I would like to first thank all those that participated in the exercise and especially those that submitted an After Action Report. We had 56 hams and many Red Cross and Red Cross Partner agency people that took part in the exercise. During the drill we had 507 messages or bulletins transmitted or received during this 3 hour exercise. This was the shortest drill that we have had in the 10 years that I have been conducting these SETs but it was still very productive and a good learning experience for all involved.
We had some great input on after After Action Reports. Some of the concerns and suggestions made were some of the same that came up as early as 2009. Several continue to be unresolved. One is that we "need more exercises of this type." I agree with this suggestion but much of this needs to be held on a local level and then the skills learned can be put to work in the larger area and multi-justificational drills.
Another suggestion is that those using Winlink need to test their address book prior to the exercise. If you have a bad or non-functional address, the system will kick back a message telling you the address is not known in the system. As people register and see their name, assignment and Winlink address listed on the website they need to reply to the listing if it is incorrect.
There were others that complained of signals being noisy into repeaters. If you are aware that you are going to be using a repeater in a location near your home area, check it out prior to the drill. All repeaters do not have a receiver that is well matched to the strength of their output signal. So, you may copy a repeater fine but have a terrible or no signal into the repeater. If you are being dispatched to a distant location, this may be difficult to check out prior to the drill. Take a good gain antenna with you and if you have an amplifier, it may be important to place it in your go bag. They consume more power but it can help you in difficult areas.
Stations that were located at a distance had problems responding to messages that they received on two meters. This was due to stations coming up on a distant broad coverage repeater and passing traffic and never returning to that repeater to pickup a reply. Some areas only had one path from the eastern to western areas of the drill on VHF/UHF. So, if you pass traffic to a single path station, it is vital that you return to pick up any reply. This is where the use of HF can be a real asset. Net control on HF can coordinate stations looking for other stations that have only one or two repeater options on two meters.
It was suggested that every station had both HF and VHF/UHF at their location. I feel that at least every station should be supported by a nearby HF station that can relay to them then needed. The ideal is that every station have HF. This is a good incentive to up grade to at least a General class license so that you can be as productive as possible when you are activated.
It was mentioned that many of us were rusty with our Winlink skills when we only used Winlink in an annual drill. VDEM has encouraged stations to send Winlink test message to the EOC in Richmond on a monthly basis. Some operators do not have a Winlink station at home but operate when needed from a local agency. If so, set a time with the agency person and go down and send Winlink traffic as a test once per month or set up a Telnet station in your home. Telnet doesn't require a Winlink station, just your computer and an Internet connection. You then use Winlink software to use Telnet this will keep your skills sharp using Winlink software.
Others discovered that VHF Winlink was more dependable than Winmor if you had a gateway to connect via VHF/UHF. The most effective way to operate Winlink is with a Pactor III modem on HF. These cost about the same as a medium priced HF rig and many hams feel this is out of their price range. A good gateway system on UHF allows many people from a given area to operate in an effective manner when stationed side-by-side with a two meter voice station. Otherwise the operators on two meter voice and Winlink must take turns with their modes of operation.
Others reported problems with Winlink that was traced to Windows operating systems not being compatible with some Winlink software. Test your system thoroughly prior to going to a remote site to operate.
With voice traffic, there was a problem with reports being passed at "reading speed". This is the correct way to send a bulletin but not messages where the entire content must be written on the receiving end. Slow down and take long pauses after a few words to allow the scribe to catch up. If you are being ask for repeats over and over, when you send a message, this is a sign that you need to slow down. When you read a message slow and with breaks, your message will actually go faster.
Voice traffic was light this exercise. A good use of this extra time on voice is for those operating Winlink to have your HF or VHF voice operator to "Roger" for your Winlink messages and to list the message number when doing so. This is a very common practice with MARS where they receive a broadcast prior to their nets and then on the net, they just acknowledge that they have received the message.
Some stations had little or no traffic between their chapter house and shelters. When your receive "canned traffic" for a SET, look it over and if you need to compose additional messaging to fill your local needs, by all means do it. The "canned traffic is just to insure that everyone has messages to work with. I have been to exercises planned by public service agencies and there was no traffic or function planned for hams. After a couple of these, I checked with the agency planner and let them know that we would plan some practice messages for our group and if they had additional messaging we would also handle that for them. They welcomed that suggestion and we were all happy. This is not the practice in an actual activation. There the agency compose all traffic and sign for it. The exception would be ham to ham for logistical needs.
It was also suggested that we have net controls on every major repeater system during the drill. This is a good suggestion but should be cared for by local area hams. When a real disaster comes up, it will not always be some pre-arranged net control that will bring the net up. Many times it is done by one of the first hams that gets there and recognizes that a formal directed net is needed and he or she will activate one.
To activate a net in a drill or move the net to a formal net is not an intrusion but just good practice at improvising. You may also discover that a second net is needed that was not written into the drill. This may be some type of special purpose net that would be of short duration to care for a problem. Disasters are not neat and clean events so our plans must be flexible to respond to the need. You may have unexpected spontaneous volunteers that are hams and they may not have a clue as to what is going on when they come to the scene. Your emergency communications course are excellent ways to discover how to use these people that can be valuable resources if managed correctly.
Thanks again to everyone for being there.
Glen Sage, W4GHS
