It is interesting , isn't it? MARS doesn't hold contests.
MARS doesn't allow stations to intentionally interfere with other stations. MARS doesn't promote awards for the number of contacts you can make in a minute and not say anything. MARS doesn't get their panties wadded up when information is exchanged without being interfered by contesters, QRN or jammers. Army MARS offers training during 90% of it's net operations. MARS has requirements for membership. MARS promotes discipline and efficient operation. MARS gets to play on NTIA spectrum and doesn't have to subject itself to the bonfire of vanities experienced on ham frequencies. Kid of sets a precedent, doesn't it. This probably goes as far as any other single example to explain why the ARRL relegated the Amateur Radio community to the realm of last mile (VHF) communications in support of emergency communications and abdicated the HF realm to the Tri Service MARS organizations. Bread and Circuses has worked since Roman times; why should this be any different. The ARRL knew when to throw in the towel, and had a pretty good idea about the quality of their members; as well as their devotion level to do the tasks traditionally required of the Amateur Radio Service in exchange for the spectrum they enjoy. The operation has been a success; the patient is definitely dying.... Pactor III is probably more effective than CW ever was as a 'filter" to determine the dedication level of emergency communicators. But, you have to consider that there is not a HF rig less than $500.00 new, and entry level for a HF rig that utilizes the best of 20th century technology starts around $1200.00 With that said, you can begin to appreciate that the $900.00 cost of a Pactor III controller (taking advantage of the 10% discount for Emergency Communicators) will deliver the mail, with the cheapest HF rig. A PTC-IIex controller connected to an Icom IC-718 cost about what an IC-7000 or a little less than a TS-2000 costs; in a field of choices that can cost up to $15,000.00 for a HF rig alone. The "Contest Grade" of transceivers that go north of ten grand will clog up the airwaves and render them unusable by others far more often than Pactor III and WL2K. Anyone saying that frequency usage during a contest is less adversely affected than by WL2K transmissions using Pactor III is sadly being less than truthful with their self and others, and there is simply no room for discussion to the contrary. A little intellectual honesty will trump knee jerk reaction every time.... Emergency Preparedness in our county in Glynn County, GA currently includes 8 SCS Pactor III controllers. At least 4 more are scheduled for purchase prior to Hurricane season. The reason for this is that nothing else will come close to the throughput and devotion of the WL2K system when other infrastructure is down. The county services have now learned the importance of owning their own amateur radio equipment and promoting operators from within their ranks to be able to have the additional layer of communications infrastructure available and in play during time of emergency. I would say this is a wake-up call, but, sadly, wake-up calls concerning the Amateur Radio Service are a small spot in the rear-view mirror. So, it is entirely predictable that the Amateur community would resist WL2k and Pactor III. It does what they no longer have the devotion to do. I continue to refine my ear, and ability to work voice under less than optimal conditions. I continue to refine my station(s); fixed, mobile and portable in an attempt to be prepared to do the job required to retain the Amateur Radio Spectrum. Pactor III is a tool that I use very sparingly. I am very fortunate to be able to use it freely on the NTIA spectrum, and, given a choice, it is a no-brainer which service will handle the most traffic during an emergency situation. To a "T", the amateur radio community will continue to resist, until they have no ground under their feet. Spectrum refarming is very lucrative for funding . The FCC may seem slow, but they do have a little more will to survive than others under their blanket seem to... All in all, it is progress. The direction it is taking isn't pretty, but the outcome will include Pactor III, I am not too sure it will include Amateur Radio... Laughing last will be a hollow victory in this case.... David KD4NUE -----Original Message----- From: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jeff Moore Sent: Sunday, February 24, 2008 3:28 PM To: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [digitalradio] MARS WinLink in Tennessee Storms What I found even more interesting than the article on QRZ was the comments on it. To a "T" everyone commented that it was good that WINLINK2000 was now being used on MARS freqs instead of the amateur bands. Not having much experience with Pactor and WL2K, I wasn't aware that there were bandwidth issues associated with the WL2K system. Is this as big an issue as it appears to be? I'm personally more concerned with the expensive proprietary nature of the Pactor modes and the standardization on it by the WL2K proponents. Any comments?? Jeff Moore KE7ACY Deschutes County ARES Bend, Oregon ----- Original Message ----- From: Mark Thompson Subject: [digitalradio] MARS WinLink in Tennessee Storms N1IN MARS WinLink in Tennessee Storms Those tornados that swept across the Mid South Feb. 5 and 6 carried Army MARS into a new era of operations. For the first time as far back as we can remember, a state government called for MARS deployment in response to an actual emergency. The resulting teamwork gave the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency-TEMA-its only e-mail link during President