Posted: 6/15/2011 4:12:34 AM EDT
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From the Missouri State ARES page
While getting volunteers to help in Joplin to support the CERT teams as well as the SATERN group a frequent problem arose. I would get an email listing all the “stuff” a person had — Securly mounted in their vehicle but nothing that was field deployable. Unfortunately, that person could not be used.
We needed people that had a mobile that could be taken into a SATERN supply truck and plugged in to the cigarette lighter and stick a mag mount on the vehicle. Or a handheld w/extra batteries to walk the debris field with a CERT team. You don’t always get to use your personal vehicle. With some newer vehicles finding a place for a mag mount can be a problem. I purchased a 2 cup suction device and mounted an “L” bracket with a NMO mount that will stick on a window, fiberglas body, etc. and with a 1/2 wave antenna (no ground plane reqd) your in business. Found Here ETA:7-3-11 Skibane answers the call! |
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Quoted: Quoted: We needed people that had a mobile that could be taken into a SATERN supply truck someone should invent some kind of "EMCOMM box" to hold radios, which in turn would seem to be very useful in these types of situations.. ar-jedi someone needs to get on making one of those- it'd be VERY helpful
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We needed people that had a mobile that could be taken into a SATERN supply truck someone should invent some kind of "EMCOMM box" to hold radios, which in turn would seem to be very useful in these types of situations.. ar-jedi  That's just silly talk.
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Do they not make "field deployable" cell towers? Why invent the wheel with ham radio when everyone already has a cellphone in their pocket versus having to put a ham with a radio in every group? Yes they do, and as to everyone having one in their pocket; that appears to be a large part of the problem post incident with comms. Everyone that has one is trying to use a crippled system and it simply overloads. (think back to the early days of American Idol-even the land line Central Offices couldn't keep up with the voting-I don't watch AI, but my dad retired outta BellSou with 35+ years ).
The_Beer_Slayer could comment in greater detail (as he has here before after the storms blew through his town) in regards to what does and does not work. our friends in FEMA recently called Amateur Radio The Last Line of Defense Fugate said that he thinks “we get so sophisticated and we have gotten so used to the reliability and resilience in our wireless and wired and our broadcast industry and all of our public safety communications, that we can never fathom that they’ll fail. They do. They have. They will. I think a strong Amateur Radio community [needs to be] plugged into these plans. Yes, most of the time they’re going be bored, because a lot of the time, there’s not a lot they’re going to be doing that other people aren’t doing with Twitter and Facebook and everything else. But when you need Amateur Radio, you really need them.” After the tragic tornado outbreak in Joplin, Ham operators were there (as mention in OP) and established an Extremely Valuable and Proficient "Net"-coordinating and moving food, supplies and manpower for the recovery. I spent a few days listening to them on the RadioReference site (streaming the traffic) and was impressed by the continuity and professionalism exhibited by all (most especially a fellow ARFCOM'ers mom!) edit:typo |
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Do they not make "field deployable" cell towers? Why invent the wheel with ham radio when everyone already has a cellphone in their pocket versus having to put a ham with a radio in every group? if the system is overtaxed already, or worse yet, down how is an extra cell tower going to help? they are not reinventing the wheel, this is one of the things amateur radio is about, ecomms. this is why we do "field day" and why there is things like "skywarn" and "ARES". you should do your homework on what these things mean and what they do. |
| In 2008 we had massive wildfires. A neighboring county lost all landline and cellular capabilites and amateur radio was literally the only means of communication for about 3 days. We even had people stationed at the fire line to relay info back to the Emergency Operations Center. |
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Actually one idea that I have had for a disaster response group or organization is to have a portable self-contained cell system able to respond to disaster situations.
There is an outfit that uses available SDR experimenter's hardware and has written a software package that works as a GSM stand alone base station, or can integrate into a whole phone system. It's called the "OpenBTS" project, I found it while reading up on GSM stuff and found it fascinating. What spurred my thoughts about disaster relief is that they do essentially the same thing every year to test their system and also provide a public service at the "Burning Man" event. They're in an otherwise cell-dead zone, so they fire up their system, any GSM phone within range registers and then they get a text message. From then they can text and call other people within range of the same temporary tower... when the company sets up a satellite data link, they can send outgoing text messages to the "real world". What really intrigued me was the idea of setting up this kind of system for amateur radio use - the european 900MHz GSM band overlaps the US 900MHz amateur band and there are tons of 900 capable GSM phones around. The problem I found is that is appears that the emission designator for GSM isn't allowed for amateur radio. It never occurred to me until just now to see if it would be possible to make it work legally as a Part 15 ISM system 
As far as most folks' "EMCOMM box" setups, they would probably be fine for most fixed-station type use but will be too ungainly for one of the most common uses which is to put in a vehicle and go. For that all you really need is a mobile radio in a box to protect it from damage, along with usable power hookups and the previously mentioned mag mount antenna. Put a good external speaker on there so you can hear the radio. The thing I see missing from most everyone's "EMCOMM box" are noise canceling headsets. One thing I was rapidly reminded of in last year's grid DXpedition was that in portable situations, and especially with multiple operators in one place, it's very hard to communicate because of the noise from the other operators and/or other people in the vicinity. You need a noise reduction headset to block out environmental noise so that you can concentrate on what you're doing. It's also hard to type or write, or do other things, while handling a hand mic. |
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That is exactly why, despite many suggestions that it was a waste of money, my first mobile radio setup was an HT, amp, mag mount antenna and appropriate coax jumpers. I can grab my go bag and be set up. Amp plugs into cig lighter outlet. HT runs on lithium batteries. And I won't take up that much extra room in the cab of a truck if they need someone to ride along in emergency response vehicles.
