[WARC] Infrastructure Brainstorming discussion
Erik Brom
ewbrom at hbci.com
Mon Sep 3 04:46:52 GMT 2007
Here's the list so far. Compiled from two sources:
1. Conventional analog voice on 2m and 70cm. This provides the bulk
of our communications, and nearly everyone has equipment for
it. During the flood, we had some operators who are not normally
active on these frequencies, so don't have equipment. Fortunately,
enough active people had extra stations that we were able to deploy
to cover. This points out that everyone needs to keep their
equipment in a state of readiness, as well as the club having extra
equipment available.
2. With nearly everyone carrying a cell phone these days, maybe the
"paging" capabilities are less necessary. With a little
pre-planning, we could get ahold of everyone very quickly. Of
course, this assumes the disaster has affected our area yet, as cell
phones will go down quickly, as they did in Rushford.
3. Due to our terrain, our current repeaters have some dead spots -
most notably Rushford, Whitewater, and to some extent Stockton, all
areas prone to flooding. We need either temporary or permanent means
to fill these holes.
4. Surprisingly, I think autopatch still has a place. At one point
in the flood, we were preparing to provide an autopatch between
Rushford and Rochester Red Cross. In the end, we didn't, partly
because of poor signal quality from Rushford, but it pointed out its
usefulness.
5. During a disaster, the area where we can provide the most help is
very early on, from reporting weather, to helping with search and
rescue, and then into Red Cross support. Within 24 to 48 hours,
normal means of communications start returning, and our work tapers
off That means we must be able to deploy ourselves and our network
very quickly.
6. The bulk of the traffic we passed during the flood was health and
welfare. This was passed out of the affected area on voice to where
the normal infrastructure was working, where it then went via phone
or email. We had two shelters operating, one with, and one without,
normal communications. It took us a while to realize that we could
use conventional Internet at the one, but it sure would have been
handy if we could have extended it to the other. Everyone depends on
the Internet for information these days, I noted a comment that the
Internet was being used heavily at the I-35W bridge collapse. While
I was in Rushford, there was a situation where an agency was trying
to send a fax to the shelter, regarding a victim's medications. I
made arrangements to have it faxed to someone in Winona, who would
have relayed in by voice (and eventually the problem was solved
another way). However, if I had had an Internet connection there, I
could have received it directly (using my Internet fax which would
then send an email), and I could have printed a copy directly.
7. Being highly "digital" myself, I would like to experiment with
TCP/IP based communications. TCP/IP is the language computer
networks use. I would like to work on creating these networks on the
air, and connecting them to the Internet.
8. At the drill on August 4, Russ provided an ATV link from the
center of the affected area to the command post. Everyone at the
command post was VERY impressed with this. I think we need to expand
on that, possibly even into slower update picture messaging over
longer distances.
9. We have recently had a resurgence in APRS activity. I think a low
speed (1200 baud 2m) network still has a place, and I think we could
use it effectively in a couple ways.
First, it provides short text message passing, including sending
Internet email. One thing I like about APRS over conventional
"connected mode" packet, is that it auto-routes, somewhat like
Internet traffic. That is, you don't need to know the best path
between the sender and receiver. Each packet "finds its own
way". Connected mode packet requires the sender to know an effective
path to the receiver.
Second, to automatically collect weather data, especially during
Skywarn. The rainfall amounts would also help predict flash
flooding. We have an excellent source of weather stations right
within our own community and I think that we should deploy several
covering the western and northern parts of Winona County. These
would also operate as digipeaters to fill in some gaps in the APRS
network. The LaCrosse weather service would also be able to pick
this info up directly.
Third, tracking of our stations. This helps the NCS figure out where
the resources are.
10. Finally, as I mentioned earlier, we need to make sure our
communications meshes with our neighboring groups, so we can all work
together effectively.
11. 3 mfj fiberglass push ups, 3 rolls electrical tape, 3 pairs of
10 foot cheap tv mast and 9 fence posts (enoungh stuff for 3 NVIS antenna).
12. complete APRS portable digipeater including transceiver with
built in TNC, battery and PS coax and antenna(possible MFJ pushup ).
13. 3 small hf rigs to go with NVIS prefereably with automatic
antenna tuners ICOM 703 would work. (these could be used).
14. D-STar repeater (this could wait a few more years until there
is competition from other manufacturers).
Another argument for APRS repeater is that most (if not all of the
traffic) coming out of Rushford could have been automatically relayed
to Winona or Rochester through APRS. Most messages were short or
could have been broken up into short messages.
Erik
At 10:32 PM 08/30/07, you wrote:
>Ok, let me explain, to the best of my knowledge what all those TLA's
>and FLA's (Three Letter Acronyms and Four Letter Acronyms mean):
>
>APRS: Automatic [Packet or Position] Reporting System. Typically
>used on, but not limited to, 1200 Baud 2m circuits. Mobile stations
>can report their position, as determined by a GPS receiver. Short
>text messages and weather reports can also be sent. The protocol is
>"unconnected", any digipeater that hears a packet will retransmit
>it. The number of repeats is counted, so a packet will radiate out
>in a certain circle around the transmitter, then die. A feature of
>the unconnected mode is that the sending station does not have to
>know the best path. Also, there are many "igates", which relay
>packets to the Internet. With that you can monitor the traffic on
>websites such as APRSWorld.net. Short outgoing email can also be sent.
