On
Saturday, April 30th, ARES, RACES, MARS and the NM State Defense
Force participated in an emergency communications test. The exercise was based on simulated fires in
the mountains east of Albuquerque and near Ruidoso in Lincoln County.
Thirteen
Roswell area hams participated, by voice or digital mode. CARES successfully completed twenty-two
packet message transmissions and eight MT63 HF digital transmissions during the
two-hour test. A formal voice net on
147.18 MHz was conducted for the full two hours, with an informal net on 146.61
MHz for coordination with Lincoln and Sandoval Counties. HF voice on 7236.5 kHz was used for
statewide coordination.
For
this test, the major emphasis was on digital communication. Our local packet system was used to pass
formal traffic in the Roswell area. A
number of the packet messages were re-filed and relayed via HF (MT63) to the State
EOC in Santa Fe (via W5PDO in Los Alamos).
CARES
was able to confirm delivery of all messages, including one to FEMA in Denton,
TX. (MARS and NMSDF provided the “long-haul” digital circuits to relay data
traffic to FEMA Region 6 in Denton, TX.)