ACTIVITY REPORT
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About This Form
Amateur Radio donates thousands of man hours of supplementary public service communications in civil emergencies, official drills and events such as parades and marathons each year. Such events show Amateur Radio in its best light, and it is critically important that ARRL bring documentation of this public service work to the attention of the Congress, the FCC and other public officials. Your information below is an important addition to the record. Please complete and return this form to the Public Service Branch at ARRL Headquarters. Thank you.
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1. Nature of activity (Check one).
Alert. Amateurs were deployed for emergency communications, but emergency situation did not develop.
Special exercise. Amateurs supplied communications for a parade, race, etc.
2. Brief description of activity: Communications Exercise. Anchorage COMMEX 981003.
3. Places or areas involved: Anchorage, Alaska
4. Number of amateurs participating: 9
5. Event start date/time: 20 Oct 98 6. Event end date/time: 20 Oct 98/2045L
7. Duration of event (hours): .5 8. Total man-hours: 4.5
9. Number of repeaters used: 0
10. Estimated manpower cost: $40.50 (man-hours times $10/hr)
11. Estimated cost of equipment used: $3,150 (hand-helds, repeaters, etc.)
12. Total estimated cost of service: $3,190.50 (add amounts from lines 10 and 11)
13. Nets and/or frequencies used (including repeater call signs): Big City Simplex Net, 146.52 MHz
14. Number of messages handled: Continuous Tactical Traffic
15. Names of agencies receiving communications support: N/A, ARES Communications Exercise
16. Please list call signs of amateurs who were major participants: KL0CY, KL5T, WL7CKB, NL7KN, NL7NN/M, WL7RY/M, KL7CDG, WL7WH, AL7FI/M
17. Other comments: See attached event summary.
Please attach photos of amateurs in action, newspaper clippings or other data.
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Name of Amateur Radio organization providing service: South Central Radio Club, Anchorage Amateur Radio Club, ARES
Location of organization: City or town: Anchorage State: AK
Your name: Larry K. Petty Call sign: KL5T
Address: 2631 W. 27th Ave, Anchorage, AK 99517
ARRL appointment, if any: ASM, VE, ARES e-mail address: [email protected]
Telephone: (907) 552-2448 (907)
248-3864
(days)
(evenings)
I attest that the information provided above is complete and true to the best of my knowledge.
7 Nov 98
COMMEX 981003
A communications exercise (COMMEX 981003) was held on the Big City Simplex VHF phone net on 20 Oct 98. The net is held each Tuesday evening at 2000L on 146.52 MHz. After net check-ins tapered off, net control, KL0CY, kicked off the exercise.
The purpose of the exercise was to practice our ability to follow net control's instructions and to formulate and pass tactical voice traffic. During roll call, stations were asked to identify if they had packet and/or internet capability. Of the nine stations checked in, six were internet capable and three were packet capable. Once roll call was complete, various tasks were assigned to net stations, some of them dependent upon packet or internet capability. Most of the tasks involved acquiring or identifying a specific piece of information. All data was to be passed back to net control in tactical format.
This exercise was deemed as a success as we did have 100 percent participation.
A hearty congratulations goes out to the following exercise participants:
KL0CY
KL5T
WL7CKB
NL7KN
NL7NN/M
WL7RY/M
KL7CDG
WL7WH
AL7FI/M
A special thanks goes out to KL0CY and WL7CKB for their assistance.
Again, many thanks to those who participated. I highly encourage all to script a communications exercise.
