One of the things we have in the midwest that involves amateurs is
SKYWARN. Regional NWS offices do spotter training in the early spring.
So in that respect, amateurs are officially sanctioned emergency
responders. Even though we've had many advances in weather radar the
last few years, it still helps to have spotters visually confirm what
they think they see on the radar. We're at the point now where a low
elevation dual-pol beam scan and even modest computing power can reveal
a debris field around a tornado. But the NWS cannot officially confirm a
tornado based on that data alone, spotters are still needed.
On 2/21/2016 4:20 AM, Forrest Christian (List Account) wrote:
Ham radio generally does NOT directly support the agencies which have,
or can afford such fancy toys. Ham radio supports the largely
volunteer organizations which perform relief functions when the crap
really hits the fan:
http://www.qsl.net/ka1ddb/9-11-01%20this%20is%20not%20a%20test.pdf
http://www.computerworld.com/article/2557635/disaster-recovery/ham-radio-volunteers-help-re-establish-communications-after-katrina.html
In our local area, ham radio is highly involved whenever the red cross
is mobilized (which does not have it's own communication network). In
addition, they are generally involved wherever a natural disaster
requires coordination of a large quantity of volunteers. One recent
one in our area was during a particularly nasty spring flood where
huge numbers of volunteers helped sandbag areas in the lowest part of
the valley which were either flooding or likely to flood. The county
used the amateur radio operators as communicators to pass information
about what supplies (bags, sand) were needed at what area.
For most ham radio operators, the technology used is less important
that the fact that they are trained communicators. Ham radio operators
who are interested in helping in an emergency take training classes to
become certified for emergency communications. In addition, in many
areas, background checks are done far in advance of any potential need
for an operator to ensure that they have a group of volunteers which
are already cleared for access to potentially safe areas. In our
county, as an example, you have to have passed a background check
before you can gain access to the county emergency operations
center. Last I was involved with the local ham radio group, there
were several operators who lived in the part of the town near the EOC
which were pre-certified for access, and who participated in emergency
drills in the EOC.
-forrest
On Sat, Feb 20, 2016 at 2:41 PM, Eric Kuhnke <eric.kuh...@gmail.com
<mailto:eric.kuh...@gmail.com>> wrote:
this might be an unpopular opinion here...
ham dorks and analog radio grey beards think that they're going to
be a vital communications resource in a serious emergency (8.5
earthquake, tsunami, cat4 hurricane, etc). they make a lot of
noise during their field days and special events about how they
support emergency responders.
But in reality it's the all-IP, digital, packet based
communications infrastructure which cannot be touched by
terrestrial disasters which will provide vital service in and out
of a disaster area. For example your local county's fire
department, which very well may have used some DHS grant money to
put a 1.2 meter self aiming Ku-band VSAT on top of a command post
vehicle. All you need is electricity (which you also need for ham
gear) and you have connectivity anywhere in North America, no
matter how messed up the disaster, unless the vehicle itself is
destroyed.
Or, for example, ham people who think their noisy radios will
provide local communications, when you would be much better served
by handing out folding 40W solar panels and Iridium satellite
phones with standby-plan SIM cards in them. The Iridium network is
completely impervious to terrestrial disasters (unlike mountaintop
ham radio repeaters, etc), because it passes traffic
satellite-to-satellite through space until it reaches the
commercial gateway in Arizona. Unless somebody flies a 767 into
the Iridium gateway, it will continue to function. There is also a
DoD gateway in Hawaii which traffic can be routed through.
A theoretical county-sized emergency operations department could
keep a stockpile of Inmarsat iSatphone handhelds, which
communicate with a set of geostationary satellites and will work
reliably anywhere south of 65 degrees latitude. The satellites are
impervious to your local disaster and the teleport locations
through which Inmarsat traffic passes are unlikely to be in the
same location as your disaster.
On Fri, Feb 19, 2016 at 5:55 AM, Lewis Bergman
<lewis.berg...@gmail.com <mailto:lewis.berg...@gmail.com>> wrote:
I am still curious on why anyone thinks they deserve free
stuff because they belong to a club. I belong to the club of
"I don't want to pay for anything". I know, they supposedly
have a public emergency benefit. I haven't ever seen them be
anything more than a murderer in those situations but maybe we
just have a bunch of HAM dorks around here.
