Tactical Interoperability Exercise
New Mexico Preparedness Area #1
Ham Radio “After Action Report”

Roswell/ Chaves County Mobile Command Post

ARES HF Net Control Vehicle – W5ALL
(NVIS antenna in field behind van)

ARES VHF/UHF Net Control Vehicle – W5TIC

Date: Tuesday, 25 September 2007

Time: 1315 to 1445 MDT

Where: Nine-county area – Guadalupe, Quay, De Baca, Curry, Lincoln,
Chaves, Roosevelt, Eddy, and Lea Counties – plus the State EOC in Santa Fe.

Who: Hams from the nine-county area and the State EOC in Santa Fe --
plus some hams from other New Mexico Counties, Texas, and Arizona.

W5TIC VHF/UHF net control Roswell. W5ALL HF and digital data net control, Roswell.
KKFXZ and K5RIC Lincoln County net controls.

Plan: Scroll down for plan.

Results: All SOP ARES frequencies and repeaters were tested. A link between ARES VHF and
Public Safety VHF was established using ACU -1000 equipment.

With one exception, the ARES portion of the exercise went as planned.

The one exception was we were unable to establish a direct MT63 data circuit between
Roswell and the Santa Fe EOC on either 80 meters or 40 meters HF. We were,
however, able to establish an excellent 40 meter MT63 circuit between Roswell and
Aztec (in the Four-corners area of New Mexico). Data could presumably have been
relayed from Aztec to Santa Fe by ham radio, Internet or other means.

As an alternative to the MT63 mode, we sent data from Roswell to the State EOC using
145.01 MHz TelPac packet and the WL2K system. We also communicated with the
State EOC in Santa Fe a number of times by voice, utilizing the Mega Link ham repeater system.

Problems: Aside from the problem with HF direct to the EOC, the only other problem was a very
high acoustic noise level at the net control location.  W5TIC had a hard time hearing.
There were five generators and more than five air-conditioners making noise in the
immediate area. Plus, there were numerous conversations and vehicle traffic.
Headphones with a boom mike would have helped.

The 40 Meter SSB sub-band was “long,” requiring a rely from a N5TW in Georgetown, TX.

Statistics: The following tables delineate the hams who participated via the various repeater
systems and frequencies. There were a total of 186 check-ins to the various ham radio
nets (a number of hams checked into more than one net).

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Participant Totals

Repeater Name	Frequency	Repeater Location	No. of Participants
Mega Link Sys WA5IHL	Various	Various throughout NM	45
Capitan Mtn. W5YFN	146.610 MHz	Top of Capitan Mountain	30
Caprock W8QD	147.180 MHz	KOB-R tower near Caprock, NM	29
Buck Mtn. K5RIC	146.980 MHz	Top of Buck Mountain	26
FLETC W5COW	444.975 MHz	Approx. 7 Mi east of Artesia	19
Roswell W5BLO	146.940 MHz	W. Mc Gaffey Rd, Roswell	11
75 Meter HF	3939.00 kHz	No repeater used	8
40 Meter HF	7236.50 kHz	No repeater used	14
40 Meter MT63	7103.50 kHz	No repeater used	2
Telpac Node W5ALL-9	145.010 MHz	Estrellita Dr, Roswell	2

Details by Repeater/Frequency

Repeater Name	Frequency	Ham Callsign	Ham Location	County
Buck Mtn. K5RIC	146.980 MHz	KE5IAY	Lake Arthur	Chaves
		KE5IDY	Mobile	Chaves
		W0FOE	Portable Roswell	Chaves
		W5ALL	Roswell	Chaves
		W5BLO	Mobile Roswell	Chaves
		KB5UFU	Artesia	Eddy
		KE5YD	Artesia	Eddy
		W5COW	Hope	Eddy
		AB5JR	Loma Grande	Lincoln
		K5FBK	Roswell (Mobile Command)	Lincoln
		K5JWE	Alto	Lincoln
		K5OI	Ruidoso	Lincoln
		K5RIC/M	Mobile	Lincoln
		K5YQ	Ruidoso	Lincoln
		KA5SKF	Mobile Hondo	Lincoln
		KD5NDK	Ruidoso	Lincoln
		KE5MWK	Mobile	Lincoln
		KE5MWM	Mobile	Lincoln
		KE5OIE	Mobile	Lincoln
		KK5XZ	Ruidoso	Lincoln
		W0ZW	San Patricio	Lincoln
		W5ZIT	Ruidoso	Lincoln
		W6RQR	Ruidoso Downs	Lincoln
		WA6IFF	Cherry Creek	Lincoln
		N7DRB	Alamogordo	Otero
		W5GEM	James Canyon	Otero

