(Updated 2/24/2023)

Access

Park in the parking garage. If meeting a hospital staff member, check in at the information desk inside the main entrance. When participating in a radio drill, it is easiest to use the emergency room entrance. Bypass the reception desk and head directly to the security office. If someone stops you, tell them you are headed to security and they will direct you. It is a short distance down a hall to the right of the reception desk. Security should be expecting you and will escort you to the EOC comm room. Taking the stairs is faster than the elevator.

The EOC at MedStar Montgomery is a specially-equipped conference room located inside the cafeteria on the second floor. The comm room is a small room adjacent to the EOC. It has a second entrance directly off the main east-west corridor of the hospital. The comm room is the last door at the west end of the corridor. Across the hall is a stairwell, and there are rest rooms immediately adjacent to the comm room.

Lat/log: 39.1541, -77.0553

Grid Square: FM19ld

Radio Setup

In the comm room, two TM-D710 radios are installed in a wall cabinet. The radio control heads and accessories are stored in the cabinet when not in use. Cable bundles lead from the wall cabinet to an adjacent office table that serves as the operating position. Getting set up is a matter of arranging and plugging in the control heads and accessories.

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.

MedStar Montgomery is connected to the MAIPN wide-area network, providing broadband connections to other sites. Among the services provided by the MAIPN network are access to the internet via a distant gateway, and access to telephone service via a remotely-located PBX. Computers in the EOC can connect to the MAIPN network via Wi-Fi. There is also a desk telephone that is configured to access the MAIPN PBX.

On our next visit to the site, we’ll take some photos of the setup and post them here.