Canadian 2010 SET Exercise

The following was received from the RAC Bulletin Service

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Canadian Simulated Emergency Test (SET) – October 16 and 17, 2010

This is a reminder to all ARES Groups that the Canadian SET is this coming weekend, October 16 and 17, 2010. This is a great opportunity for ARES groups to practice the delivery of Amateur Radio assistance to Canadian municipalities and served agencies. Please visit the RAC website for details on rules and reporting procedures.

The best of luck to you all. Your support is appreciated!

73

– Doug Mercer VO1DTM CEC
Radio Amateurs of Canada
Vice President Field Services
P.O. Box 1042
Goulds, NL A1S 1H2

” We’re ALL about Amateur Radio !”
” Tous ensemble pour la radioamateur !”
–
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Now if you are in the Ontario Section I have heard that the Ontario Section Set will be occuring after a planning session to be held in late October.  The ARES Ontario website might have better or more up to date information on this…

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73bob

2009 ARES SET Exercise- my thoughts

Yesterday (Saturday October 3rd) this station did participate in the 2009 Simulated Emergency Test (SET) which was run in the Province of Ontario as joint venture with the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES Ontario) and Emergency Management Ontario (EMO) with the assistance of the National Traffic System for Ontario (NTS) (Ontario Phone Net).

I did not participate at the local level but did participate at the Provincal Level being part of a Province Wide 80m HF Radio Net that did operate to pass formal NTS Traffic between various points in the province of Ontario.

In these days of Internet, Text Messaging, Cell Phones and all sorts of other Hi-Tech goodies our basic communications seem to have gone by the wayside.  Traffic that used to go via HF Voice now goes out Digitally using Winlink 2000 and  Pactor which also can connect to the Internet.

NTS Voice and CW communications seem to be heading towards the way of the Dinosaurs…

But yesterday we showed we could still do it.  We put up with poor band conditions on 80m, we put up with high static levels and poor hearing with “senior operators” (I fall into that catagory), we put up with new operators who are not used to HF Communications but we welcome them, as they are the future of our hobby….

Stations checked in from all areas of the province,  North West Ontario, Northern Ontario, North East Ontario, Eastern Ontario, Central Ontario, the Golden Horseshoe, the GTA, Southern Ontario and South Western Ontario and traffic was passed.  Not always quickly… but the traffic was passed…

Now jumping on my soapbox for a few lines I will agree with the people grumbling out there that are thinking that we will never get used and that its an old inefective  system.  Hell, your most likely right….

BUT….

There is a very small chance that we will have a major infrastructure failure… where all the new toys will not work…. and then it will a good thing that a few of us “old pharts” will be able to step in and keep things moving, yes moving slowly and ineffeciently but moving never the less.

Many times in the past when people have been commenting on my poor antennas I have commented that I would rather be on the air with a poor antenna than not on the air.

I believe that I would rather have a final backup system up and running when “all else fails” than be standing on a hill praying for a cell site….

Its slow, its outdated, and it still works….

NTS…

73bob

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(if you are interested there will be detailed report after the 2nd part of the test concludes on Wednesday October 7th on the Ontario Phone Net Blog- http://ontariophonenet.wordpress.com Look for it most likely by the following weekend.

VA3 and VE3 Dust off the gear and get ready

Now if that title does not get your attention then nothing will…

Saturday October 3rd ARES ONTARIO and EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ONTARIO through the EMO ARES Group will be conducting the 2009 SET Exercise.  The HF Nets will be coordinated by the Ontario Phone Net (NTS)

This will be a Province Wide exercise that will be using HF (40m & 80m) VHF (linked repeaters, IRLP and ECHOLINK) along with some Digital Modes (PSK 31, Winlink 2000 and AX25 Packet)

So Ontario Amateurs dust off the gear and get ready to put your training to use…

73bob

ARES SET Exercise- Final

VA3QV SET REPORT

 

For this years (2008) SET EXERCISE I participated from my home QTH in Ottawa.

 

 My home is approximately 1 mile from the Ottawa Fire Department COMM Center which is the home to Ottawa ARES and approx 2.5 miles from the main EOC for the City of Ottawa.  Simplex communications on VHF and UHF are quite easy from my QTH to both locations.

 

The rigs and modes used for this exercise were as follows:

 

HF- YAESU FT 897/FC40 AUTO TUNER

VHF/UHF- YAESU FT 7800 FM RADIO

PACKET- YAESU FT 2400 USING AGWPE AND WINPACK

 

All three radios were powered from battery power using a deep cycle RV battery in the shack.

 

My participation started at 0850 when I checked in with Shawn VE3PSV via HF Voice on 3.742 and continued on until 1200 when I had to conclude operations.

 

I was primarly active using HF Voice and AX25/.ampr.org Packet Radio. I was using the VE2UQH.ampr.org BBS in Gatineau QC.  This AMPR.ORG BBS occupies the 2m frequency of 145.050.

 

In effect I was using AX25 Packet with RF Radio to get out of the effected area and sending the email from there.

 

I was able to send an email via packet to emoares at gmail.com and the email was acknowledged in less than one hour.  A second email was sent out to the Ontario SM.

 

I checked in with two HF controllers and continued to monitor the frequency with very poor (S9 noise level) conditions.  This noise level is normal for daytime 80m at my QTH.

 

I monitored IRLP Node 2210 VE3TST UHF in Ottawa as previously arranged but did not stay connected to the reflector 9005 as not to tie up a local repeater.

 

 No one from the SET connected with this node to pass traffic to me. 

 

For a short time I did connect to the 9005 reflector but was unable to contact the NCS as during that time the reflector would not un key (kerchunking or jamming) so I disconnected from the reflector and returned to monitoring HF.

