FEMA Interoperable Radio System Fails
A new interoperable FEMA radio system designed to let various emergency and relief organizations talk to one another appears to have problems that not even experienced ham radio operators can overcome. Amateur Radio Newsline's Jack Parker, W8ISH is in Indianapolis with the people who tried hard to put it on the air:
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Indiana's Task Force One was one of the first Urban Search and Rescue teams sent into the eye of the storm. They arrived in Meridian, Mississippi as Hurricane Katrina was sweeping through the state. Two Indianapolis amateur radio operators headed up the team's communications sector. Denny Carmichael WA9DFE and Ed Elrod W9PTO were tasked with getting the new FEMA radio system up and running. It was a mission fraught with problems.
Elrod: "We charged radios for the new Motorola radios that we have which have 160 channels preprogrammed which we cannot change or modify. We were unsuccessful in getting a repeater up that would pickup the new radios and repeat the transmission."
According to Elrod the two veteran ham radio operators tried every trick in the book to get the new repeater system up and running.
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Elrod: "We think it was a desense problem."
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The search and rescue team tried talking simplex and found they only had about a six block range. They wound up relying on limited cell phone service to keep contact between teams.
Elrod: "One day Nextel would be up and Cingular would be down and next day Cingular would be loud and clear and Nextel would be down. And one day we had no cell phone service at all"
Despite their limited communications the Indiana search and rescue team did have some early success with their primary mission, to save lives.
Now, back home in Indiana, Ed, Denny and the rest of Task Force One's communication team will have begun getting the new FEMA radio system ready for the next disaster. From Indianapolis, Jack Parker W8ISH
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Meantime at least one Motorola representative seems to be rather unhappy that the hams are on site providing the communications that the professionals cant. Jim Screeden, who runs all of Motorola's repair teams in the field for its emergency-response business is quoted in the Wall Street Journal as saying -- and we quote: "Something is better than nothing, that's right. But ham radios are pretty close to nothing."
(W8ISH)
Source: Amateur Radio Newsline Report #1466
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Indiana's Task Force One was one of the first Urban Search and Rescue teams sent into the eye of the storm. They arrived in Meridian, Mississippi as Hurricane Katrina was sweeping through the state. Two Indianapolis amateur radio operators headed up the team's communications sector. Denny Carmichael WA9DFE and Ed Elrod W9PTO were tasked with getting the new FEMA radio system up and running. It was a mission fraught with problems.
Elrod: "We charged radios for the new Motorola radios that we have which have 160 channels preprogrammed which we cannot change or modify. We were unsuccessful in getting a repeater up that would pickup the new radios and repeat the transmission."
According to Elrod the two veteran ham radio operators tried every trick in the book to get the new repeater system up and running.
--
Elrod: "We think it was a desense problem."
--
The search and rescue team tried talking simplex and found they only had about a six block range. They wound up relying on limited cell phone service to keep contact between teams.
Elrod: "One day Nextel would be up and Cingular would be down and next day Cingular would be loud and clear and Nextel would be down. And one day we had no cell phone service at all"
Despite their limited communications the Indiana search and rescue team did have some early success with their primary mission, to save lives.
Now, back home in Indiana, Ed, Denny and the rest of Task Force One's communication team will have begun getting the new FEMA radio system ready for the next disaster. From Indianapolis, Jack Parker W8ISH
--
Meantime at least one Motorola representative seems to be rather unhappy that the hams are on site providing the communications that the professionals cant. Jim Screeden, who runs all of Motorola's repair teams in the field for its emergency-response business is quoted in the Wall Street Journal as saying -- and we quote: "Something is better than nothing, that's right. But ham radios are pretty close to nothing."
(W8ISH)
Source: Amateur Radio Newsline Report #1466
posted by RadioIntel.com Annex at 12:23 AM
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