>
>NVIS - Near Vertical Incidence Skywave. Everything I know about
>this I learned from reading the thread on this reflector!
>
>HSMM - The first several channels of standard 2.4Ghz Wi-Fi wireless
>networking are low power unlicensed sharing of the ham band. High
>Speed Multi Media is the name for it when running these channels
>under amateur rules for content, but higher power is allowed (as
>long as it doesn't interfere with the unlicensed users). It is run
>with security on, but using a special password just for Hams. That
>way, all Hams, but only Hams, can access it, and its not encrypted
>in that sense.
>
>D-Star stands for Digital Smart Technologies for Amateur Radio. Its
>an open protocol, developed by the Japan Amateur Radio League. It
>does digital voice and data. Also has much routing capability and
>connectivity with the Internet. See the current QST for some
>information and references. Icom is currently the only supplier of
>equipment in the US.
>
>Sending still pictures? I think that could be accommodated by
>sending jpg files over a medium speed data link. This also sounds
>like Slow Scan TV.
>
>Erik
>
>
>
>At 08:06 PM 08/30/07, you wrote:
>>Erik, great idea!. I have been so out of the loop for so long I
>>need a course on what the new technologies are that you listed and
>>what they do, and what the acronyms mean. Also you made mention of
>>amateur television, but I think that is a VERY important addition,
>>especially to sell to the various public service agencies. It would
>>have been invaluable to be able to have some video sent back to the
>>EOC during the flooding events. Even to be able to record it and
>>put it on a web site, no matter if it would be 10 minutes old. What
>>technology is available for this?
>>Dan, WK0W
>>
>>At 07:13 PM 8/30/2007 -0500, you wrote:
>>>Hi All,
>>>Some time ago, we started some discussion on the club's radio
>>>infrastructure. Although working well now, our equipment is
>>>getting old, both physically and technically, and we want to
>>>figure out what direction the club should take. Most likely, this
>>>will take funds beyond what the club members can put
>>>together. With our recent very positive experiences with the
>>>disaster drill August 4, and now the flood, now is the time to
>>>move. We have a great group of talented people, in both technical
>>>and operations and I know we can make this happen.
>>>
>>>I would like to put together a meeting soon, but we will get the
>>>discussion started here. Our first topic is to define what our
>>>communications needs are. Once those are defined, we will
>>>determine the equipment needed to get there.
>>>
>>>This is a brainstorming session, sometimes called a "green light"
>>>session. That is, all ideas are good. And, to make sure everyone
>>>has a chance to voice their opinion, (thanks for the suggestion
>>>Len), I have not included any of my ideas in this posting. For
>>>the next couple days, please send your ideas directly to me
>>>(ewbrom at hbci.com). Sometime late Sunday or Monday, I'll compile
>>>them all and send out the complete list. I won't identify the
>>>senders. After that, it will be an open discussion.
>>>
>>>Before I get into our communications needs though, I want to
>>>briefly list some technologies we should consider. I have not
>>>been too active recently, so I may have missed some:
>>>-Conventional 5Khz FM repeaters and simplex.
>>>-Extra / portable UHF repeaters
>>>-Remote receivers
>>>-APRS
>>>-NVIS
>>>-HSMM
>>>-D-Star,
>>>-Digital modes.
>>>-Internet connections.
>>>I envision a network that is a combination of these, but working
>>>together seamlessly. Before we get too far, we also need to
>>>contact our neighbors in LaCrosse, Rochester, and Wabasha to see
>>>what their plans are. As the flood pointed out, its important
>>>that we all be able to work together.
>>>
>>>Now, on to the major topic: What are our communications needs?
>>>I want to break that down into two parts:
>>>1. External needs. This is what we do to support public service,
>>>Skywarn, other communications emergencies, etc.
>>>2. Internal needs. These are strictly for the pursuit of our
>>>hobby. That includes communicating with each other and
>>>experimenting with new technologies.
>>>
>>>The external needs are what we can sell to help raise funds. The
>>>internal needs are what keep us interested, and that we use 99% of
>>>the time. Both are important.
>>>
>>>Some random thoughts:
>>>-We want to experiment with new technologies, but we don't want to
>>>make the current equipment obsolete, we want to migrate over time.
>>>-Since the more technical people tend to be busy, we should
>>>purchase as much as possible.
>>>-What geographic area do we need to cover? We usually focus on
>>>Winona County, but Rushford is in Filmore county. We can help all
>>>of our neighbors. I'm bad myself at keeping in touch with other
>>>groups around, but I know many of you are better at it. We should
>>>work with them in our planning, and also in discussions and drills.
>>>-One thing I've been thinking since Katrina, and the flood
>>>re-enforced - part of our job is to provide communications from
>>>inside the affected area out to where normal communications are
>>>running. We saw this with health and welfare traffic coming out
>>>of Rushford. As soon as it got to Winona, it went to email or
>>>landline telephone.
>>>
>>>
>>>Thanks,
>>>Erik
>>>
>>>_______________________________________________
>>>WARC mailing list
>>>WARC at lists.w0ne.org
>>>http://lists.w0ne.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/warc
>>
>>Daniel L. Goltz
>>702 Spring Brook Dr.
>>Winona, MN 55987
>>
>>
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