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You can now find my comments on technology and small business every weekday on PC World’s site. I will have my own specific location and RSS soon.

 

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The first Northern California Emergency Communications University was held Saturday, March 14, 2009 in Stockton. This site is your source for official event information and registration for future events.

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Wednesday
17Jun

Important Update On Business Communications

DateWednesday, June 17, 2009 at 06:09AM

I have today, following a discussion with the FCC concerning interpretation of the 97.113 prohibition of business communication using Amateur Radio, removed my earlier comments on the subject. My new understanding is that the Commission interprets this prohibition very broadly—more so than I could have imagined.

My recommendation is that people whose job it is to provide emergency services should not use Amateur Radio even to discuss how Amateur Radio can provide those services.

I do not believe this interpretation best serves the public interest, but as FCC licensees we are bound to follow the guidance I have received. I will discuss this in a future post.

Meanwhile, I am also preparing a Rule Making Petition to carve out a small exception that would allow licensed hams who are also public safety workers to use Amateur Radio to promote safety and the public good.

AuthorDavid Coursey, N5FDL | CommentPost a Comment
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Monday
15Jun

Always Stay In Front Of Your Served Agencies

DateMonday, June 15, 2009 at 11:35PM

The moral of this story: No matter how many times you talk to your served agencies, that doesn’t mean they will think of you.

You’d think that having gotten happy reports from our last exercise together, a particular agency would have involved us in their next exercise. Sadly, a new hire was brought on board and something fell through the cracks. Now, we are still involved in the exercise—with another agency—but guess who will be getting the Internet test messages we send through Winlink? At least one will go to the person at the other agency who forgot about us, and one to his bosses, too. Just a friendly, “here’s what we’re doing to help” message to an agency that really is our friend.

Not a big deal, but agencies need to realize: No exercise involvement with served agencies is death to our volunteer emcomm programs.

 

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Monday
15Jun

Google Latitude Instead of APRS

DateMonday, June 15, 2009 at 11:18PM

I know my place in the world! (And you can, too!)This is one of those ideas so simple that I want to kick myself for not thinking of it myself: Using the free Google Latitude smartphone tracking service to keep up with the locations of your field teams.

Google Latitude is a feature of Google Maps for mobile on these phones:

  • Android-powered devices, such as the T-Mobile G1
  • iPhone and iPod touch devices (coming soon)
  • most color BlackBerry devices
  • most Windows Mobile 5.0+ devices
  • most Symbian S60 devices (Nokia smartphones)

To make it useful for emergency work, you would want to configure the sharing in advance so that members would be able to see one another’s locations, but this is a great idea for seeing where everyone is.

I’d written about Latitude on my PC World blog, but since it isn’t available for my iPhone I hadn’t really considered it for emcomm use. Thanks to SAR News for the idea. You can subscribe to this useful, free newsletter using the link I’ve provided.

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Sunday
31May

Wilderness Protocol for Outdoor Adventure

DateSunday, May 31, 2009 at 06:56PM

Ever heard of the “Wilderness Protocol”? It is an effort to provide emergency communications help in areas beyond normal repeater coverage or whether local repeaters are off-the-air. (After the “big one” Los Angeles might qualify as wilderness).

Where is some information provided by the ARRL as a reminder:

The purpose of this initiative is to offer stations outside repeater range an opportunity to be heard when it is needed the most!

The Wilderness Protocol suggests radio operators in the Amateur service should monitor standard simplex channels at specific times in case of Emergency or priority calls.

The primary frequency monitored is 146.52 MHz; secondarily or alternatively 52.525, 223.5, 446.0 and 1294.5 MHz respectively. The idea is to allow communications between hams that are hiking or backpacking in uninhabited areas, outside repeater range an alternative opportunity to be heard.

NOTE- Though it’s mainly used in the wilderness settings, it’s NOT just for hikers, back packers, or similar situations….it is also available for ANYONE to use at ANYTIME… Folks may need assistance outside of camping as well!

