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RACESBUL.151 DATE: Jan. 7, 1991 SUBJECT: HIGH FREQUENCY ANTENNA SURVIVAL TIP The following was submitted to us by Patricia Gibbons, WA6UBE, City of San Jose Communications: "I made a trip to Berkeley to visit the shop manager for a facility run by Mackay Radio -- they maintain marine communications gear on the larger craft operated by American and foreign shipping lines. I wanted to get the correct part numbers to make up a wire antenna for our EOC just like those on board ship that go between the masts, complete with what are called 'safety links'. These are special sections of wire that are weaker then the antenna line itself and has a heavier, longer wire in parallel with the weaker wire. The purpose on a ship is to allow the weak link to break in a heavy storm. This allows additional slack in the antenna wire so that the entire antenna will survive instead of it all coming down. This concept is ideal for our communications center because we have two large monopoles to support the various microwave and various VHF/UHF antennas for our city government frequencies. So if this High Frequency wire antenna will go between the two poles, and if they sway a lot in en earthquake, the weak lines will break instead of the entire antenna system and thereby survive when it will be needed the most!!!" RACESBUL.152 DATE: Jan. 14, 1991 SUBJECT: NVIS ANTENNAS - PART 1/5 There has been what can be called more than somewhat mild excitement in Northern California emergency communications circles over a form of high frequency radio propagation. It's not new, but I venture to say that very few have used and understood it. "It" is called NVIS -- Near Vertical Incident Skywave. Patricia Gibbons, WA6UBE, presented a paper on NVIS at the 1990 Pacific Division ARRL convention in San Jose. It caused quite a stir. She quickly ran out of handouts and has since received dozens of requests for more. The handouts included reprints of articles from military communications magazines reporting the results of many tests. Near vertical incident skywave means forcing your radio signals to travel straight up (i.e., 80-90 degrees) and back down. This achieves radio coverage in circle having a radius of 300 miles and more. Stop and think about that for a moment. Complete coverage within such a circle on frequencies between 2 and 10 or 12 Megahertz. Some readers may wonder what's so good about this. So now is a good spot to say that if only DX (long distance) is your thing, skip on and read one of the other fine articles in this publication. We are talking about dependable local area high frequency communications -- the type we need for tactical public safety communications in the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service, the Civil Air Patrol, SECURE, search and rescue, forestry, pipeline and similar services. In tactical communications we don't want DX. (To be continued) RACESBUL.153 DATE: JAN. 21, 1991 SUBJECT: NVIS ANTENNAS - PART 2/5 How frustrating it was in years gone by to drive away from, say, a 4585 KHz base station, only to lose a good 400 watt signal a mile from the transmitter! All the while receiving, loud and clear, a 50 watt transmitter some 200 miles away. Very frustrating. We really didn't know why. When VHF-FM radios and repeaters came along, most of us retired HF mobile radios for tactical communications. The reasons we haven't enjoyed good HF tactical communications, whether AM or SSB, have been the base and mobile antennas. The classic dipoles, a quarter to a half wave up in the air. The mobile antennas, designed for use by Amateur Radio operators, have the same general propagation characteristics -- low take off angle for DX. Virtually every Amateur Radio mobile HF antenna is unsuitable for day-to-day tactical communications. They are variously bulky, mechanically weak, won't survive continual whacks from limbs and low overheads, look like Neptune's trident or a misshapen coat rack. They may be fine for hobby communications but not for tactical public safety use. In that type of service we want one, simple antenna that is permanently installed and we don't have to think about or fuss with again. So how do we achieve NVIS? By getting those sky hooks down near the ground. Let's start with the base station antenna. Horizontal, of course. Dipole or long wire. Place the antenna as low as two feet above the ground but no higher than about thirty feet without a counterpoise. Use an appropriate and sturdy antenna tuner; you will use the one antenna for all frequencies between 2-12 MHz. A longwire antenna is suitable in field setups but not recommended on office buildings or other urban environments. The reason is that unbalanced antennas frequently create interference problems with telephones and other communications and electronic equipment. These problems are substantially reduced or eliminated with a