A little 2m radio shack 35 watt amp runs around $50 and the mag mount is another $30-$40. Not too expensive of an investment in my mind to have around. |
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That is exactly why, despite many suggestions that it was a waste of money, my first mobile radio setup was an HT, amp, mag mount antenna and appropriate coax jumpers. I can grab my go bag and be set up. Amp plugs into cig lighter outlet. HT runs on lithium batteries. And I won't take up that much extra room in the cab of a truck if they need someone to ride along in emergency response vehicles. A little 2m radio shack 35 watt amp runs around $50 and the mag mount is another $30-$40. Not too expensive of an investment in my mind to have around. roger that! -now where do I find a 2m Radio Shack amp? |
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There are 2 on eBay right now, cheap!!!. Search radio shack HTA 20. They are not made anymore but have great reviews and mine works very well. Also search RF Concepts if you want higher power. These are no longer made either.
Mirage is the only current production but they have hit or miss reviews. I have a mirage 310. 3 watts in gets 100 watts out. Completely and totally unnecessary power for an HT but why not?!?!? I have had no issues with it. |
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100 watts out. Completely and totally unnecessary power for an HT but why not?!?!? Because a 100 watt amplifier will draw a significant amount of power, requiring heavy gauge wire and low resistance/high amp power connections to the vehicle or power supply. In an EMCOMM environment this will be useless if you're trying to run it on a temporary hookup via a cigarette lighter or something as you'll almost certainly be blowing fuses and such. Just stick with 50 watts or less for FM VHF/UHF, more power really doesn't get you any practical benefit anyway. |
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Do they not make "field deployable" cell towers?
Why invent the wheel with ham radio when everyone already has a cellphone in their pocket versus having to put a ham with a radio in every group? Most of the major players in the cell phone business have the field deployable towers. It takes days to get them into the disaster zones and setup. It also requires them to have a field team to stay and manage the generators without themselves being an additional load on the Salvation Army/Red Cross. Also, since most Americans have no idea of conserving cell phone time even in a disaster, so as soon as service is available, they will use it. This probably will deny responders access to the limited cell system. South Carolina's CIO's EMA has a portable VHF, UHF, and 800 repeater trailer setup on the national interop channels for Fire, EMS and Law Enforcement. I don't think that the Salvation Army and Red Cross have access to this setup. I know that the Red Cross has a portable satcom station that provides them with internet/phone service. Even so, they utilize amateur radio when needed. Amateur radio is at its best during the early periods of disasters since hams needs little infrastructure to function. People in trouble need food, water, and shelter immediately and those providing it need have to be communications to get it to the right places. Once regular comms are in place, the hams will revert to the normal backup mode. RS |
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Quoted: Do they not make "field deployable" cell towers? Why invent the wheel with ham radio when everyone already has a cellphone in their pocket versus having to put a ham with a radio in every group? In the recent Homeland Security Com-T class I took, they made mention of the fact that AT&T has mobile cellular truck mounted units that I can request be brought into an area to provide cellular coverage in a disaster area. COW (Cellular on Wheels) and COLTS (Cellular on Light Trucks).The response time is almost immediate for a pre-warned event like a hurricane, but happenstance events response time is longer because they aren't pre-positioned. Additionally, there are satphones and sat-radios. Bringing these units in is at the discretion of the incident Com-T or Com-L. We were advised to use them sparingly and demobe them asap. The down side is they cost over 10 grand a day per truck to bring them in, so FEMA wants them used sparingly and only until other modes of comms can be set up. Voice comms in and out of the effected area is easy with the fly-away satellite radios in the pre-positioned radio caches. Portable repeaters are another avenue, used in conjunction with pre-programmed hand out handhelds used for SAR. All of these systems can be tied together in multiple configurations to fit the specific incident requirements. With the exception of Army MARS having the capability of sending and receiving e-mail over HF, most other Ham radio is pretty much outmoded save for very large incidents or multiple incidents that would deplete the tens of thousands of radios in the regional caches. I'm talking pallet loads of vhf radios and battery packs plus tons of other very cool gear. A lot of stuff requires unit specific training which most hams don't have. Ham is pretty much being relegated to being stationed at shelters or hospitals to handle traffic in and out of those facilities and running welfare traffic. The Incident Command will bring in teams of radio folks who are agency affiliated, are hams, and get paid to do radio comms for a living. Unless we have a national disaster or something on a very, very large scale, amateur operators are considered a last resort and likely won't even be allowed into a disaster zone. No credentials, no workman's comp, and no standardized operational skill-set that paid responders can't handle. We don't have access to the type of gear being used. We won't practice traffic procedures or get our ICS course certifications. We are rapidly becoming dinosaurs.  Here's a link to some pictures of some of the gear FEMA and the Interagency Fire Center has stockpiled in regional caches....by the pallet load. http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=10&f=22&t=646735 |