Recommended procedures for “Wilderness Protocol”

MONITOR THE MAIN CALLING FREQS: *146.520* and/or any of the SECONDARY FREQUENCIES.(52.525, 223.500, 446.00, 1294.500)

MONITOR TIMING: Every 3 hours starting from 0700 HRS ..on the hour until 5 (five) minutes past the hour.(7:00-7:05 AM, 10:00-10:05 AM, …, 10:00-10:05 PM).

ALTERNATE TIMING: 0655 to 0705, Etc 5 before till 5 after.. (to allow for differences in peoples watch settings). You can always listen for longer if you want.

ENHANCED MONITORING: Fixed stations or portable stations with enough battery power levels LISTEN EVERY HOUR. (Obviously Continuous Monitoring is also an option.)

LISTENING / MONITORING: Listen to the calling frequencies until 4 minutes past the hour, then make a few calls asking if there are stations listening that may need assistance. This calling traffic should only start at 4 minutes after the hour preceded by listening for 30 seconds… Unless of course your the one making an emergency call. LISTEN FIRST- CALL CQ with short transmissions. LISTEN FIRST! always a good idea!

NOTE- 146.52 IS A CALLING FREQUENCY…. Make your Calls, and then move off the frequency so others can use the frequency. Suggested frequencies to move to; 146.55, 146.43, etc. etc.

PRIORITY TONE SIGNALS: Suggested for Priority Radio Transmissions ONLY.

USE the LONG TONE ZERO (abbreviated LiTZ). Begin calls for assistance with about 10 seconds of TONE with the LiTZ signal. Do this by keying up and holding down the zero key to continuously transmit the zero DTMF tone ( hence: LONG TONE ZERO ). Then proceed to make your emergency call. This would help those listening recognize that an emergency or priority call is coming through.

Lastly, remind people of the protocol at your club meetings and on radio nets. It a good thing to know.

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Sunday
24May

Experiments in Crossband Repeaters

DateSunday, May 24, 2009 at 09:53PM

We’ve recently started experimenting with using vehicular crossband repeaters to extend access to the repeater we most often use. There are places where we can’t hit the repeater very easily, especially from inside buildings.

Crossband repeat, for those unfamiliar, is a feature offered by some dualband mobile rigs, in which one side of the radio listens to a 70cm simplex frequency and retransmits what it hears on the input of a 2-meter repeater. Audio from the 2-meter repeater’s output is retransmitted on the 70cm simplex channel. That allows the user to walk around talking and listening to the 70cm simplex frequency which is connected to the repeater via the mobile radio.

One downside: The mobile radio is not made for the long transmit times that can be associated with crossband mode. Turning down the RF power on the rig is not a total solution, so use crossband repeat carefully.

At our Saturday HamCram, held at the local hospital, Steggy, WY6E, parked his truck in the parking lot next to the building. This is an 81-bed community hospital that serves our city of 82,000 +/- recent foreclosure activity. While we have a radio in the emergency department, we are unable to hit the repeater from inside the building using a talkie. That includes the room where the HamCrams are held.

As part of our experiments, Steggy turned on the crossband repeat function on the Kenwood TM-D700 (or is it a 710?) in his truck.

We are using 441.000 MHz. as the handie-talkie side, using PL encode/decode of 100.0 Hz. The encode/decode is important for reducing the interference we hear from noisy electronics in the hospital. The other operating issue of note was overriding the default down offset on the frequency. While 446.000 is the ARRL-designated national simplex channel on 70 cm, some radios still think it is the output of a repeater pair.

Why are we on 441.000? Because the local repeater coordinator only designed two simplex 70 cm channels, so we are making the best of what is available to us.

The crossband repeater worked well from the room (well inside the hospital) were our event was held. David, AA6HO, and I walked around the hospital and checked coverage, which was quite good.

I was not impressed with the retransmitted audio through the repeater, which was uncrisp to the point of causing me to have to ask for occasional repeats when talking to David in the hospital as I drove around town.

Next step will be to test different radios to see if we can find a combination that results in better-sounding audio. Stay tuned for more.

Anyone else using the crossband repeat function on their dual-band mobile rig?