balanced antenna system. (To be continued) RACESBUL.154 DATE: Jan. 28, 1991 SUBJECT: NVIS ANTENNAS - PART 3/5 The antenna tuner of preference is one that is automatic. Such tuners are available now hat do not require any control cables; they require only the coaxial transmission line from the transceiver and a 12 volt DC cable. The tuner is placed at the far end of the coaxial cable. There are then two basic options: a longwire or a balanced (dipole) antenna. The longwire can be any length -- the longer the better to approach the lowest operating frequency. A very good ground connection is necessary and often quite difficult to obtain on a rooftop. (When we are talking about running ground connections we mean the shortest possible runs of 2 to 3 inch copper strap -- never wire or braid.) For a balanced antenna, you can place a 4:1 balun on the output of the antenna tuner, thence to a 450 ohm feedline to the dipole antenna. Any NVIS antenna can be enhanced with a ground along the surface that is 5% longer than the antenna and separated by .15 wavelength at the lowest frequency to be used. For the HF-SSB mobile radio, a sixteen-foot whip is probably the best. Such a whip may be both costly and difficult to find. For NVIS, the antenna is used folded down, both in motion and at rest. That's right, it is not released to go vertical. Most us use the heavy duty ball joint mount, heavy duty spring, and readily available 106 inch whip. To further improve the NVIS propagation at rest, the mobile whip is adjusted to go parallel to the ground and away from the vehicle. A further enhancement is to remove the whip and run out a longwire 30, 50, 100 feet long. Patricia Gibbons carries orange traffic cones, about 18 inches tall, and notched at the top to lay the antenna wire away from the vehicle. (To be continued) RACESBUL.155 DATE: Feb. 4, 1991 SUBJECT: NVIS ANTENNAS - PART 4/5 The Russian military have been using NVIS antennas on their vehicles for quite some time. They appear to be about 4 meters long and about six inches above the top surface of the vehicle. At least one American manufacturer makes an NVIS antenna for both military and civilian vehicles. On a van it looks no more obtrusive than a luggage rack. The automatic antenna tuner is located in the rear of the vehicle and as close as possible to the mobile antenna feedpoint. An HF-SSB mobile radio was recently installed in one of our State Office of Emergency Services trucks. The installer and the vehicle were 80 airline miles away and the time was about 2 p.m. In the State SECURE (State Emergency Capability Using Radio Effectively) system this calls for using a 7 MHz channel. We established contact; the mobile signal was received here in Sacramento at about S5 to S6. I then asked him to loosen the ball mount, flop the antenna down horizontal and away from the truck. I could tell by the pause and tone of his voice that he thought I had lost it. When he returned to the air his signal jumped to S9. By the same token he thought I had cut in a linear amplifier because of the improvement to my signal. I assured him that the improvement was due solely to his flopping his antenna horizontal. You need not be concerned over the orientation of an NVIS antenna; it is omnidirectional. (To be continued) RACESBUL.156 DATE: Feb. 11, 1991 SUBJECT: NVIS ANTENNAS - PART 5/5 Every Monday night from 7-8 p.m. we conduct a State RACES net on 3545.5 kHz using AMTOR. One night the net was concluded and secured. While the hams were cleaning up one of them noticed that we were being called; there it was on the screen. But it belied the loudspeaker; there were no discernible AMTOR signals -- only a high noise level. Yet, there was that station, WA6UBE, calling us at W6HIR. Yes, it was Patricia Gibbons proving an NVIS point again! She was transmitting to us from 82 miles away with an antenna lying on the ground along her driveway and using 3 watts of power! On another statewide evening RACES net, our Monday night 8 p.m. 3952 kHz voice net, Bill Pennington (WA6SLA) compared two antennas. One was a vertical and the other was a horizontal quite close to the ground. His observations were interesting and typical of NVIS propagation. Almost all of the signals received on the vertical were higher in voltage than the NVIS antenna but, be that as it may, the signal to noise ratio is superior with the NVIS antenna. The noise floor is measurably lower on the lower antenna, thereby providing better overall communications. I heard more than one Amateur say, after listening to Gibbons' NVIS presentation and subsequent demonstrations, decide to jump back into HF-SSB mobile radio again. These people, like I, are interested primarily in the mobile tactical public safety communication applications. There is an easy method to improve the NVIS radiation of your dipole antenna. Let the feedpoint sag five to ten feet below the horizontal. This will alter the