Bush's visit to the storm-stricken area. That link was the army MARS WinLink 2000 Radio e-mail system. Stuart S. Carter, the Army MARS Chief, gave a full account of the MARS tornado response on his biweekly broadcast to members Feb. 15. Compiled from several after-action reports, Carter's account follows verbatim. On Tuesday, 5 Feb 08, Region 4 Director Jim Hamilton (AAA4RD) was watching the weather on TV and based on the developing storm, called Tennessee SD Chris Bindrim (AAA4TN), to place TN Army MARS on alert. A short time after calling Bindrim, Hamilton received an email from David Wolfe, AAR4CY, (Chief of Communication for the TN Emergency Management Agency (TEMA), State RACES Officer, and an Army MARS member) requesting TN Army MARS be placed on standby for possible support to TEMA. In addition to calling Bindrim, Hamilton also called Kentucky SD Barry Jackson (AAA4KY) who was already alerting Kentucky Army MARS members to stand-by for possible emergency support to officials in Kentucky. What I just told you Jim Moore, Great Falls, MT, AAM8AMT is that before the Tornados struck, the preparatory alerts were sent to Region 4 SDs and members to "Prepare and Stand by to assist." This event illustrates the importance of detailed preparation and training which has taken place during realistic disaster response exercises over the past several years. In the case of TN, the story goes back a year and a half. Steve Waterman (AAA9AC) began working with TEMA's David Wolfe, preparing for just such a deployment. At the time, Army MARS was just beginning to adopt the Winlink 2000 radio e-mail network system, and with the assistance of the then TN State Director, Paul Drothler, AAV4DJ, Army MARS had just signed a Memorandum of Understanding with TEMA. This MOU just served to strengthen an already strong relationship between TEMA and Army MARS. Next, Wolfe led TEMA staffers who were already hams to becoming MARS members and to become qualified MARS WinLink 2000 operators. The rest of Wolfe's team soon obtained their amateur radio and Army MARS licenses. The next step was joint training for TEMA staff and TN Army MARS members. Some was classroom training followed up with extensive field training. The culmination of the field training was TNCAT07, a massive exercise, which included the Central United States Earthquake Consortium (CUSEC, an 8 state alert consortium along the New Madras fault line). This exercise also included the participation by ARRL Amateur Emergency Radio Service (ARES), CAP and other EMCOM services, which clearly demonstrated interoperability between TEMA, TN Army MARS, the amateur radio community, and other municipal communications services. You have just heard that Army MARS was integrating and training with virtually all of the EMCOM services in TN. That was what this CAM calls leaning forward and TCAMO. As the situation developed Tuesday, the dispersed pattern of the multiple twisters and their swift movement meant local communications systems were able to cope. Painful as the casualty and damage figures were, from the commo viewpoint this was not the wide-area wipeout associated with a force 5 hurricane. Army MARS resources weren't needed until Friday. Steve Waterman, AAA9AC, received a phone call from TEMA on Thursday night, 7 Feb 08, summoning him to the Tennessee Emergency Operations Center in Nashville, and MARS station AAN4ETN, at 6:30 AM Friday morning TEMA's Command bus was summoned to an airport in Macon County Thursday night, approximately 140 miles east of Nashville, where President Bush was flying to make his announcement of declaring TN a disaster area, and offering federal support. Wolfe, headed the TEMA on-scene logistics operation, and provided us this report, and I quote: "The facts are: although there was no commercial power at the deployment site, TEMA's communications infrastructure was fully operational. Both the VHF high band and 800 MHz repeater systems had good coverage for voice command and control. Our shortage was internet connectivity, and our unmet needs were e-mail and the ability to send pictures. MARS WinLink provided exactly what was not available by any other means. We also utilized it to reduce the 'chatter' on our C2 nets by sending short event notices direct to TEMA operations." AAA9AC's After Action Report from Nashville listed 70 messages originated during the state operation. They ranged from casualty figure updates and signal reports to staff rosters and photos. I'm indebted to Steve Waterman for pointing out that operationally speaking, this was not just a Tennessee communications job. Close-in HF propagation was less than optimal, so much of the traffic was directed to an Army MARS Radio Messaging Station in Montana, AAB8MT, operated by Jim Moore, AAM8AMT. That was real-world demonstration of the WinLink's adaptability to challenging circumstances, including Mother Nature's fickle propagation. To make a long story short, we now have a "Real-World" demonstration of seamless collaboration between Army MARS and one of our supported agencies under emergency conditions. This was the first real world deployment since the Katrina/Rita disasters two years ago. Successfully meeting the challenge involved deployment readiness on the part of our members, and it required total WinLink 2000 mobility. First of all came the building of relationships with existing and potential customers, and then came meticulous training of state and federal staffers, and frequent exercising at home and in the field. With this pattern of established collaboration between our customers and MARS members, we enter the new era of Army MARS Emergency communications support. Stuart S. Carter, Chief Army MARS
