2016 ARRL Simulated Emergency Test

Montgomery County ARES® participated in the 2016 ARRL Simulated Emergency Test on the weekend on Oct. 1-2. We tested our ability to communicate between counties throughout Maryland and DC via HF Winlink in peer-to-peer (P2P) mode using NVIS methods. (Diagram below credited to Stephen C. Finch, AIØW.)

NVIS stands for near-vertical-incidence skywave. This is a technique for communicating with other stations in a given region that are beyond line-of-sight using HF propagation. NVIS methods provide reasonably reliable communications out to a distance of 200 to 300 miles over most of the typical 24-hour diurnal cycle. If you are unfamiliar with the concept, you can read a good plain-language explanation at the following link.

http://www.qsl.net/wb5ude/nvis/

For this exercise, we conducted a mini-Field-Day-style operation on the grounds of the new Holy Cross Germantown Hospital, setting up two HF Winlink stations using  wire antennas suitable for NVIS operation.  We operated continuously over a 24-hour period, thus testing our ability to maintain near-real-time communications as propagation changes.

We were on the air on both 40 and 80 meters by noon on Saturday, despite steady drizzle interspersed with heavy downpours during the morning hours. At least we didn’t have to deal with mosquitoes or risk sunburn.

RESULTS BY THE NUMBERS

Character	ITU Phonetic	Spoken As	APCO Phonetic
A	Alfa	AL FAH	Adam
B	Bravo	BRAH VOH	Boy
C	Charlie	CHAR LEE or SHAR LEE	Charles
D	Delta	DELL TAH	David
E	Echo	ECK OH	Edward
F	Foxtrot	FOKS TROT	Frank
G	Golf	GOLF	George
H	Hotel	HOH TELL	Henry
I	India	IN DEE AH	Ida
J	Juliett	JEW LEE ETT	John
K	Kilo	KEY LOH	King
L	Lima	LEE MAH	Klincoln
M	Mike	MIKE	Mary
N	November	NO VEM BER	Nora
O	Oscar	OSS CAH	Ocean
P	Papa	PAH PAH	Paul
Q	Quebec	KEH BECK	Queen
R	Romeo	ROW ME OH	Robert
S	Sierra	SEE AIR RAH	Sam
T	Tango	TANG GO	Tom
U	Uniform	YOU NEE FORM or OO NEE FORM	Union
V	Victor	VIK TAH	Victor
W	Whiskey	WISS KEY	William
X	X-ray	ECKS RAY	Xray
Y	Yankee	YANG KEY	Young
Z	Zulu	ZOO LOO	Zebra
0	Zero	ZAY ROH
1	One	WUN
2	Two	TOO
3	Three	TREE
4	Four	FOWER
5	Five	FIVE
6	Six	SIX
7	Seven	SEVEN
8	Eight	AIT
9	Nine	NINER
.	Decimal	DAY SEE MAL

All told, over a 24-hour period, we exchanged 107 messages — in essence, plain-text emails — with 38 stations in 18 counties across Maryland and Virginia.

Here are a few photos.

We set up dipoles for 40 and 80 meters at right angles to one another on the top deck of the hospital’s parking garage and ran the feedlines to the next level down, where we set up our operating tent. This worked out very well. In this location, we were protected from extremes of weather, albeit with ready access to the “antenna farm.” In addition, we were able to keep vehicular traffic well away from the station by blocking off the upper levels of the garage with traffic cones.