having the SatPhone at home doesn’t do you much good. Exotic… maybe – but better to be prepared, then not.

Details in the pictures below – click to enlarge:

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Upgrades to EMCOMM-1

Oct 20

Posted by mikelee in ARES Training, Go Kits | 3 Comments

During the weekend, Eddie and I were successful in making a few necessary upgrades to EMCOMM-1 that will make it even more effective for future operations, including:

  • Replaced the old, slow and space-hungry computers (laptops) with the Dell Zino computers which are nicely tucked out-of-the-way. Not only did we gain the speed and versatility  of the newer computers (fast, dual-core, 4gb of memory, 4-usb), but we gained back the entire countertop where the laptops used to be. A huge gain overall.
  • Upgraded both machines to Microsoft Office 2010, so both can be used for logging, notes, in-action reports, etc. We got the Home and Student version, since we didn’t need Outlook for email.
  • Upgraded the Baron’s Mobile Threat Net (MTN) application to run under Windows-7. The MTN uses XM Satellite Weather (common for both Marine and Aviation users) to receive real-time weather info for radar, satellite, weather fronts, temps, tides, etc – a wealth of information that is useful in the field. It is one of the real-time weather products that professional Storm Chasers use when hunting for tornadoes in the mid-western plains.
  • Installed and tested the headsets for NetControl operation. Currently, they will need to plug the headset into the radio of their choice, but in the near future, we’ll allow for a switchable arrangement, so they only need to punch a key as to which radio they want to listen-to and avoid the hassles of plugging/unplugging.
  • Still working on the exterior speakers – expect a couple of weeks on that request.

Not out of the Woods (yet) – time for upgrades

Oct 16

Posted by mikelee in ARES Training, Go Kits, NET Operations | No Comments

The tropics have been relatively quiet for the last few weeks – Hurricane Paula decided to visit our friends in Cuba and turned to the south, then ran out of steam. We have been lucky for the last couple of months – a few threats, but nothing panned-out.

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Even though we never hope for tropical weather, I feel that the NE Florida area is now more prepared than in  years past – especially on the heels of a very successful MS-150 event. We have a larger number of coordinated resources and better infrastructure than ever before, with better training and a demonstrated sense of teamwork. Kudos to all of you who participated – I feel that it really boosted our preparedness. And besides being just a darned fun event to work, events like the MS-150 are structured to enhance our general preparedness for disasters, whether they be natural or human-caused.

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For the first time in NE Florida history, we have a full-time linked system via DStar which will allow us to talk seamlessly from south of Daytona to north of Jacksonville. In an area-wide disaster, this will be invaluable. Owning all of the infrastructure components, from the repeaters and gateways, to the Reflectors necessary to inter-tie all of the systems together allows us to be self-sufficient and not at the mercy of others  - another of our design goals. With the cooperation of other repeater owners and operators, we can interconnect from Tampa thru Jacksonville, as well as much of Brevard, Seminole and Lake Counties to the system, at-will and with no loss of audio quality. This is demonstrated each Monday evening by the Florida Hurricane Net, which operates on REF034A – a resource which is owned and operated by this group. It only gets better with time, as we look forward to Big-Jax at 500+ feet, as well as anticipated antenna-height upgrades in Switzerland and Flagler County.

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Since the weather is starting to cool-down, we’ll be making some upgrades to EMCOMM-1 – some of them as result of learnings from the MS-150 Net Control operations, such as:

  • Two new Dell Inspiron Zino HD computers – these are small 8″x8″ “bricks” which contain dual-core processors, 4gb of memory and all the ports that you’d ever want. Each of these will drive a separate 24″ LCD screen that are already onboard today. The smaller size of the computers will yield more working space on the counter top for Net Control Operators to function. I expect that we’ll install these units this coming week, as they’re due to arrive today (Saturday, the 16th).
  • A new Dual time-zone clock for Net Control, so that they have a time reference (even when the computers are not ON) for manual logging. We chose an MFJ Dual Atomic clock with large 2″ numbers so that it’s easily viewable. Expected installation is next week – the clocks are shipping on Monday.
  • Heil headsets for both operating positions – from the MS-150, it was apparent that ambient noise, as well as radio reception from the other Net Control frequency was distracting between the two operators. Enabling use of headsets at each operating position will resolve that problem. We already have the headsets, so we just need to install and do a check-out.
  • But one of the benefits of having the Command Staff just outside of EMCOMM-1, was that we could listen to ALL of the traffic, without necessarily being inside of EMCOMM-1 and bumping into the Net Control operators. So in the near future, we will be installing provisions for two amplified speakers which can be plugged-in on the outside of the vehicle, so that command staff can hear both operator positions, while keeping the in-vehicle noise to a minimum. We’ll need to engineer this, but I expect that it will be done before Thanksgiving.

All things to look forward-to, as well as fun but small projects which only take a few hours each (easy to accomplish in a weekend). Of course, the objective is to continuously improve our capability and ability to respond.

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