International Amateur Radio Union
Region 1
Working for the future of amateur radio
Second EmCom party on the Air
May 5th, 2007 11.00 – 15.00 UTC
IARU Region 1 invites the HQ-stations of its member societies and
stations of special emergency communication groups to participate in the
“Second EmCom party on the Air” on Saturday, May 5th, 2007 at 11.00 -
15.00 UTC. The operation will take place on and near the emergency
Center-of-Activity (CoA) frequencies on 40, 20 and 15 meters (+/-QRM).
The CoA frequencies on 80 and 17 meters will not be used during this
event.
The objective of the party is to increase the common interest among
member societies in emergency communication,
test how usable the CoA frequencies are across Region 1, and create
practices for international emergency communication between Region 1
member societies and special emergency communication groups.
Please keep in mind:
This is not a contest - it is an emergency communications exercise!
The protocol is as follows:
All traffic during the party will take place in SSB only.
IARU Region 1 HQ station will be OF3F in Finland. It will be QRV
simultaneously on the three CoA frequencies: 7060, 14 300 and 21 360 kHz
+/- QRM.
During first three hours each participating station will try to contact
OF3F and also as many other national HQ and special group stations as
possible. During the last hour, (14.00 - 15.00 UTC) these stations will
contact only OF3F for reporting. The report should be sent only once, on
the band on which communication with OH3F is best. All traffic in the
party will happen on SSB.
Participating stations are calling: “This is HQ station of (RSGB, REF
etc.) calling Region 1 EmCom stations for testing” (Please announce time
to time “this is an exercise”).
The messages to be exchanged during the first three hours consist of
eight numbers and the abbreviation of the national society/special group
- in other words: real RS -report, number of bands simultaneously in use
(1, 2 or 3), and number of operators at this station (in 2 digits, i.e.
3 operators is transmitted as “03”), the transmitter power (in 3 digits,
i.e. 50 Watt would be 050) and the acronym of the society/group (RSGB,
REF…). We will use the word “slash” to separate details in these
messages:
Example: 4U1ITU could give to OF3F following information:
58/3/03/500/IARC
RS = 58 (please give accurate reports, not just “59”!)
3 = number of bands simultaneously in use at 4U1ITU
03 = there are 3 operators at 4U1ITU
500 = 4U1ITU runs 500 W
IARC = International Amateur Radio Club of ITU HQS
The message to IARU Region 1 HQ station OF3F during the last hour will
be following:
RS / total number of stations of Region 1 societies or groups contacted
during the party / numbers of stations contacted on 7, 14 and 21 MHz.
Example: 4U1ITU reports to OF3F: 57/28/00/23/15
RS = 57 (please give accurate reports, not just “59”!)
28 = total of 28 different HQ/special group -stations contacted
03 = 3 different HQ/special group stations contacted made on 7 MHz
23 = 23 different HQ/special group stations contacted on 14 MHz
15 = 15 different HQ/special group stations contacted on 21 MHz
All messages consist of five groups: RS is the group number 1, this
group number one is separated by / (`slash') from group number 2 and so
on. If you have not received any of the groups properly, you ask:
“Please repeat group number #”.
HQ-station OF3F is not giving messages - only receiving and confirming
them. To avoid QRMing the HQ-station, please move to frequencies near
the CoA for contacts with other stations.
For creating a more realistic situation, please limit your transmitting
power during the exercise to 100 watts. A special value is given to
stations operating mobile/portable and/or on emergency power.
Greg Mossop G0DUB has kindly agreed to collect all information and to
prepare a final report. Please send your comments and logs to Greg at:
gregm@greg-mossop.co.uk. The final report will be published in August
2007.
We hope that even more stations than in November 2006 will participate
in this second EmCom Party on the Air. Please do not hesitate to contact
us if you need any additional information.
A third EmCom Party is planned for 17 November, 2007, with new rules and
procedures.
73
Seppo Sisättö OH1VR
Emergency Communication Coordinator,
IARU Region 1
E-mail: seppo.sisatto@uta.fi