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Quoted: Do they not make "field deployable" cell towers? Why invent the wheel with ham radio when everyone already has a cellphone in their pocket versus having to put a ham with a radio in every group? Most of the major players in the cell phone business have the field deployable towers. It takes days to get them into the disaster zones and setup. It also requires them to have a field team to stay and manage the generators without themselves being an additional load on the Salvation Army/Red Cross. Also, since most Americans have no idea of conserving cell phone time even in a disaster, so as soon as service is available, they will use it. This probably will deny responders access to the limited cell system. South Carolina's CIO's EMA has a portable VHF, UHF, and 800 repeater trailer setup on the national interop channels for Fire, EMS and Law Enforcement. I don't think that the Salvation Army and Red Cross have access to this setup. I know that the Red Cross has a portable satcom station that provides them with internet/phone service. Even so, they utilize amateur radio when needed. Amateur radio is at its best during the early periods of disasters since hams needs little infrastructure to function. People in trouble need food, water, and shelter immediately and those providing it need have to be communications to get it to the right places. Once regular comms are in place, the hams will revert to the normal backup mode. RS Responders have a way to make their cellular call take prioity over civilian calls. We can get through if there is service, overiding the congestion. It's called GETS (Government Emergency Telephone Service)  |
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Do they not make "field deployable" cell towers? Why invent the wheel with ham radio when everyone already has a cellphone in their pocket versus having to put a ham with a radio in every group? In the recent Homeland Security Com-T class I took, they made mention of the fact that AT&T has mobile cellular truck mounted units that I can request be brought into an area to provide cellular coverage in a disaster area. COW (Cellular on Wheels) and COLTS (Cellular on Light Trucks).The response time is almost immediate for a pre-warned event like a hurricane, but happenstance events response time is longer because they aren't pre-positioned. Additionally, there are satphones and sat-radios. ... Here's a link to some pictures of some of the gear FEMA and the Interagency Fire Center has stockpiled in regional caches....by the pallet load. http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=10&f=22&t=646735 Great posts, PC! |
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Quoted: Do they not make "field deployable" cell towers? Why invent the wheel with ham radio when everyone already has a cellphone in their pocket versus having to put a ham with a radio in every group? Most of the major players in the cell phone business have the field deployable towers. It takes days to get them into the disaster zones and setup. It also requires them to have a field team to stay and manage the generators without themselves being an additional load on the Salvation Army/Red Cross. Also, since most Americans have no idea of conserving cell phone time even in a disaster, so as soon as service is available, they will use it. This probably will deny responders access to the limited cell system. South Carolina's CIO's EMA has a portable VHF, UHF, and 800 repeater trailer setup on the national interop channels for Fire, EMS and Law Enforcement. I don't think that the Salvation Army and Red Cross have access to this setup. I know that the Red Cross has a portable satcom station that provides them with internet/phone service. Even so, they utilize amateur radio when needed. Amateur radio is at its best during the early periods of disasters since hams needs little infrastructure to function. People in trouble need food, water, and shelter immediately and those providing it need have to be communications to get it to the right places. Once regular comms are in place, the hams will revert to the normal backup mode. RS cell service here was SIGNIFICANTLY impact for close to a month during the tornadoes. Even with emergency infrastructure in place the system was overloaded to the point reliable coms via cell <even texting> was not easy. dropped calls and sms message were more the norm. it fully convinced me that cell service is NOT going to be functional for atleast 30-45 days during a real SHTF event. |