 

Eastern Ontario stations in Pembroke and Pettawawa were heard on HF and Cornwall along with Kingston was noticed on IRLP so Eastern Ontario seemed to be covered with myself in Ottawa. 

 

No actual traffic was passed by this station on HF or IRLP and one message was passed and acknowledged on AX25 Packet

 

At 1200hrs EASTERN I closed down operations.

 

The turnout across the province seemed good…  From what I heard the operators seemed to have brushed up on their NTS traffic proceedures since the last exercise.  Remember the purpose of an exercise is to find your weakness and problem areas.  Hopefully to correct them with more training in the future.  Using various communication modes traffic was passed across the province and the State of Michigan as this year Michigan joined Ontario for this exercise.

 

73bob

ARES SET Exercise- 2nd update

Well just after 1000hrs I can report the following:

Eastern Ontario is well represented with stations on board from Kingston, Ottawa, Ottawa Valley and Cornwall…

Emergency Management Ontario (EMO) have acknowledged the email I sent them from AX25 Packet radio so it took less than one hour for the message to be sent, recieved and replied to then recieved back here in Ottawa.  Not bad for old technology I guess…

My 80m voice comms are dropping quickly…The band is starting to fade and my noise level is still constant as a S9…

Might have to switch over to IRLP shortly if things don’t improve soon…

73bob

ARES SET Exercise – 1st update

Its 0935 EASTERN and I have been on frequency since 0850.  I am active on HF (3.742) with the Ontario Phone Net and AX25 Packet using VE2UQH.ampr.org…

From what I can tell from what I can hear it looks like I am the only station active on the exercise that is East of Kingston Ontario…No change that as I just heard a Pettawawa Station check in on HF…

So far things seem to be going good or at least from my vantage point…The band could be a bit stronger or at least a little less noisy for me as my normal S9 Noise level (normal for daytime 80m) is with me…

At least one more update will be following and more than one if something interesting occurs…

73bob

Friday weather update and the upcoming weekend

Well this mornings checking of the WEATHER NETWORK WEBSITE is starting to have me thinking of changing Sundays plans slightly…  The “Plan A” was the one previously mentioned…Liz and I stopping and picking up the ingrediants for a picnic lunch from the local deli and then heading over to Vincent Massey Park in Ottawa and enjoying lunch and then her reading a book while I played radio for a while…  The weather now as its looking to say the least “damp” is having me look at taking Liz out to lunch and then perhaps window shopping at  a local mall after stalling for a while to see what the weather is doing….  Sunday’s updated plans will be posted here by 1200hrs if it has anything to do with amateur radio

Saturdays plans do not involve the weather as I will be participating in the 2008 SET EXERCISE from the comfort of my shack.  I should be active on HF (80m with the Ontario Phone Net) along with IRLP Reflectors 9005 and 9006 with AX25 Packet via the VE2UQH.ampr.org packet bbs.

73bob

“Early SET Activity” the aftermath…

Background info:  As previously mentioned in a posting here…The Prescott-Russell ARES Group held their SET Exercise this morning.

The senario was that due to a “large scale accident” on  the major roadway running east-west across the “United Counties of Prescott-Russell” road traffic had been affected.   P-R ARES had been activated to monitor traffic patterns for the Counties Emergency Services at select points on the secondary routes.

Operators set up at various locations across the region to do this tasking:

Cumberland (Hwy 174 at Cameron) in the West (Ferry Crossing)

Rockland Ontario

Alfred Ontario

Casselman Ontario

Plantangenet Ontario

Hawksbury Ontario (in the east) (Bridge Crossing)

Lefaivre Ontario (Ferry Crossing)

St Isadore Ontario

Hwy 417 at Hwy 34

A communications network was setup using 2M AX25 Packet in conjunction with 2m Repeaters and 2m simplex frequencies.  The various checkpoints relayed Traffic counts to the control station with some traffic going by voice and the rest going digital.

At 1100 hrs the amateur radio traffic was halted and the stations were instructed to change frequencies to various Ottawa Repeaters where VA3QV (yours truly) conducted a “Roll Call” to determine what stations would have reliable communications “Outside” the affected area.  This test was concluded at 1130hrs and the net closed.

At this time the ARES Field Units left the exercise to rondevous in Alfred where they were to have a debriefing and their ARES Group meeting.

From my perspective things went rather well.  The radio traffic I could monitor showed competant radio operators.  Digital traffic I was able to monitor was passed easily.  The COMMS Checks on the Ottawa repeaters proved that repeaters more than 50km away from the field units were accessable and therefore were able to make contact with the “Outside World”.

I give them a hardy “BRAVO ZULU” for their excellent job and I also thank them for letting me participate…

73bob

Early “SET” Activity- This Saturday

I just got an update from the Prescott-Russell ARES Group which advises me that they are conducting their SET Exercise Saturday Sept 20th from 0900hrs to 1130hrs EASTERN. 

They will be using a variety of VHF Communications which will include 2m FM Repeaters, 2m FM Simplex, 2m AX25 Packet and 2m APRS. 

From what I have read they will be testing their traffic handling abilities using voice and digital messages.  They will be setting up portable stations at various key locations in their area and passing traffic between those locations.

As Liz has changed my plans for the weekend I will be able to monitor the activites and perhaps participate on some small scale.  I am an inactive member of the group as my eldest daughter and family (MY GRANDKIDS) live in Embrum which is part of the United Counties of Prescott-Russell and I like to be kept in the loop whenever family is concerned….

If you are in Eastern Ontario (EAST OF OTTAWA) you might be able to follow part of the action if you check the ARES Repeaters in the area or check the local packet freqs of 145.010, 145.030 and 145.050 along with the APRS freq of 144.390

I will give you an update sometime on Monday as Liz and myself will be away on Sunday…

73bob