radiation to improve the vertical angle to achieve an approximate 2 dB improvement at no cost. Many are excited about an old but little understood and practiced means of HF radiation. If you need it, try it. You'll like it. RACESBUL.157 DATE: Feb. 18, 1991 SUBJECT: RACES BULLETIN INDEX - PART 7 1 9 8 7 RACESBUL. Title 701 Equipment Liability - Questions and Answers 702 Mono County Hams Wanted 703 County RACES Officers 704 RACES pamphlets 705 News from State OES HQ RACES 706 Mailed Bulletins to be reduced 707 New State OES Region Manager is a ham (N6ECP) 708 Kings County goes RACES 709 National Dispatcher's Week 710 California dams 711 Emergency Management agency via ham radio The following six messages are specifically intended for all State and local OES employees in California: 712 RACES program management problems - Part 1 713 RACES program management problems - Part 2 714 RACES program management problems - Part 3 715 RACES program management problems - Part 4 716 RACES program management problems - Part 5 717 RACES program management problems - Part 6 718 State RACES Plan cover errata - misspelling! 719 Volunteers deportment and appearance - Part 1 720 Volunteers deportment and appearance - Part 2 721 Delivering the message to your OES agency 721A Hams help wanted in Southern California! 722 Packet radio demonstations, how to do - Part 1 723 Packet radio demonstations, how to do - Part 2 724 Packet radio demonstations, how to do - Part 3 725 Packet radio demonstations, how to do - Part 4 (The above 4 messages describe how best to successfully demonstrate packet radio to government entities and eliminate embarrassments and Murphy's Law) (To be continued) RACESBUL.158 DATE: Feb. 25, 1991 SUBJECT: RACES BULLETIN INDEX - PART 8 726 Hurricanes, names for all the 1987 season 727 (missing) 728 Identification cards wanted (samples from any jurisdiction) 729 1987 earthquake exercise - Part 1 730 SAR City USA (Nov. 1987 seminar in Barstow, CA) 731 1987 earthquake exercise - Part 2 732 1987 earthquake exercise - Part 3 733 1987 earthquake exercise - Part 4 734 1987 earthquake exercise - Part 5 736 Definition of the RACES 737 CCDN and RACES Bulletins - Part 1 of 2 738 CCDN and RACES Bulletins - Part 2 of 2 739 Use of ID cards policy 740 Volunteers responding policy 741 Flow of communications; city to county to State 742 Training writeups wanted to share statewide 743 Will you attend the Emergency Response Institute '88? 744 Tsunami; definition and training discussion 745 ICS videotape (available from State OES PAO) 746 Season's Greetings from the State OES Director 747 RACES Bulletin numbering system to change (To be continued) RACESBUL.159 DATE: March 4, 1991 SUBJECT: "RF-1" MICROWAVE VAN TAKES RACES "ABOVE THE CROWD" Imagine a RACES communications van that can deliver 24 simultaneous voice or data circuits plus full duplex Amateur Television ("ATV") videoconferencing. Now add High Frequency, VHF and UHF radios -- both Amateur and Public Safety, a thirty foot pneumatic mast, on-board power generator, and four wheel drive! "Wonderful," you say? California State Office of Emergency Services Region 2 RACES calls it "RF-1". In service since September 1990, RF-1 is the product of nearly a year's development by Region Two's Special Communications Assistance Team (SCAT) and the RACES. RF-1 Project Coordinator Steve Cembura (N6GVI) led the team of Amateurs who designed and built the mobile 5.8 gigaHertz microwave system. This full-duplex link operates in both analog (video) and digital (T-carrier) modes. The system includes T-1 channel banks which combine up to 24 separate voice or data circuits on a single microwave signal. SCAT Public Safety Radio Officer Dick Epting located the vehicle, a surplus Electronic News Gathering unit from San Francisco's television station KGO, and installed two-way radios and emergency equipment. Another San Francisco broadcaster, KPIX-TV, donated a broadcast quality color TV camera and other necessary video and audio gear. RF-1 got its first field trial providing video and two-way radio communications for a major earthquake preparedness exercise in Solano County. It was displayed at the last Emergency Response Institute in San Ramon and at the opening of the new State OES Media Center in Sacramento. RF-1 is now Region Two's "first in" mobile communications resource for earthquakes and other disasters. "RF-1 is more than just a comm van," says Region 2 RACES Coordinator Art Botterell. "All the technology wouldn't mean a thing without skilled operators. The RF-1 team put themselves on- call day and night to offer this unique public service." RACESBUL.160 DATE: March 11, 1991 SUBJECT: COMM MISSION FOR VOLUNTEERS - Part 1/2 QUESTION: How do we identify an emergency communications mission for the volunteers? ANSWER: There is a planning tool in disaster management planning called a matrix. On one axis are all the many emergency functions that