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Quoted: Quoted: Do they not make "field deployable" cell towers? Why invent the wheel with ham radio when everyone already has a cellphone in their pocket versus having to put a ham with a radio in every group? Most of the major players in the cell phone business have the field deployable towers. It takes days to get them into the disaster zones and setup. It also requires them to have a field team to stay and manage the generators without themselves being an additional load on the Salvation Army/Red Cross. Also, since most Americans have no idea of conserving cell phone time even in a disaster, so as soon as service is available, they will use it. This probably will deny responders access to the limited cell system. South Carolina's CIO's EMA has a portable VHF, UHF, and 800 repeater trailer setup on the national interop channels for Fire, EMS and Law Enforcement. I don't think that the Salvation Army and Red Cross have access to this setup. I know that the Red Cross has a portable satcom station that provides them with internet/phone service. Even so, they utilize amateur radio when needed. Amateur radio is at its best during the early periods of disasters since hams needs little infrastructure to function. People in trouble need food, water, and shelter immediately and those providing it need have to be communications to get it to the right places. Once regular comms are in place, the hams will revert to the normal backup mode. RS Responders have a way to make their cellular call take prioity over civilian calls. We can get through if there is service, overiding the congestion. It's called GETS (Government Emergency Telephone Service) our experience here during the storms showed it wasn't that successful. our PD cells were just as dead as everyone elses. |
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our hospital/university just got a major fed grant for ham radio specifically due to the outages during the tornadoes. http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=10&f=22&t=647685 |
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100 watts out. Completely and totally unnecessary power for an HT but why not?!?!? Because a 100 watt amplifier will draw a significant amount of power, requiring heavy gauge wire and low resistance/high amp power connections to the vehicle or power supply. In an EMCOMM environment this will be useless if you're trying to run it on a temporary hookup via a cigarette lighter or something as you'll almost certainly be blowing fuses and such. Just stick with 50 watts or less for FM VHF/UHF, more power really doesn't get you any practical benefit anyway. It appears that my sarcasm was overlooked. If you would refer to my original, more serious and informative post, I recommended the smaller, less power draining, 35 watt amp that would not have the issues that you describe and would be easily deployable in a mobile scenario where you may be required to change vehicles multiple times. I even pack my own outlet splitter so that if the vehicle outlet is already in use, I can still get power. I do completely agree with you about the heavy wire, fuses, etc. That's why I ran 10 gauge wire to my battery and setup a powerpole bank of connectors in my console. And I understand that has no relation to being able to jump into another vehicle with the 100 watt setup and that you hardly ever would need the 100 watts, etc. etc. etc. |
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Do they not make "field deployable" cell towers? With the exception of Army MARS having the capability of sending and receiving e-mail over HF, most other Ham radio is pretty much outmoded save for very large incidents or multiple incidents that would deplete the tens of thousands of radios in the regional caches. I'm talking pallet loads of vhf radios and battery packs plus tons of other very cool gear. A lot of stuff requires unit specific training which most hams don't have. WINMOR gives email capability over HF to all hams with the ability. Not just MARS. WINLINK |
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Quoted: Quoted: Do they not make "field deployable" cell towers? With the exception of Army MARS having the capability of sending and receiving e-mail over HF, most other Ham radio is pretty much outmoded save for very large incidents or multiple incidents that would deplete the tens of thousands of radios in the regional caches. I'm talking pallet loads of vhf radios and battery packs plus tons of other very cool gear. A lot of stuff requires unit specific training which most hams don't have. WINMOR gives email capability over HF to all hams with the ability. Not just MARS. WINLINK Absolutely true....however most hams don't seriously train up on it use...they dabble. When you need it isn't the time to learn how to use it. There is a difference between ability and proficiency. That's why we have 4 training nets a day, 7 days a week. The major difference is our access to the .gov's side of the world-wide PMBO system already existing for Pactor vs. trying to find a winmor site that's actually up and operating to receive that TX. I'm talking 'bridging-the-last-mile' into and out of a disaster area with zero infrastructure left operational. We use Winmor also, but, IMHO it's still fairly sketchy as a viable deployable mode in a SHTF situation. Yeah, it works, but it's slow and the PMBO infrastructure isn't quite there yet. To me, it is most useful for peer-to-peer traffic to a station that can refile the traffic onto the internet. I've used it quite a bit, just to know how to use it...but I'll keep my SCS-usb Pactor modem, thanks. Ever tried to send a signed and scanned ICS-213 over winmor? It'll take half an hour. Forget about damage assessment photos. Pactor 3 works way better and is lots faster. When a forward deployed element needs mission critical supplies...like blood or water....that information needs to get to the right person asap. Send 10 ICS-213 scans by Pactor 3 it's maybe 20 minutes....hours by winmor...if you can hit a PMBO to put it on the internet. |