Mega Link	VHF/UHF	KE5IHC	Mobile	Bernalillo
		NM5BC	Albu. Bernalillo Co EOC	Bernalillo
		WX5ABQ	Albuquerque Nat.Weather Ser.	Bernalillo
		K5FBK	Roswell Lincoln Co. MCP	Chaves
		KC5MU	Roswell	Chaves
		KE5CWX	Dexter	Chaves
		KE5LEK	Mobile Roswell	Chaves
		KE5LIY	Roswell	Chaves
		KF4WC	Roswell	Chaves
		N4ILQ	Roswell	Chaves
		N5MMI	NMMI Roswell	Chaves
		N5UBK	Mobile Roswell	Chaves
		W5ALL	Portable Roswell	Chaves
		W5BLO	Mobile	Chaves
		W5PSA	Mobile Roswell	Chaves
		W5TIC	Mobile Roswell	Chaves
		WS5A	Dexter	Chaves
		WA5TYJ	Grants Cibola Co. EOC	Cibola
		KB0QNW	Mobile	Eddy
		KB5UFU	Artesia	Eddy
		KE5IAY	Mobile	Eddy
		KE5IDX	Artesia	Eddy
		KE5IDY	Cottonwood	Eddy
		KE5WLM	Mobile	Eddy
		KE5YD	Artesia	Eddy
		W5COW	Hope	Eddy
		WB5CFT	Mobile	Eddy
		KD5ZYN	Silver City Grant Co. EOC	Grant
		AH2AZ	Hobbs	Lea
		K5OI	Ruidoso	Lincoln
		K5RIC	Mobile	Lincoln
		K5YQ	Ruidoso	Lincoln
		KD5SKF	Mobile Hondo	Lincoln
		W0ZW	San Patricio	Lincoln
		W5ENF	Deming Luna Co. EOC	Luna
		KE5NJG	Mobile	New Mexico
		KE5AHU	Mayhill	Otero
		K5UT	Portales Roosevelt Co. EOC	Roosevelt
		KE5ENR	Mobile Edgewood	Santa Fe
		KE5HVQ	Santa Fe State EOC	Santa Fe
		NM5EC	Santa Fe State EOC	Santa Fe
		KE5NKG	Belen	Valencia
Caprock	147.180 MHz	K5FBK	Portable Roswell	Chaves
		KE5CWX	Dexter	Chaves
		KE5DPI	Roswell	Chaves
		KE5LEK	Mobile Roswell	Chaves
		KF4WC	Mobile Roswell	Chaves
		N4ILQ	Mobile Roswell	Chaves
		N5MMI	NMMI Roswell	Chaves
		N5UBK	Mobile Roswell	Chaves
		W5ALL	Portable Roswell	Chaves
		W5BLO	Roswell	Chaves
		W5PSA	Mobile Roswell	Chaves
		W5TIC	Mobile Roswell	Chaves
		WB0QNW	Mobile	Chaves
		WS5A	Dexter	Chaves
		KB5CFT	Mobile	Eddy
		KB5UFU	Artesia	Eddy
		KE5IAY	Mobile	Eddy
		KE5IDX	Artesia	Eddy
		KE5IDY	Cottonwood	Eddy
		KE5NJG	Mobile	Eddy
		KE5WLM	Mobile	Eddy
		KE5YD	Mobile Artesia	Eddy
		AH2AZ	Hobbs	Lea
		K5OI	Ruidoso	Lincoln
		K5RIC	Mobile	Lincoln
		K5YQ	Ruidoso	Lincoln
		KD5SKF	Mobile Hondo	Lincoln
		W0ZW	San Patricio	Lincoln
		KE5AHU	Mayhill	Otero
Roswell W5BLO	146.940 MHz	KB0QNW	Mobile Roswell	Chaves
		KE5DPI	Roswell	Chaves
		KE5IAY	Mobile	Chaves
		KE5IDY	Mobile	Chaves
		KF4WC	Mobile Roswell	Chaves
		N4ILQ	Mobile Roswell	Chaves
		N5MMI	NMMI Roswell	Chaves
		N5UBK	Mobile Roswell	Chaves
		W5ALL	Portable Roswell	Chaves