should be addressed by the agency and the jurisdiction. On the other axis is a list of all of the agencies and organizations involved in emergency response. For every function one agency has the primary responsibility. A letter "P" is written in that square. Then any other organization that has a support role should have an "S" entered in the appropriate block along the function axis. By doing this you may well find new participation and missions that did not exist heretofore. Here are a few examples: 1. Weather Warnings. The "P" or Primary is the National Weather Service. The "S" or Support services may be the emergency management agency, the fire department, the sheriff or police department, and the Emergency Broadcast System. Don't overlook the latter as one of your organizations unless, of course, it doesn't exist. 2. Rescue. The Primary is usually the fire department. Support role agencies may include public works, Explorer Scouts, search and rescue units and others. (To be continued) RACESBUL.161 DATE: March 18, 1991 SUBJECT: COMM MISSION FOR VOLUNTEERS - Part 2/2 3. Communications. Since this is an emergency communications planning matrix, the P for Primary is the local emergency management agency. Support roles may typically be provided by sheriff or police, fire, public works, the telephone company, cellular telephone utilities, the Civil Air Patrol and others with whom you interface in the emergency operations center. Note that I did not say RACES. That is because the RACES is not a separate or outside organization; it is a unit of the emergency management agency. The Civil Air Patrol, on the other hand, IS an outside agency. Do you have the RACES in your government? Have you looked into the CAP communications capabilities? By now you should have an idea how the Primary and Support role planning matrix works. Note that there is only one Primary for every function; there cannot be divided responsibilities. Once the organizations have been inventoried it is easier to create RACES support roles for a host of emergency situations, and probably quite a few more than you envision today. Does each department head carry local government two-way radio communications? If not, have you planned a shadow role for your RACES? If you or your radio officer is unfamiliar with the shadow role, please send us an inquiry. RACESBUL.162 DATE: March 25, 1991 SUBJECT: HOW DOES ONE JOIN THE RACES? QUESTION: How do I join a RACES unit? ANSWER: Contact your nearest civil defense or emergency management agency. The Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service is a part of a municipal, county, or state government. This does not mean, however, that every such government has a RACES program. If your government does not have a RACES, we hope you refer any interested caller to the nearest jurisdiction that does have a RACES. QUESTION: For "Level A" RACES persons, what kind of training should we, the local government, give them? ANSWER: This varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. One thing the RACES is not is to train operators from scratch. We assume that person brings to the job one or more skills. The government should train and provide handouts on that which the volunteer would not normally get. For starters we recommend the following: 1. An agency organization chart. 2. Position descriptions, starting with the Radio Officer. 3. The mission of the emergency communications service, including the RACES. 4. The Incident Command System. If the ICS is used, the volunteer communicators in government service must understand it. 5. Concentrate of the use of tactical callsigns and plain English. 6. Mission specific training. In other words, those people support a hazard materials incident in the field must have suitable hazmat training before hand. The same applies to wild fire communications, flood gauge reporting, and similar potentially hazardous operations. 7. Housekeeping rules and standard operating procedures. 8. Safety, personal and family preparedness. RACESBUL.163 DATE: April 1, 1991 SUBJECT: WHAT ABOUT CITIZENS BAND? QUESTION: You usually talk about Amateur Radio, the Civil Air Patrol, and public safety radio services in your Bulletins. Isn't Citizens Band radio viable anymore in emergency services agencies? ANSWER: Yes, in some areas. Because it is short range and local in nature, CB radio is best suited to city and county communications. Like any other volunteer service this can vary from area to area. In many areas the REACT or Radio Emergency Associated Communications Team organization is a highly developed, dedicated and professional group that is a pleasure to work with and a credit to the community. CB radio now also includes the GMRS or General Mobile Radio Service. More and more REACT organizations are using GMRS. This enables a professional quality base, mobile and repeater operation in the UHF-FM band. A CB radio should be part