Bucks County Amateur Radio Emergency Service

- Digital Communications -- 2014 EPA SET Report Discussion & BCARES

Solutions -

ARRL EPA SET 2014

Scenario – Category 3 HurricaneImpact Loss of Power in Eastern PA Loss of most public safety

communications Landline, internet, and cell phone

service failing

Similar Concerns

General concerns of the grid’s reliabilityIncreasing Cyber incidents and threatsWeighing them together as a related incident

ARRL EPA SET 2014 - Report

On the digital communications component… Packet node grossly underutilized Winlink® used widely in the region, few

effective nodes to link in the Section. Winlink® was not a large traffic contributor

to SET When used in the SET, packet

performed flawlessly. FLDIGI/NBEMS not interoperable with

NTSD or Winlink®

ARRL EPA SET 2014 - Report

On Resources…in a real incident Concerns to the number of available

and/or proficient stations Coordination of those stations that are

available and/or proficient

Bridging the “last mile” is an important concept in Emergency Communications.

Slide by - Loring Kutchins W3QA EPA Asst SEC, Digital

ARES Digital Network Management Team

Bridging the “last mile” is an important concept in Emergency Communications.

It is the path across an area where conventional communications have been disrupted or

overloaded by an incident.

Slide by - Loring Kutchins W3QA EPA Asst SEC, Digital

ARES Digital Network Management Team

We cannot predict the size of “the last mile”.

Slide by - Loring Kutchins W3QA EPA Asst SEC, Digital

ARES Digital Network Management Team

We cannot predict the size of “the last mile.”

Local

Slide by - Loring Kutchins W3QA EPA Asst SEC, Digital

ARES Digital Network Management Team

Regional

We cannot predict the size of “the last mile.”

Slide by - Loring Kutchins W3QA EPA Asst SEC, Digital

ARES Digital Network Management Team

International

We cannot predict the size of “the last mile.”

Slide by - Loring Kutchins W3QA EPA Asst SEC, Digital

ARES Digital Network Management Team

We cannot predict the duration of interruption in “the last mile.”

Current Digital Modes

D-Star® Digital Smart Technologies for Amateur RadioPacket Automatic Packet/Position Reporting System

(APRS®) Outpost®

Winlink®

Soundcard Narrow Band Emergency Messaging Software

(NBEMS) Winmor®

VHF / HF Winlink®

Real Incident RealityYou are going to be busy with your realityIn reality, you are not going to have AC power to run a PC, internet, etc. all the time! IF/WHEN you have AC…you are you going

to monitor a PC and or a radio all the time?

12V DC will be your friend…if you plan to have it available before hand…and a plan to conserve it during the incident

Current Digital Modes

D-Star® Digital Smart Technologies for Amateur RadioPacket Automatic Packet/Position Reporting System

(APRS®) Outpost®

Winlink®

Soundcard Narrow Band Emergency Messaging Software

(NBEMS) Winmor®

VHF / HF Winlink®

Outpost®Outpost®

A Windows-based packet messaging client, with a simple email user interface display/format

Supports ARES®, RACES, and other amateur radio emergency response teams and their need to pass digital traffic

Helps automate the packet message handling environment Manages all message-handling between you and your BBS or

PBBS

Lets you read, delete, create, reply to, or forward messages

back to the BBS/PBBS Delivery and/or read receipt of messages NTS or ICS-213 Formatting

http://www.outpostpm.org

Equipment Basics and Requirements

Station Transceiver (TXCVR - usually VHF/UHF) Kantronics KPC3+ TNC or equivalent in KISS

Mode Usually a 9-Pin to 6-Pin Mini-DIN cable between the

TNC and TXCVR PC with Outpost® installed

Outpost® PBBS Transceiver (TXCVR - usually VHF/UHF) Kantronics KPC3+ TNC

9-Pin to 6-Pin Mini-DIN cable between the TNC and TXCVR

Outpost® PBBS Equipment

“Full Service” TNC Stand alone - Autonomous Digipeater Mail Drop Remote Administration Control Bullet Proof / Robust…set it and go. 12v and you have a off grid digital network

Can run on as little as 50mA RX / 1.5A TX @ 5 watts Leverage Height and Gain…and you have a

wide area network

FeaturesOutpost Packet Message Manager

Message viewing

Supports viewing, printing, deleting or saving a message to a local file

Reply and Forward message formatting

FeaturesOutpost Packet Message ManagerMessage creation

Supports Private, Bulletin, and NTS message types

Message formatting before sending

Set messages to Urgent

Request delivery or read receipts

Different ways for originating messages

NTS Message Maker

Operational Concept

Outpost® PBBS

TXCVR

TNC

TXCVR

TNC

TXCVR

TNC

Station #1 w/ Outpost® Station #2 w/ Outpost®

Messages stored and retrieved here

http://www.outpostpm.org

Operational Concept

TXCVR

TNC

External Station can chose which system they want to use to send/receive email from. PBBS for Outpost® direct (brown path) or Winlink® direct (green

path)

TXCVR

TNC

PBBS for Outpost® Messaging

TXCVR

TNC

External Station

The InternetThe Internet

Winlink® Node

Operational Concept w/ Digipeater to expand coverage area and extend resources

Digipeater and/or PBBS

TXCVR

TNC

TXCVR

TNC

External Stations can chose which system they want to use to send/receive email from. PBBS for Outpost® either direct or indirect through Digipeater (brown path) or Winlink® either direct or indirect through Digipeater (green

path) or double Digipeat (blue path) through PBBS and Digipeater for External Station #1.

TXCVR

TNC

PBBS for Outpost® Messaging

TXCVR

TNC

External Station #1

The InternetThe Internet

Winlink® Gateway

External Station #2

Outpost® Message Application

Summary Digital messaging “Within the last mile”

vs. Winlink®’s “Bridge the last mile” No infrastructure required Portable (Antenna, Radio, TNC, 12v) Slight learning curve

Very User Friendly

APRS®

Merged packet and GPS technologies Position Telemetry WX Information Text messaging…before cell phone

text messaging Autonomous

APRS®

APRS® Equipment Station Based

PC Software WinAPRS UI-View

StandaloneAPRS Digipeater

Antenna, Radio, TNC, 12v

APRS®

APRS® Equipment Mobile

Fully Integrated APRS Radio & GPS Kenwood and Yaesu offer full service

radio products

Radio, Byonics TinyTrak & GPS Portable

Fully Integrated APRS Radio(HT) & GPS Kenwood and Yaesu offer full service

radio products

Operational Concept w/ Ad Hoc APRS® Digipeater

Digipeater + APRS® Digipeater

TXCVR

TNC

TXCVR

TNC

TXCVR

TNC

PBBS for Outpost®

Messaging + APRS®

Digipeater

TXCVR

TNC

External Station #1

The InternetThe Internet

Winlink® Gateway

External Station #2

Next Steps

Set-up the Three BCARES RACES Kit Kantronics TNCs to have full Digipeater, PBBS, and Ad Hoc APRS® settings.Exercise/train with the kits…just put one of the air…so folks can exercise/train as they have time.Get 12VDC Savvy!