73,
de KL5T
Following is the script for the exercise:
EXERCISE PREAMBLE
STATE: "Attention all net stations, attention all net stations, this is KL0CY. This net will now conduct a communications exercise. This exercise is identified as COMMEX 981003. I repeat, this net will now conduct a communications exercise. The current time is 2015L"
PURPOSE
STATE: "The purpose of this exercise is to practice our ability to follow net control's instructions and to formulate and pass tactical voice traffic. Tactical traffic, as defined by the ARRL Operating Manual, is first response communications in an emergency situation involving a few people in a small area. The 146.52-MHz calling frequency is typically used because compatible mobile, portable, and fixed-station equipment is so plentiful and popular. Tactical traffic, although typically unformatted and seldom written, is particularly important in localized communications when working with government and law-enforcement agencies. In an emergency, the NCS, or net control station, may request specific information from various stations. During this exercise, you will be tasked to acquire and report specific information from various sources. Although some of the information would most certainly NOT be used in a real emergency, it does exercise our ability to tap into tools at our disposal. Our goal is 100 percent participation from all net check-ins. Roll call follows, please respond with 'roger', and state whether you have internet capability, packet capability, or both, to acknowledge your presence."
Conduct roll call and adivise all stations to identify if they have packet and/or internet capability.
STATE: "Are there any additional check ins?"
STATE: "All stations, standby for further instructions. I say again, all stations standby for further instructions. This is (CALLSIGN). Please standby."
PAUSE 30 SECONDS OR SO
INSTRUCTIONS
STATE: "Attention all net stations, attention all net stations, this is (CALLSIGN). Following are exercise instructions. I say again, following are exercise instructions.
Assign tasks to net stations from the attached list. There are several tasks that require special capabilities, i.e. - packet or internet. Assign those tasks based on the information collected during roll call.
Once all tasks are assigned, STATE: "This is (CALLSIGN), net control for the Big City Simplex Net COMMEX, standing by for assignment results. Stations please call when your traffic is prepared."
Once no more stations respond, STATE: "This is ENDEX, or end of exercise, all stations please standby for a brief exercise summary. The current time is 2045L"
Calculate exercise metrics based on the data collected, and announce the following:
"All net stations, the following are preliminary exercise results:
STATE: We had 9 stations checked into the net this evening when we commenced the exercise. All 9 stations, or 100 percent of those stations participated in the event, and that's up from 86 percent participation last week. Six stations, or 66 percent of exercise participants indicated they had internet capability, while three stations, or 33 percent indicated they had packet capability. All stations successfully acquired the requested data. This exercise commenced at 2015L and terminated at 2045L, for a total elapsed time of 30 minutes. Are there any comments or suggestions?"
Note any comments or suggestions for inclusion into the written exercise summary.
STATE: "This is KL0CY, net control for the Big City Simplex Net COMMEX. I want to thank all net stations for their participation in the exercise this evening. A written summary will be provided in the SCRC and AARC newsletters. I highly encourage net members to take the time to script communications exercises of their own, either for insertion into scheduled nets, or for upcoming monthly COMMEXs. Please contact me, KL0CY; or any radio club or ARES officer or participant if you'd like to become more involved in our effort to improve and enhance our emergency communications preparedness."
Turn the net back to net control, or if you're net control, continue
the net.
ASSIGNMENTS
1. Dial 248-8929, gather the entire initial data set provided, and identify where the data is from.
Assigned to:
- Solar Flux, A-index, K-index, Forecast
- 90.566 feet
Assigned to:
Assigned to:
- Nov 4: License exams, 6:30 PM, Carr-Gottstein Building, APU campus.
- 7.075-7.100 and 7.225-7.300 MHz
- WWV - Fort Collins, CO and WWVH - Kaui, HI
- VE8AT- off the air, Russia and China do not exist.
- $4.00 per pound
- Paul M. Segal, W9EEA, 1928
Assigned to:
Assigned to:
Assigned to:
Assigned to:
Assigned to:
Assigned to:
The following data should be collected:
1. Note the time of the initial call announcing STARTEX.
2. Note the total number of stations participating in the net at STARTEX, to include net control.
3. Note the total number of stations that accepted exercise instructions.
4. Note how many exercise stations were packet-capable.
5. Note how many exercise stations were internet-capable.
6. Note how many exercise stations successfully acquired and reported requested data.
7. Note the time of ENDEX.