Idaho ham radio
American Radio Relay League Idaho SEC
As the Idaho Section Emergency Coordinator of the American Radio Relay League (the national association for Amateur Radio--or Ham Radio--in the United States), I am always looking for ways to get our local Idaho Amateur Radio Operators involved, to get them moving, and to have fun.
Every year we plan and participate in our local Idaho Simulated Emergency Test. We try to base the operation and feel of the Test in a way fitting our unique geographic conditions.
For three years now we have engaged in our own game, the Idaho way, training as we go and still having fun. For two years we entered messages into the system as a Radiogram and ICS213 (a form used for communication in emergency incidents) with specific instructions within each message to move it forward, but note how and who sent it to you in an After Action Report sent to the Section Emergency Coordinator. This way we could measure the width and breadth of our penetration into our state and neighboring states. Accuracy was also important, and the After Action Reports gave us the details we needed to identify where we needed improvement.
This year however was different.
One of my Counties (Latah) was planning a County-wide Exercise which involved 24 hours of operation including all modes, Voice, Digital, and CW (Morse code). Bill Ward, K9GRZ, the planner of this operation, wanted to know if I could help him expand to other counties to give them more check-ins and make it more real.
The K9GRZ exercise of Latah County sounded like the perfect opportunity for a Simulated Emergency Test (SET) to me, so we started a campaign to get the word out via our fabulous website www.idahoares.info , also via email, club notification, and by posted news such as the newsbf.com website.
Our little simulated test developed legs, and before you knew it we had a region of Amateur Operators interested in participating.
Now this simulated test was not between big boomer stations with amplifiers and antennas at 300 feet, but rather a Net Control in a tent, out in the wilds, running normal power, portable antennas, and anything but the best of operating conditions. We wanted to see what happens in the real world!
In the real world our Amateur Operators would be asked to communicate for an extended period of time, not just during a simple net, but maybe days, with little relief. If things were bad we would not have the mega stations, mega antennas, and teams of operators. So our test reflected that exact situation.
Some stations in several counties were set up at the local Emergency Operation Centers; others teamed up and went portable like Field Day. In the true spirit of Amateur Radio Emergency Service and Amateur Radio, Operators set up for the duration.
Starting at 1900 Zulu on October 11, 2014 our Simulated Emergency Test began (two hours of early check-ins to confirm things worked) with stations working Single Side Band radio for the first 20 minutes of the hour, then Digital PSK31 for the next 20 minutes, and CW for the last 20. Stations working all three modes were really kept busy, and it did not stop for 24 hours (26 hours for the early birds).
On top of all this check-in action, local groups and communities were encouraged to take VHF-UHF check-ins and relay those stations in, which were included in the After Action Reports of all operators, not on the air due to limits in time.
All totalled, Idaho had roughly 1,400 check-ins to our Simulated Emergency Test in 24 hours. During that time we moved the Net frequency from 80 meters to 40 meters as the band went in and out as smoothly as switching a band switch (almost!).
Talk about fun, and a challenge, to operate for 24 hours, multimode, under less than ideal conditions. This, my friends, weeds out the men from the boys, so to speak.
The breakdown on our simulated test was 619 Single Side Band contacts from 24 Idaho counties, eight different states, and 88 individual stations. CW was 219 contacts from all six Idaho districts, eight states and 24 individual stations. Digital PSK31 was 127 contacts from 12 counties, five states, and 31 individual stations. VHF was 424 contacts from 96 stations, for a total of 1,389 contacts from 239 stations.
This breakdown does not account for logging errors or missed calls by stations that could not get relayed in or were buried in the pile ups, so totals are likely greater than indicated.
The accompanying graph shown below indicates the number of check-ins throughout the Simulated Emergency Test, and shows how many operated round the clock for this 24 hour exercise.