		W5BLO	Roswell	Chaves
		W5TIC	Mobile Roswell	Chaves
TelPac Packet	145.01 MHz	N5RKE	Albuquerque	Bernalillo
		WA5WHN	Albuquerque	Bernalillo
		W5ALL	Roswell	Chaves
Capitan	146.610 MHz	K9ARO	Mobile Saint Johns, AZ	Arizona
		W7OTA	Mobile Show Low, AZ	Arizona
		N5IRC	Albuquerque	Bernalillo
		KB0QNW	Mobile	Chaves
		KE5CWX	Dexter	Chaves
		KE5DPI	Roswell	Chaves
		KE5LEK	Mobile Roswell	Chaves
		KE5NJG	Mobile	Chaves
		KF4WC	Mobile Roswell	Chaves
		N0FOE	Portable Roswell	Chaves
		N4ILQ	Mobile Roswell	Chaves
		N5MMI	NMMI Roswell	Chaves
		N5UBK	Mobile Roswell	Chaves
		W5ALL	Portable Roswell	Chaves
		W5BLO	Mobile Roswell	Chaves
		W5TIC	Mobile Roswell	Chaves
		WS5A	Dexter	Chaves
		KB5UFU	Artesia	Eddy
		KE5IAY	Mobile	Eddy
		KE5IDY	Cottonwood	Eddy
		KE5YD	Mobile Artesia	Eddy
		W5COW	Hope	Eddy
		AB5JR	Mobile	Lincoln
		K5RIC	Mobile	Lincoln
		KD5SKF	Mobile Hondo	Lincoln
		KE5MWK	Mobile	Lincoln
		KE5MWM	Mobile	Lincoln
		W0ZW	Mobile	Lincoln
		W6RQR	Capitan	Lincoln
		W5GEM	Mobile Cloudcroft	Otero
FLETC W5COW	444.975 MHz	KB0QNW	Mobile	Chaves
		KE5CWX	Dexter	Chaves
		KE5DPI	Roswell	Chaves
		KE5LEK	Mobile Roswell	Chaves
		KE5NJG	Mobile	Chaves
		KF4WC	Mobile Roswell	Chaves
		N4ILQ	Mobile Roswell	Chaves
		N5MMI	NMMI Roswell	Chaves
		N5UBK	Mobile Roswell	Chaves
		W5ALL	Portable Roswell	Chaves
		W5BLO	Roswell	Chaves
		W5TIC	Mobile Roswell	Chaves
		KE5IAY	Mobile	Eddy
		KE5IDY	Cottonwod	Eddy
		KE5WLM	Mobile	Eddy
		KE5YD	Artesia	Eddy
		W5COW	Portable Hope	Eddy
		WB5CFT	Mobile	Eddy
		KD5SKF	Mobile Hondo	Lincoln
75 Meter HF	3939.00 kHz	W5ALL	Roswell	Chaves
		KE5YD	Artesia	Eddy
		W5COW	Hope	Eddy
		AB5JR	Nogal	Lincoln
		K6YQ	Ruidiso	Lincoln
		W0ZW	San Patricio	Lincoln
		N7DRB	Alamogordo	Otero
		W5GEM	Mountain Park	Otero
40 Meter HF	7235.50 kHz	KE5DPI	Roswell	Chaves
		W5ALL	Roswell	Chaves
		W5ROY	Clovis	Curry
		KE5YD	Artesia	Eddy
		W5COW	Hope	Eddy
		AH2AZ	Hobbs	Lea
		AB5JR	Loma Grande	Lincoln
		K5RIC	Mobile	Lincoln
		K5YQ	Ruidoso	Lincoln
		N7DRB	Alamogordo	Otero
		W5GEM	Cloudcroft	Otero
		KA5BQG	Brownfield, TX	Terry
		N5TW	Georgetown, TX	Travis
40 Meter HF MT63	7103.50 kHz	W5ALL	Roswell	Chaves
		W5OXK	Aztec	San Juan
Telpac – WL2K	145.010 MHz	W5ALL	Roswell	Chaves
		State EOC	Santa Fe	Santa Fe

