RACES Notes 04/26/2006 News and Announcements 1) Upcoming Events Apr 29-30 - La Vuelta de Bisbee Bike Race May 6 - CARA Hamfest 2) La Vuelta Support - Just a reminder that on Saturday you need to arrive at the Convention center parking lot by 0630 to get your assignments. The Saturday race starts at 7:00. On Sunday morning the MCU will be parked at the top of the tunnel. Chase and Sweep vehicles will report to Lee at the Convention Center at 0730 for your assignments. Sunday's race starts at 8:00. A copy of the RACE Briefing is attached. 3) PERSPECTIVE: EMERGENCIES VERSUS DISASTERS Tom Cox, VE6TOX, in his Communications Academy paper, recently expressed his opinion about important differences between emergencies and disasters. Amateur Radio resources are seldom called upon for "emergencies," and nearly always called upon for "disasters." In emergencies, conventional communications systems remain intact and available, although perhaps overloaded or unable to connect all responders. In disasters, conventional communications systems are destroyed. Emergency services train and respond to "emergencies" every day; it is what they do, and they usually become very good at it. No one becomes very good at disasters because they are infrequent events and do not repeatedly happen in the same areas (except Florida). Look at an incident and ask yourself "will applying more emergency services (fire, police, EMS) to the problem quickly make it better?" If it would, then it is an emergency incident; if not, it is a disaster. All the king's horses and all the king's men could have done little in South Mississippi last season. Disasters are incidents that exceed the ability of emergency services to make an effective response. 4) Nogales Display - We were asked to take the MCU to Nogales on Tuesday as part of a display at the ribbon cutting ceremony. Ev Wittig volunteered to assist and drove the MCU down to this event. As well as the display, we participated in a short communications exercise with Santa Cruz County, Pima County and AZ State communications units. One of the lessons learned is to ensure we establish a basic set of common frequencies to ensure interoperability with our neighboring counties. The ACU 1000 is flexible but you can save a lot of time if the basic frequency set is preloaded into the public service radios. The flexibility of the amateur gear was once again proven and was used at the outset to establish connectivity. 5). For training tonight I want to cover the AAR from the SAR training Saturday April 22: This is an excerpt from the AAR we turned in at the completion A. Background: Cochise SAR conducted training in the Pinery Canyon/North Fork area of the Chiricahua Mountains performing tracking and GPS exercises. The RACES team deployed the MCU from Sierra Vista to a forest service campground. We were operational by 9:15 and spent the next 6 hours supporting SAR. Included in the mix were K9, Mounted, and ATV teams. In addition to the primary task of maintaining communications contact with the SAR teams as they deployed into the field, comm team members practiced sending test messages via the WinLink HF Email system, the TracStar satellite network and the Softros Instant Messaging system. The Instant messaging technology was established on a local area network between the MCU and the SAR overhead team to maintain up-to-date status on the information provided by the SAR ground teams. The Big Stick antenna was raised on the mast for the first time and was tested. B. Lessons Learned: 1. Pneumatic Mast issues a. Mast Adapter - The mast adapter built by Fleet had a plate welded across the top preventing the use of the current Big Stick Adapter. Our adapter was configured to work with a hollow mast section as used by military mast sections. As an interim solution we used another short section of pipe provided by Pablo and nylon quick ties. We also modified our adapter on scene so that it will work as planned on our next outing. Our other adapters are also being modified for compatibility. b. Coax Connectors - We ran into a problem with the coax connectors at the top of the mast. A couple RF cable connectors were not installed correctly and required some solder removal to allow them to be used with the Big Stick. They also need to be labeled better to match the RF panel inside the MCU to ensure you know which cable is connected. We also experienced a sensitivity problem. A station calling from near Willcox (simplex) was heard better by a mobile unit (7D35's vehicle) parked near the MCU then what we could hear off the MCU Big Stick configuration when it was deployed at approximately 35 ft up. They could hear us well but they were barely audible in the MCU. They were very readable in the mobile unit. More testing needs to be done to verify the cable installation/connectors for the mast section. 2. Satellite Deployment - We learned that if you are going to use the satellite dish and an HF antenna up on top of the MCU you need to let the dish auto track and completely finish before mounting the HF antenna on the Quick Disconnect Adapter. The HF antenna is in the path of the dish as it rotates during the acquisition cycle and can get bent back and forth as the acquisition process takes place. 3. Dispatch Email Training - We still have an issue getting CCSO dispatchers to acknowledge receipt of email from our deployed unit. If we had emergency traffic, we do know if they receive our traffic until they acknowledge receipt. Although we requested a simple acknowledgement in our emails to verify the traffic was getting through. we did not get one until they were prompted via radio to please respond. The email system, HF or satellite, offers a way a level of privacy for some sensitive information to be passed. But unlike voice contact (radio or telephone), we do not have confirmation of receipt until they at least send a reply. I don't think it is negligence, I think it is a lack of understanding and training on how the system works and the importance of getting the acknowledgement and verification that the information has been received. I know they are busy, but this tool is an important part of the SO Dispatch toolbox to be effective. We did not have any phone service from our location. The closest cell service was about 10 miles back down the road out of the canyon. 4. Satellite VOIP Telephone - Still some work required here. System is not fully operational yet. The Intercom function does work around the immediate area. We also need to work on the documentation for how this is configured and set up. 5. WiFi Network - Still some configuration and training required to make this system seamless. Pablo did get it up and running for us after we got some of the configuration issues resolved. Unbeknownst to the MCU crew, the workgroup was changed and needed to be reconfigured. Some other system changes from the original configuration in the old ERV were also made during the MCU build out that just need to be understood by the MCU crew to make the system functional. C. Thanks to the following RACES team members who took part in the exercise: Roger Peters W7RGP (Designated lead operator for this deployment) Pablo Duarte KE7FPP Juanita Portz KK7WA RB Rice K7HVV Ev Wittig WB7VNF Bob Hollister N7INK D. We need to give an honorable mention to Don Smith of the SAR team for yet another fine culinary success at the evening meal before we left to return. Well Done Sir!! That's plenty for tonight, now let's go down the roster for comments. Bob Robert L Hollister