of any city and county Emergency Operations Center even if there is no organized or dependable CB radio organization. It can be an immediate source of information or reports in some instances. It is an inexpensive communications resource that should not be overlooked in any local area Emergency Operations Center. RACESBUL.164 DATE: April 8, 1991 SUBJECT: HOW COMM VOLUNTEERS CAN BE USED - Part 1/2 QUESTION: I am new at using volunteers in our government. How can I use volunteers in communications? ANSWER: Some assignment skills for your unpaid professional communication specialists in government service are: - voice radio operators for tactical and formal traffic; - digital operators for packet radio, AMTOR, and radioteletype. This can include unlicensed people skilled at typing messages into computers; - Net Control voice operators. This takes a special and uncommon skill that you should identify and recruit in advance of their need; - Shift supervisors. Trained volunteers to manage the other volunteers; - Shadows. A shadow is a radio operator who brings his/her own two-way radio (usually Amateur Radio) communications and accompanies a key official around the clock as long as that official is on duty. The shadow is also capable of operating the official's own radio, cellular telephone, etc.; and - Comm Unit Leaders on incidents. Where the Incident Command System is used for the public safety communications resources and Amateur Radio is also used, their should also be a ham Comm Unit Leader. The two should work side by side throughout the incident. (To be continued) RACESBUL.165 DATE: April 15, 1991 SUBJECT: HOW COMM VOLUNTEERS CAN BE USED - Part 2/2 This has unfortunately not been the case during the past five years of most of the major state and federal forest fire operations in California. This could be attributed to growing pains because the use of volunteer communications was virtually unknown by the federal government and for less than ten years among a few state units. We strongly recommend that the federal or state Comm Unit Leader assure in the future that there be a volunteer Comm Unit Leader who will work where he works throughout the incident. This can eliminate the confusion and problems that do and will arise, no matter how well the volunteers have served in the past. Volunteers must not be allowed to function without tight coordination, direction and control from those they are serving. State and federal wildfire suppression organizations are urged to amend their ICS checklist for their Comm Unit Leader to include establishing a volunteer Comm Unit Leader that works for and with the principal position. As we enter the fifth year of drought in the West, it behooves us all to preplan, organize, train and stand ready more than ever before. The threat grows as the budgets shrink. Our agency knows that there are volunteers and there are volunteers. We recruit, train and promote the use of those we call unpaid professional communications specialists. We recognize that there are volunteers who can be defined as self serving or loose canons; they are not of concern because they don't have to be recruited and they can be dismissed. No government agency should be the least bit reluctant to do the latter. A major portion of our volunteer management orientation is spent on this aspect of not being reluctant to select and reject. This message has been prepared by several paid and unpaid professionals. Your comments and input are invited. RACESBUL.166 DATE: April 22, 1991 SUBJECT: How to help your Radio Officer You emergency management agency managers frequently ask what your Radio Officer should know. Many of the subjects have been covered in past Bulletins. Several Radio Officers have recently suggested the importance of their knowing about, understanding, and cooperating with the other public safety communications managers in your government. This will help to enable your volunteer communications resources to fit it in better than if they are held aside as a last resort, when all else fails, or a doomsday resource. Such RACES units usually fade away not too long after being organized. If they are an outside group, they may not be equipped with adequate training and preconditioning from you and your jurisdiction. Any volunteer is only as good as the training he or she seeks and receives. We have heard from many Radio Officers who support the premise that they are of more value when they gain an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the public safety communications systems in their area. They are encouraged to become members of their local Associated Public- Safety Communications Officers chapter. Some jurisdictions pay the APCO dues for their RACES Radio Officer and broaden the scope of their duties to include all volunteer communications services. We know of several people who have entered the public safety career field in this manner.