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NM Preparedness Area #1 Tactical Interoperability Exercise

-- Ham Radio Plan --

Date: Tuesday, 25 September 2007

Time: 1315 to 1445 MDT

Where: Nine-county area – Guadalupe, Quay, De Baca, Curry, Lincoln,
Chaves, Roosevelt, Eddy, and Lea Counties.

Two Public Safety Mobile Command Posts and two Ham Communication
Vehicles, in the far northeast corner of the Roswell Mall rear parking lot.

The State EOC in Santa Fe.

Who: Hams from the nine-county area, the State EOC in Santa Fe, and
Area #1 FD, PD, EMS, and EM personnel.

Stations from other parts of New Mexico and West Texas are welcome to
check-in at the end of each nine-county roll-call.

What: Ham radio operators will check-in with the Roswell net control from wherever
they happen to be. The hams will check-in with their callsign only when their
county is called -- then wait to be recognized. They will be asked for
their name and location. The net will then move to the next frequency and the
check-in process will be repeated, with name and location requested only
from hams who did not check-in on one of the previous frequencies.

There will be no formal traffic passed, except for three or four messages
between the Roswell Command Post location and the State EOC in
Santa Fe.

Frequencies: We will test all of our SOP frequencies.

We will start on the MegaLink at 1315, where we will quickly take check-ins
from all nine counties and give instructions to all stations. We will move to
the 147.18 Caprock repeater and then on to the various other frequencies.

HF voice and data traffic will be passed between the Roswell Command
Post location and the State EOC in Santa Fe on 75/80 M and/or 40 M. If
stations in the nine-county area want to join in on HF, they are welcome to do
so. Just remember, the HF nets are also controlled nets.

The W5ALL-9 TelPac/WL2K node on 145.01 MHz will be used to pass
messages between the Roswell Command Post and “Blackberry Devices” at
the State EOC.

Special: There will be an ACU-1000 class in the Roswell Mall conference room at
1030 and a demonstration will follow at one of the Command Posts in the
parking lot. The ACU-1000 ties together radio systems that are otherwise
incompatible. Sort of like tying ham radios into the telephone system with
phone patches or into the Internet with EchoLink. This provides
“Interoperability.”

Summary: We will have a controlled net of ten to twenty-five hams from the nine-
county area -- with the net moving from one frequency to the next until we
have verified our capability on all frequencies.  The time spent on any one
frequency will be just long enough for all the hams to check-in with their call-
sign, name, and location.

Some frequencies will have more hams participate than others because of
license, equipment, and repeater coverage limitations.  Net control will be
from a self-sustained com van on generator power and a mobile "storm
chase" vehicle on battery power – both parked near the Area #1 Mobile
Command Post.

We ask the hams, where possible, to either use emergency power or
operate mobile.

We will demonstrate that hams from various jurisdictions (counties) have
in common the necessary equipment and frequencies to reliably
communicate on short notice. We will demonstrate our capability to
communicate directly with the State EOC from a mobile command post,
using ham radio.

Background: This summer a Tactical Interoperability Communication Plan was prepared
for the New Mexico Department of Homeland Security & Emergency
Management (DHSEM). This plan includes police, fire, EMS, EM and Ham
radio communication for the nine counties in Area #1. An Interoperability
Test is required after these plans are completed.