Old Project Avalon Forum (ARCHIVE) - View Single Post

Tyler Macmillan · 09-26-2008, 03:46 AM

Hooray! My first Avalon post. As many of you may agree, this is all important stuff.

Here's another consideration - not sure if it's been discussed yet. There are groups of hams that already have the HF gear in your local communities. RACES and ARES are emergency communication groups have organization by county and state. Here in CO these groups can be tapped to augment state emergency services. Now I haven't been directly involved with RACES or ARES, but I do know they practice their emergency nets (discussed in this thread) and adhere to some standard protocols for message traffic. That is to say, a Ground Crew member could hand a written message to a local ham operator who could transmit it to the Project Avalon 10m or 20m net, etc.

Right now I've been focusing on 2m (VHF) and 440mhz (UHF) for local communication, and have not focused as much on HF, primarily because I only hold a Technician license from years past. I have a 2m/440 Icom mobile rig (intented for a vehicle), and plan to install in the basement for local communications. Hard to say how local VHF/UHF repeaters will will handle EMP or solar spikes.

Timeout here for some basics, if needed:

* The lower the frequency, the longer the wavelegth. Longer waves can bend more, so to speak. Think of a sine wave... if it's 10 meters long, the peaks and valleys are not as 'bunched up' compared to a wave where peaks are 70 cm apart (UHF).

* Longer waves can curve around the earth, etc. But shorter waves can cut through buildings and stuff, although they have to be straight. Think cell phones and portable radios like half-watt FRS units commonly available.

I'm gonna stop and just post this for now. I'm a ham but no expert, certainly not on HF topics. I'm really trying to consider the audience and share/ask on what is most needed, so i'll try to keep following this thread. I also emailed Bill and Kerry a couple months ago with some decent info about radios and EMP I found in a field manual - fm3-3-1 I believe

http://www.globalsecurity.org/milita...olicy/army/fm/

09-26-2008, 03:46 AM	#54
Tyler Macmillan Avalon Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Elizabeth, CO Posts: 9	Re: Amateur radio Hooray! My first Avalon post. As many of you may agree, this is all important stuff. Here's another consideration - not sure if it's been discussed yet. There are groups of hams that already have the HF gear in your local communities. RACES and ARES are emergency communication groups have organization by county and state. Here in CO these groups can be tapped to augment state emergency services. Now I haven't been directly involved with RACES or ARES, but I do know they practice their emergency nets (discussed in this thread) and adhere to some standard protocols for message traffic. That is to say, a Ground Crew member could hand a written message to a local ham operator who could transmit it to the Project Avalon 10m or 20m net, etc. Right now I've been focusing on 2m (VHF) and 440mhz (UHF) for local communication, and have not focused as much on HF, primarily because I only hold a Technician license from years past. I have a 2m/440 Icom mobile rig (intented for a vehicle), and plan to install in the basement for local communications. Hard to say how local VHF/UHF repeaters will will handle EMP or solar spikes. Timeout here for some basics, if needed: * The lower the frequency, the longer the wavelegth. Longer waves can bend more, so to speak. Think of a sine wave... if it's 10 meters long, the peaks and valleys are not as 'bunched up' compared to a wave where peaks are 70 cm apart (UHF). * Longer waves can curve around the earth, etc. But shorter waves can cut through buildings and stuff, although they have to be straight. Think cell phones and portable radios like half-watt FRS units commonly available. I'm gonna stop and just post this for now. I'm a ham but no expert, certainly not on HF topics. I'm really trying to consider the audience and share/ask on what is most needed, so i'll try to keep following this thread. I also emailed Bill and Kerry a couple months ago with some decent info about radios and EMP I found in a field manual - fm3-3-1 I believe http://www.globalsecurity.org/milita...olicy/army/fm/ Last edited by Tyler Macmillan; 09-26-2008 at 03:50 AM.