On Fri, Feb 19, 2016, 7:27 AM Mike Hammett <af...@ics-il.net
<mailto:af...@ics-il.net>> wrote:
I see a bunch of different states listed, so it may be
used as the hub, but I'm not familiar with the software.
https://www.yaesu.com/jp/en/wires-x/index.php
-----
Mike Hammett
Intelligent Computing Solutions <http://www.ics-il.com/>
<https://www.facebook.com/ICSIL><https://plus.google.com/+IntelligentComputingSolutionsDeKalb><https://www.linkedin.com/company/intelligent-computing-solutions><https://twitter.com/ICSIL>
Midwest Internet Exchange <http://www.midwest-ix.com/>
<https://www.facebook.com/mdwestix><https://www.linkedin.com/company/midwest-internet-exchange><https://twitter.com/mdwestix>
The Brothers WISP <http://www.thebrotherswisp.com/>
<https://www.facebook.com/thebrotherswisp>
<https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXSdfxQv7SpoRQYNyLwntZg>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*From: *"Jerry Head" <li...@blountbroadband.com
<mailto:li...@blountbroadband.com>>
*To: *af@afmug.com <mailto:af@afmug.com>
*Sent: *Friday, February 19, 2016 7:20:56 AM
*Subject: *Re: [AFMUG] HAMSs and Internet
Hmm he sent a few pictures, does this look like a
conference server?
https://www.dropbox.com/s/lm7yqdblb6mri0l/Screenshot%202016-02-19%2007.16.28.png?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/e2u283gy05fgt9i/Screenshot%202016-02-19%2007.18.23.png?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/51jov0xxmybov37/Screenshot%202016-02-19%2007.19.32.png?dl=0
I have not applied the Google to research that device in
the third
picture...yet.
On 2/19/2016 12:59 AM, Brian Webster wrote:
> Unless they are trying to host a voice repeater
conference server they do not need anywhere near that kind
of bandwidth. A conference server would host multiple
connects all at the same time, if they needed 500k per
connection that would add up. I would not let them host a
conference server on your wireless network, that stuff is
better placed in big data centers.
>
> I am an amateur radio operator and have data and voice
networks I maintain for the clubs locally. Honestly 1 to 3
meg is more than enough for what they will need. Anything
more than that and they will likely be doing things that
they should be paying for on your network. They may be
trying to do some live video stuff but you don't need to
shoulder that burden, they can do live TV broadcasts on
spectrum they have available, not as easy to do as IP cams
and Ethernet but they can do it.
>
> If you have the tower space you might consider offering
them places to put their own links if all they need is
bandwidth between sites. There are amateur radio spectrum
allocations in the 3.3 GHz band as well as 5.9 GHz, and I
am pretty sure they can load international firmware and
run their own links on MicroTik or Ubiquiti radios. This
would keep the traffic off your network and possibly
discourage them from putting up links legally licensed in
the bands you are using for your business. Technically
they have licensed rights and could knock you off the air.
Best not to start that war, they can operate in the 900,
2.4 and 5 GHz bands legally at much higher power. If you
can get them off on to the spectrum that does not overlap
the unlicensed bands everyone wins. They also have their
own IPv4 space available (ampr.org <http://ampr.org>).
>
> Feel free to hit me up off list and/or have them contact
me if you need to. I will happily try to explain how they
can create win-win for everyone.
>
> Here is a link to a frequency chart that shows amateur
radio licensed allocations. Remember they are considered
licensed incumbents and you cannot interfere with their
operations.
>
http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Regulatory/Band%20Chart/Hambands_color.pdf
>
>
> Thank You,
> Brian Webster
> www.wirelessmapping.com <http://www.wirelessmapping.com>
> www.Broadband-Mapping.com <http://www.Broadband-Mapping.com>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Af [mailto:af-boun...@afmug.com
<mailto:af-boun...@afmug.com>] On Behalf Of Jerry Head
> Sent: Thursday, February 18, 2016 9:05 AM
> To: af@afmug.com <mailto:af@afmug.com>
> Subject: [AFMUG] HAMSs and Internet
>
> I think a few of the list members out there are HAMs so
I need some advice please.
> I support our local HAM group and have allowed them to
place repeaters on two of my towers at no charge to their
group. Now one of their members has asked for Internet
service at one of the sites for HAM use. I have heard
something about HAMs using the Internet to "talk" so I
guess this is not unusual.
> For me the kicker is that he is asking for 20x20Mbps
service...I certainly have the capacity but that just
seems excessive.
> Opinions anyone?
>
--
*Forrest Christian* /CEO//, PacketFlux Technologies, Inc./
Tel: 406-449-3345 | Address: 3577 Countryside Road, Helena, MT 59602
forre...@imach.com <mailto:forre...@imach.com> |
http://www.packetflux.com <http://www.packetflux.com/>
<http://www.linkedin.com/in/fwchristian>
<http://facebook.com/packetflux> <http://twitter.com/@packetflux>
