Global Simulated Emergency Test Information from Greg, G0DUP: Hi, a 'Global Simulated Emergency Test' will take place on 3rd May 2008. This event is the successor to the IARU EmCom 'Parties on the Air' which some of you may have heard of and the new name reflects the increased scope of the test. This post is to let you know more about the event and invite NBEMS stations to participate.
Voice comms remain core to the event but this time data modes have been included. Sadly it is difficult to get data modes operational anywhere near the Emergency Communications 'Centre of Activity Frequencies' in a consistant way around the world so the data component remains a little 'ad hoc' but any way I could find of recognising the contributions of Data communications is better than nothing... One of the main components of the exercise is to encourage stations to relay messages a couple of times before passing to a 'HQ' station. This is a little difficult to organise for NBEMS since there is no fixed infrastructure for messages to be sent to as there is for example in ALE or PSKmail. But since there are stations on this list who have been seeking opportunities to test with other NBEMS stations then this four hour SET may just bring enough people together to make this happen. If you can relay messages between each other twice before sending the final text by email to the address [EMAIL PROTECTED] it would be good, if not then just send what you can, there are parts of the world where getting enough people to participate can be challenging. It would be useful though if you include in the message that it has been routed using NBEMS so I can determine the relative 'popularity' of the various modes. If you intend participating then please register as requested in the 'rules' below. Also if you are in North America and intend passing any Voice messages on the CoA frequencies, the Maritime Mobile Service Net has agreed to act as a 'HQ' station on 14.300MHz but PLEASE follow the directions of their Net controller. This is only an exercise whilst their operations are a live net and I would not want them to lose any of their regular ( or possibly emergency ) messages through interference from this event. Thanks for your support of emergency communications. 73, Greg, G0DUB GlobalSET Organiser The rules; also available at http://www.iaru-r1.org/GlobalsetMay08Rules.pdf Global Simulated Emergency Test - May 2008 Saturday May 3rd 2008 18.00 - 22.00 UTC IARU Region 1 invites the HQ-Stations of all IARU member societies and stations of Emergency Communications Groups to participate in a Global Simulated Emergency Test on Saturday May 3rd, 2008 at 18.00 - 22.00 UTC. The operation will take place on and near the emergency Centre-of-Activity (CoA) frequencies on 80, 40, 20, 17 and 15 metres (+- QRM ). The objectives of the test are; 1/ increase the common interest in emergency communications. 2/ test how usable the CoA frequencies are across ITU regions. 3/ create practices for international emergency communication and 4/ practice the relaying of messages by voice and data modes. Please keep in mind that this is not a contest, it is an emergency communications exercise ! Following the recommendation of GAREC-07, participating stations are requested to use /D in their callsign (D=distress/disaster) where permitted by their licensing administration. Traffic may be passed on voice (SSB) or Data modes as detailed below. Voice mode Each IARU Region will have a HQ station operating on voice as follows: Region 1 - OF3F/D Region 2 - The Maritime Mobile Service Net (MMSN ) will receive messages on 14.300MHz. Please respect their normal operating procedures, follow the net controllers instructions and give priority to emergency traffic. Region 3 - To be announced HQ stations will be QRV simultaneously on all CoA frequencies appropriate to their region +- QRM as shown below. Regions 1&3 Region 2 3760 3750 or 3985 7060 7060, 7240 or 7290 14300 14300 18160 18160 21360 21360 Stations intending to participate are requested to send their callsigns to [EMAIL PROTECTED] before the exercise so that HQ stations can be aware of the number of stations calling them. A list of participating stations will also be available at www.raynet-hf.net To practice relaying messages, each participating station is allowed to send six (6) messages: three during the first two hours and three more during the last two hours of the test. After sending their own messages, participating stations should start to relay messages of other stations, when a message has been relayed twice it should then be sent to the HQ station of their own region. It is very useful if messages 'jump'' between countries and/or Regions. Participating stations should call 'CQ GLOBALSET' giving their callsign and organisation ( ARES,RAYNET, NETMAR etc. ). Each participating station will form their own message as follows; 4U1ITU = the callsign of the station /1/ = the message number, 1,2 or 3 in the first half of the exercise, 4,5 or 6 in the second half. /20/17/15/ = Bands available for use - use the meter band designation NOT frequency. 03 = There are 3 operators at 4U1ITU 1 = Do you have emergency power at your location. 1=No 2=Battery 3=Generator ( of any kind ) IARC= International Amateur Radio Club of ITU HQ via... via... = the callsigns of stations which have relayed this message e.g. 4U1ITU/1/20/17/15/03/1/IARC via.... via.... etc. On voice we will use the word 'slash' to separate the parts of the messages. Regional HQ stations are not sending messages, only receiving them. To avoid QRMing the HQ stations, please move to frequencies near the CoA for contacts with others. To create a more realistic situation, please limit your transmitting power during the exercise to 100 Watts. Special value is given to stations operating mobile/portable and/or on emergency power. Data modes There will not be any HQ stations for data modes, data stations should use the frequencies defined for their preferred mode in national bandplans. This makes the use of 'CQ GLOBALSET' and registering your intended participation particularly important. Data stations should send the same message format as voice but 'structured' modes such as Winlink, ALE, PSKmail should send their messages directly to [EMAIL PROTECTED] , other data modes should attempt to relay the messages twice before sending them to [EMAIL PROTECTED] for analysis. Conclusion Please send your comments, pictures and suggestions for future exercises to; [EMAIL PROTECTED] , logs are only required from the three Regional HQ stations for analysis. The report of the event will be presented at GAREC 08 in Friedrichshafen. To be fair to all regions we use three different time slots for the exercise, the next exercise will be on November 8th 2008 at 04.00 -08.00 UTC with the event in May 2009 being at 11.00 - 15.00 UTC. Seppo Sisatto, OH1VR Emergency Communications Co_Ordinator IARU Region 1 Greg Mossop, G0DUB GlobalSET Organiser ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