AuthorDavid Coursey, N5FDL | Comment1 Comment
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Wednesday
20May

Mr. APRS Explains APRS TouchTone

DateWednesday, May 20, 2009 at 09:56PM

From an email exchange with Bob Bruninga:

The simplest entry for an APRStt user who wants to report his arrival at Hamvention is to simply press his DTMF MEMORY 1. Done. This reports to his wife, or anyone else, that he has arrived at the Hamvention. Two key presses, max. Not painful at all.

Now, if he wants to report his position more accurately for some reason, then…

1) If he has a GPS, then he does not need a map. He can report his position to the nearest 60’ by just entering 2 digits of X and 2 digits of Y using the Bxxyy* format.

2) If he does not have a GPS, he can pickup the paper map and enter his position to the nearest 120 feet enering only a single digit of X and y.

3) Of course, if he has no need to enter his position, then he does not need to do anything.

In many applications of APRStt, there is no interest in position, but the more important paramater might be his voice contact fequency. Again, just like his callsign, he can have pre-stored in a DTMF memory several of his favorite operating freqs. This way, anyone needing to contact him, can see that he is * at Hamvention, * When he last reported in, and * what Frequency he is monitoring.

Does the operator have to enter his callsign and a lat/long using a DTMF pad?

Nope. The station only has to enter his callsign ONCE for the duration of his ownership of that radio. NEver again.

And in APRStt, he never has to enter his DDDMM.xx/DDDMM.yy latitude/longitude, since the RF range of APRStt will only be a few miles, the DDMM… and DDDMM parts are already konwn. Usually, only xxyy will do

And besides, if someone has a GPS -and- he wants to report his position on any radio, he should not be using APRStt, but should get an APRS tracker to do it automatically. Cost under $30.

Hope that helps.

APRStt is a means for someone without apriori knowlege to get in contact with others. It is not a tracking system.

Bob, Wb4APR

 


Thanks for the clarification! This is definitely something that ARES/ACS groups need to add to their bag of tricks. I am hoping to test the CSS software and will report back.

 

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Tuesday
12May

APRS Touchtone Software to Debut at Dayton

DateTuesday, May 12, 2009 at 08:08PM

(From a press release — visit www.cssincorp.com for more information. My comments are near the end).

Creative Services Software, Inc. (CSS) will debut Radio Spotter, a coming addition to its radio software product line, at Hamvention in Dayton, Ohio later this week. Radio Spotter is the industry’s only software for APRS® touchtone-to-packet communications. The software receives and decodes DTMF (touchtone) transmissions, converts them into an APRS packet and transmits through the APRS system.

A beta version of Radio Spotter will be demonstrated by CSS in Booth 108-109 throughout the convention, and by APRS Founder Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, during the APRS forum on Friday, May 15. Radio Spotter is a licensed implementation of the APRStt™ specification as developed by Bob Bruninga, APRS Engineering LLC, and has been certified as compliant. The software will be released in the summer of 2009.

Radio Spotter is an APRS touchtone (DTMF) gateway that monitors a radio for operator DTMF transmissions on a simplex frequency such as 146.58, decodes the DTMF into an APRS packet, and then transmits the packet on the national APRS frequency of 144.39. A voice or morse code response to the DTMF is sent back on a second radio on the DTMF channel. In addition, Radio Spotter offers an interactive dashboard and command center for monitoring and managing DTMF receive and APRS transmit conditions, logging transmissions and controlling the attached TNC or soundcard.

The software will run on any Windows PC, laptop or netbook (with Windows 2000 or later) and requires only a soundcard or TNC to connect to a radio transceiver. Optionally, operators can connect to multiple soundcards and/or multiple TNCs. Using Radio Spotter with the Radio Operations Center (ROC) Digital Desktop™ from CSS, along with multiple soundcards or a dual-port TNC, allows operators to continue running Radio Spotter while using ROC Digital Desktop to work other modes and frequencies on the HF port.

Radio Spotter allows anyone with any HT or mobile radio to check in on APRS and become part of the global APRS network,” Bruninga said. “Just store your call sign in DTMF format in a DTMF memory and you’ll appear on APRS with just the press of a button on any existing VHF radio with a keypad.”

