Date: Saturday, 13 November 2010
Subject: Cabarrus County (NC) ARES/RACES
2010 NC Simulated Emergency Test (SET) Summary
Operation Summary
The Cabarrus Amateur Radio Society (CARS) participated in the 2010 ARRL Simulated Emergency Test conducted on 13 November 2010. This exercise was part of a larger state-wide operation conducted by North Carolina ARES/RACES. At 0915 EST, Cabarrus County EOC received a test message from NC State EOC that contained a test scenario describing a state-wide blackout of electrical power, telecommunications and internet connectivity. In response to this scenario, the Cabarrus County ARES team started a tactical 2m net to communicate messages between four served agency locations. The net ran in directed status for 2 hours and 42 minutes passing ICS 213 formatted message and tactical message traffic. Simultaneously the ARES team maintained an HF liaison station to our state-wide communication network (via The Tar heel Emergency Net on 3.927 MHz LSB). During this time, the ARES team handled three ICS 213 formatted messages via our HF liaison station and ten ICS 213 formatted messages via our 2m tactical net. Additionally, 5 tactical messages were delivered via the 2m net regarding conditions at the mobilized sites.
At 1029 EST, the team simulated a communication failure of our normal ARES 2m repeater. During this time, our 2m net transitioned to a prearranged 2m simplex frequency where we collected and exchanged signal reports from the mobilized sites. Additionally, each site exchanged signal reports with NJ4D (located near the Rock Hill, SC airport).
Lastly, we sent 3 test messages using our local 2m packet LAN that were sent to various stations via a remote Winlink 2000 gateway (established by W4LN). At least one of these messages was successfully sent and a response received between Cabarrus County EOC and NC State EOC.
Overall, we feel this exercise went well and the team adequately tested our local and state-wide communication plans for Cabarrus County. All the participation in this exercise was greatly appreciated and we especially thank W4LN and KI4RBC for providing leadership and good plans for this SET.
Operation Details
2m Tactical Net Statistics
|
Net Start Time |
0900 ET |
|
Net Secure Time |
1142 ET |
|
Net Duration |
2 hours 42 minutes |
|
Total Messages Passed |
ICS 213 12 formatted messages, 5 tactical messages |
Net Frequency(s) Used
|
2m Tactical Net |
146.055/146.655 K4CEB Repeater (No PL tone) |
|
2m Tactical Net |
146.490 Simplex |
|
HF Liaison Net |
3.927 MHz LSB |
|
Winlink Packet |
145.09 MHz FM X.25 Packet |
Served Agency Participation:
· Cabarrus County Emergency Management
· American Red Cross
· CMC Northeast Hospital
· Concord Regional Airport.
Note: No served agency representatives participated in this exercise, but we did mobilize stations using their equipment at 2 sites and we set up temporary stations at the facilities of the remaining 2 sites.
Amateur Radio Operator Participation List:
K4WC (club call), W4LN, KI4RBC, WA1WXL, W4OH, W4JEE, K4JGW, KA2CIS, WD8SAS, KI4BGD, W4DPW, NJ4D
Mobilization Operation Summary
|
Mobilized Station |
Operators at Location |
Tactical Call |
Location Description |
Comments |
|
Cabarrus County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) |
K4WC (CARS club) W4LN WA1WXL KI4RBC W4OH |
Cabarrus EOC |
Cabarrus County EOC at County Emergency Management office on Corban Street in downtown Concord, NC
|
Station well equipped with multiple bands and modes. Used HF 75m SSB and 2m FM simplex and duplex capabilities during exercise.
Our HF liaison station K4WC was used to establish communication from our local tactical net on 2 meters to The Tar heel Emergency Net (THEN) on 75 meters |
|
CMC Northeast Hospital (Concord, NC) |
KA2CIS WD8SAS |
North East |
CMC Northeast Hospital Amateur Radio communications station located on Hwy 601/29 North in Concord, NC
|
Station consist of 2m/70cm FM simplex and duplex capability |
|
Concord Regional Airport (Concord, NC) |
K4JGW W4JEE |
Concord Airport |
Located at the Weather facility for Concord, Regional Airport in Concord, NC
|
Station capable of 2m FM simplex and duplex. Also, had HF and other mode capability but was not needed during exercise.
|
|
American Red Cross (Concord, NC) |
KI4BGD W4DPW |
Red Cross |
ARC facility on Union Street in Concord, NC
|
An amateur radio operator was provided for this agency at their facility; however, we had no facility access due to their office closing on Saturday)
|
|
Roving Mobile Station
|
W4DPW |
Rover1 |
Mobile station located in parking lot between Cabarrus County Fairgrounds and Walgreens on Cabarrus Avenue in Concord, NC. This is allegedly the highly geographic elevation in the city of Concord, NC).
|
Station consisted of a 2m HT operated portable |
2m FM Simplex Signal Strength Test
|
Station |
Cabarrus EOC |
Concord Airport |
Northeast Hospital |
Red Cross |
Rover1 |
Rock Hill Airport |
|
Cabarrus EOC |
|
Sig.: S5 Dist.: 7.832 |
Sig.: S9+20 Dist.: 2.459 |
Sig.: S9+20 Dist.: 0.173 |
Sig.: S9 Dist.: 1.990 |
Sig.: S5 Dist.: 40.391 |
|
Concord Airport |
Sig.: S9 Dist.: 7.832 |
|
Sig.: S5 Dist.: 7.249 |
Sig.: S6 Dist.: 7.827 |
Sig.: S6 Dist.: 5.954 |
Sig.: S6 Dist.: 34.240 |
|
Northeast Hospital |
Sig.: S9+20 Dist.: 2.459 |
Sig.: S5 Dist.: 7.249 |
|
Sig.: S8 Dist.: 2.521 |
Sig.: S8 Dist.: 2.875 |
Sig.: S5 Dist.: 40.917 |
|
Red Cross
|
Sig.: S9+20 Dist.: 0.173 |
Sig.: S1 Dist.: 7.827 |
Sig.: S8 Dist.: 2.521 |
|
Sig.: S5 Dist.: 1.937 |
Sig.: S1 Dist.: 40.307 |
|
Rover1
|
Sig.: S9 Dist.: 1.990 |
Sig.: S5 Dist.: 5.954 |
Sig.: S8 Dist.: 2.875 |
Sig.: S8 Dist.: 1.937 |
|
Sig.: S5 Dist.: 38.519 |
|
Rock Hill Airport |
Sig.: S5 Dist: 40.391 |
Sig.: S5 Dist.: 34.240 |
Sig.: S5 Dist.: 40.917 |
Sig.: S0 Dist.: 40.307 |
Sig.: S0 Dist.: 38.519 |
|
Notes:
· Sig. = Signal Strength measure in S-units on the station’s 2m FM receiver
· Dist. = Straight line distance measured in MILES between the two locations in the matrix. Unit of measurement is miles.
· Distances calculated by online distance calculator at URL: http://www.freemaptools.com/measure-distance.htm
· An S unit measurement of S0 represents the receiving station’s FM squelch was breaking and some audio detected but no real S unit reading on their meter and the signal audio was NOT copy able.
· The Cabarrus EOC station was running approximately 60 watts out
· It is unknown at the time of this writing what power levels the other participating stations were running at the time of the exercise.