UPPER KITTITAS COUNTY AMATEUR RADIO CLUB

AMATEUR RADIO EMERGENCY SERVICE NEWS

On Sat. 29 June, Kittitas County ARES units successfully demonstated and
tested the APRS (Automatic Position Reporting System) with KCSR units in
the field at their summer camp up the north fork of the Teanaway. The
test involved
- two KCSR amateur radio ops in the field with handheld units (operators
KD7OZL and KD7OZN)
- County Mobile Command Post One (county-61) located at the KCSR camp
(WA7HNH)
- ARES Mobile Command Post (county-63) at the KCSR camp (KI7AO)
- four ARES base stations in the Cle Elum area (KC7ZUM, KC7BUC, KB7XQ,
W7USR)
The field units (simulated search teams) location, elevation, direction
of movement, etc. was received and rebroadcast by the County and ARES
mobile units in a small net on 145.010 mHz. The data flow was serviced by
voice comms on 445.650 mHz.
We learned that these simplex signals could not be received at our base
stations in the Cle Elum area, so the mobile units later transmitted on
144.390 mHz, into our Cle Elum digital repeater, and were viewed/copied
by the ARES base stations monitoring both the Northwest VHF APRS network
and the nationwide network as displayed on the internet That data flow
was serviced by voice comms on our 147.360 mHz voice repeater on the
KITTCOM tower at Sky Meadows.
The laptop computer displays of this APRS comms net were seen inside
County Mobile CP 1 by some of the KCSR leadership and Kittitas County
Sheriffs' Office deputies present at the scene. The use of the system,
its capability to send short emails, measure exact distances between SAR
field units, retrace search areas, etc. was discussed with those present,
as well as the use of this system for both small (SAR operations) and
larger events (emergencies) within our county or state.
On behalf of ARES. I want to thank all those amateur operators who
participated in this test- special thanks to WA7HNH - Jack Williams, who
programmed the County Mobile CP laptop and worked closely with the that
units' operators, KD7NQN and KD7OFY.
Kittitas Co ARES continues to expand its APRS usage, as the number of
amateur radio operators in the county using the system grows. We are
planning to use it operationally for the first time on the weekend of
24-25 August in our largest event of the year - providing
emergency/support communications for the 100 mile race in the upper
county .We see APRS as a supplement to and not a replacement for voice
comms.

Again, thanks to all who participated
Bill Bowden, KI7AO
EC Kittitas County ARES