“Operators key in their call sign and position in seconds, and Radio Spotter logs their call sign, location and the time their DTMF was received,” said Rick Ruhl, W4PC, president of CSS and software developer. “Simply connect a PC running Radio Spotter to a radio transceiver and nearby operators can check in to APRS with only a handheld VHF radio.”

Radio Spotter will serve the routine communications needs of an emergency response team, local club or area, and is an ideal application for special events. With Radio Spotter operating at a special event, not only the APRS volunteers, but now all volunteers with nothing but an HT or mobile with DTMF can report their positions via the APRS system.

David: I am trying to understand this part. Are there standard locations already in the system that I can refer to when entering a location from my talkie? How else could an operator with only a talkie enter their position into the system? I understand you could tell the server that “I am at Position #4.” But, to enter a wildcard location, I’d think you would still need a GPS, wouldn’t you?

And how many digits will you have to enter to tell the system your callsign and a lat/long or UTM position? I’d think you’d need a second person handy to read the numbers off the GPS while you punched them into a talkie.

I guess this system beats having to have a TNC built into your talkie and provides a gateway, perhaps, that takes a weak signal from the talkie and blasts it onto 144.390 (or whatver) at full power.

I want to like this more than I do. Maybe it will grow on me?

With Radio Spotter, all ham radio operators can participate in the APRS information system, not just those with specialized APRS radios or those with mobile TNCs and laptops,” Bruninga continued. “This lets the other 95 percent of amateur radio operators exchange useful data for special events or emergency operations with the APRS system and other users.”

Again, I am missing it, but what “exchange” is actually occuring? What APRS information do the talkie users receive?

 

AuthorDavid Coursey, N5FDL | Comment1 Comment
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Monday
27Apr

Happy Birthday, Samuel Morse!

DateMonday, April 27, 2009 at 12:29PM

Google celebrates the birthday of Samuel F.B. Morse by replacing its usual logo with one written in Morse code.

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Saturday
25Apr

Just In Time: Flu Training

DateSaturday, April 25, 2009 at 01:35PM

The Texas Engineering Extension Service offers a free, online DHS course on Avian Flu that is quite relevant to Swine Flu. Go here to register. As I remember, the course took about a hour to complete.

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Saturday
25Apr

Buddy, Can You Spare a Room?

DateSaturday, April 25, 2009 at 12:34PM

People sometimes wonder how they can judge the impact their group is making in their community. Here’s an anecdotal measurement tool: How easily can you get rooms to hold your trainings and meetings in?

When I was first starting a club in my community, getting a room was a big deal. The city wanted insurance and rent—and didn’t seem to understand that groups don’t wake up on their first morning incorporated, insured, and tax exempt. We ended up meeting at Starbucks. (We also do on-demand VE sessions there).

Today—a few years later—I can get all the rooms I need for free, without insurance, and we’re still not incorporated. What happened? Served agencies got interested in us, we helped served agencies, and the rest is the magic of relationships.

Here are some thoughts about rooms:

I love hospitals and hate schools. Hospitals have lots of meeting rooms. Schools also have lots of meeting rooms. Hospitals are open 24/7 so access is not a problem and they have large cleaning crews. Schools are open during school hours and occasional evenings and they have cleaning crews that charge extra to lock up after the meeting ends. Many public buildings are only slightly more available than schools. (I bet if we had schools as served agencies, I’d like them more—and have better access).

How did we get connected with hospitals? We trained their folks as hams and coordinate their emergency communications. We are part of the family.

Plan early. Clean-up after yourselves. Try not to bug people—which we did the first time we setup a station outside the hospital during a HamCram. Security didn’t like us propping a door open so we could get back in. That has since been worked out, but it’s something to be aware of. Early planning may be necessary to get onto the the schedule.

Did I mention hospitals are open on Saturdays? I am writing this from a HamCram at Sutter Tracy Community Hospital, our host for several of these events. (We have two hospital folks in the HamCram today—family, remember?)

In your community, it may be a library or senior center or even a council chamber that is most easily available—we’ve done things in all three. As well as a new county-owned conference center.

Also, there seem to be “education service centers” all over the place. This is where teachers go to get trained. The one here is a big building filled with meeting rooms of different sizes. I have attended someone else’s training there, but we haven’t used the facility ourselves.

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