(Updated 2/24/2023)
Access
From Forest Glen Road, turn into the main entrance of the hospital and make a left turn into the visitor parking garage. After parking, walk to the main entrance. Take your parking ticket with you.
The hospital EOC is located in the education wing, a short distance down a corridor immediately to the right of the main entrance and just beyond the maternity elevators. The radios are set up in a classroom adjacent to the EOC. I believe it is identified as classroom 4. It is a short distance down the hall on the right. Rest rooms are located across the hall near the classroom.
(After hours, navigate to the emergency entrance instead, past the main entrance and down the hill, and follow signs to visitor parking. Security will escort you to the EOC.)
Ask at the front desk if it is possible to validate the parking ticket, but be prepared to pay a fee for parking if that is not possible. In the corner of the parking garage closest to the main entrance, there are machines where you pay the parking fee by credit card immediately before departing. Presumably, one or more of the machines also accept cash.
Lat/lon coordinates: 39.0151, -77.0357
Grid square: FM19la
Radio Setup
At this hospital, two TM-D710GA radios are mounted in a Hardigg portable equipment case. The equipment case is normally stored in the Emergency Manager’s office, but on the day of a scheduled radio drill, you should find it in the classroom when you arrive. It might be tucked into an inconspicuous corner, so look around.
Getting on the air is a simple matter of opening the case, connecting the included coax cables from the radios to the antenna connectors on the wall, and plugging in the AC power cord. Microphones and other accessories are stored in a compartment. Among the accessories are a Yamaha CM-500 headset, a footswitch, an adapter unit for connecting the headset to one of the radios, and a USB serial cable for packet operations using the second radio. A quick-start guide for the TM-D710 radio can be found here on the MCACS website. This guide also includes information on using the accessories. Note that the radios are set up for AX.25 packet using the radio’s internal TNC. If you want to use Vara FM, you will need to bring your own sound card interface — Signalink, DigiRig, or similar.
The antennas at this hospital are located on the roof of the education wing, which is only two stories high. The hospital is situated in the Sligo Creek valley with higher terrain to the east and west as well as a high-rise building immediately to the south. Therefore, simplex range is not great, but you should have access to several local repeaters and Winlink RMS gateways.
