Alexander County ARES RACES

Operation Riverbend Two

On May 19 2007 the Alexander County ARES RACES participated in operation Riverbend two. This event consisted in Emergency field communications, Gps navigation and Emergency preparedness. The operation took place at Riverbend Park in northern Catawba County that spans 450 acres and has 12 miles of trails.  Operators from the Alexander County ARES RACES received training in global positioning systems a year earlier and got to put it to good use at this event. Operators were divided into two different groups. Team leaders and tactical callsigns were assigned to each group and their task was to walk the park to a set of coordinates given out by net control and execute a scenario that was placed at the location. Several scenarios were placed such as, reporting downed power lines, reporting rising flood waters, sending formal messages, missing person searches and reporting overall observations to specific government agencies upon request.

All communications took place with only battery power and field type antennas such as the portable HT whip and J-Pole antennas. Operators quickly saw how effective their equipment performed and learned about the behavior of VHF fm signals. The team leaders were responsible for the overall safety of their team as well as maintaining communications with net control and successfully completing the operation. Operators on each team also were assigned specific duties such as Navigator and simplex team to team communications person.

Net control consisted of a yaesu FT-897 which can operate in all modes from Uhf-HF. Given the task at hand, net control also ran off battery power and performed excellent though out the park. The NCS operator often requested current positions from each team and plotted their progress during the entire operation on a topographical map enabling real time charting of each team. The Taylorsville 147.195 W4ERT repeater was used and provided great coverage though out the exercise.

After all was completed everyone stated they had a great time, learned a lot and was looking forward to the next one. This operation was designed to place difficulties on the amateur radio operator in a field environment away from the luxuries of the EOC. The operators involved done an excellent job and I am very proud to serve beside them in our volunteer organization. Their desire to serve, personal sacrifice and professionalism is an example that reflects highly on the ARES RACES organization and Amateur Radio.

Left click enlarges the pictures

 

 Participants:
N4NNX - John Dollar (ARES EC/ Training Coordinator)
KE4HKQ – David Duncan (ARES AEC/ RACES Radio Officer/Net Manager)
KI4PFP – Jayme Cook

W4AW – Jonnie Hutchinson

W4AW - Gail Hutchinson

KG4TRP – Brian Millsaps

KI4VIT – Bradley Beaver                 

For further information on the Alexander County ARES RACES, please contact John Dollar, N4NNX at 828-632-8080 or n4nnx@charter.net. The Alexander County ARES RACES holds their training net every Sunday evening on a frequency of 147.195+ (94.8) at 9:00PM and holds their monthly meeting every third Tuesday at 7:00PM at the Alexander County Rescue Squad building in Taylorsville, NC.
 

 

 

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