Thought that would get your attention the details have been confirmed,  between the 4×4 responce teams in Norfolk and Suffolk and RAYNET. 

Aims of exercise:
•   Setting up control / communication infrastructure •   Pairing up vehicles and radio operators where drivers are not licenced amateurs •   Using Amateur Radio to request multiple mobile units to carry out typical tasks such as message handling, vehicle movements etc. •   Investigation of the effectiveness of radio coverage of the area from various control points
It seems the main object of this exercise is comms and will based local to where you live the object being to relay messages around Suffolk/Norfolk to eventually end up at a finish locating a certain object/feature.

more details to follow

73  - “May the fourth be with you”

2E0JBI

RAYNET Communications Training Exercise

60^th Anniversary commemorating 1953 Floods

Date: Thursday 31/01/13 19.00 – 21.30

Station ID – G1SAR, Rendlesham – JO02QD

• GR – Good Readable; RD – Readable with difficulty; UR – Unreadable
• * Other callsigns heard operating G7SCR – G8LBS,G7OPO, M0JAJ, 2E0JBI, G7OOW

Date: Thursday 31/01/13 19.00 – 21.30

Station ID – G7SMW/M & 2E0TYL/M

Please note one thing mentioned by many operators on the night that most signals were very fluttery and up and down in signal strength. The logged signal strengths are the best received at the stated location, the radio used was a Alinco DR 610 – I mainly transmitted 50w and had a VHF ¼ Wave whip on the car.

While on route from Woodbridge to Orford we were listening on 145.225Mhz . G1 SAR was 5/9 the whole route – G7SCR was at best 5/4 – to nothing – G8VZZ could be heard on odd TX 5/2 at best and G6MCG was a 5/5 most of the route. I transmitted to G7SCR from Sudbourne area and Peter reported the signal was from readable to unreadable.

Location one – Orford Quay – TM424 495

G1SAR

Moblie 5/9         H/held 5/8

G8VZZ at Bawdsey

Mobile 5/7         H/held 5/2

G7SCR  Felixstowe

Mobile 5/7         H/held 5/5

On route a station from Norwich area I beleave was at best  was RX 5/3 but not heard at Aldeburgh.

Location Two – Aldeburgh – TM463 553

2E0IPT Kirton

Mobile 5/3         H/held – nothing RX

G1SAR

Mobile 5/8         H/held 5/5

G8VZZ East Lane

Mobile 5/3         H/held 5/1

G7SCR Felixstowe

Mobile 5/7         H/held 5/2

Couldn’t really hear the station in Isle of Sheppy – did just break squelch a few times

G0GYY Walton on Naze

Moblie 5/3         H/held 5/1

M1ACB Aldeburgh

Could hear without an antenna  lol !

Location Three – Thorpeness – TM472 594

G1SAR

Mobile 5/8         H/held 5/6

M1ACB Aldeburgh

Mobile 5/9         H/held 5/9

G7SCR Felixstowe

Mobile 5/5         H/held 5/2

G0GYY Walton on Naze

Nothing RX

MoNTY

Only just broke squelch a few times but not able to work.

G8VZZ Woodbridge

Mobile 5/2         H/held not tried

Station at Lowestoft not heard.

Thursday 31/01.13 19.05 – 21.00

Station ID – 2E0IPT

VHF:145.225

5 Watt Wouxun handheld with a collinear antenna positioned on the house.

• GR – Good Readable; RD – Readable with difficulty; UR – Unreadable

Thursday 31/01/13 19.00 – 21.00

Station ID –  M1ACB/M Aldeburgh

VHF:145.225

• GR – Good Readable; RD – Readable with difficulty; UR – Unreadable

On Saturday 2/02/13 we setup communications with our caravan and Peter G8BLS setup HF from his car. The weather was still cold with strong winds and winter rain but we had lots of people visiting to say hello. The Saturday proved to be the best for HF contacts with the special event station being contacted which was setup to commemorative the floods in Holland.

Another Storm On Its Way Through

Thanks to Mike 2E0BZM for the great pictures

Station ID – G7SCR, Landguard Point – JO02

Saturday 2^nd Feb 2013 HF Station Band 40metres 7.100MHz

Saturday 2/02/13

Station ID – G7SCR Land-Guard Point Felixstowe

VHF:145.225

• GR – Good Readable; RD – Readable with difficulty; UR – Unreadable

Over all its was a great exercise with very interesting contacts made with lessons learned . My thanks goes out to everyone who helped in this event to make this a great success.

Jay

M0JAJ

]]> http://www.east-suffolk-raynet.co.uk/?feed=rss2&p=321 0 http://www.east-suffolk-raynet.co.uk/?p=313 http://www.east-suffolk-raynet.co.uk/?p=313#comments Mon, 28 Jan 2013 14:48:50 +0000 2E0JBI http://www.east-suffolk-raynet.co.uk/?p=313 Well 14 people turned up at the first of the new training sessions / socials covering everything from APRS to training requirements, an exercise and linking up with the local 4×4 response team.   Also discussed was the event taking place on the 31st and the coverage that we as a group are intending to do.  As for my training schedule it remains as is with the possibility of a weekend map reading/message handling exercise (maybe with the slroc responders).

There was a good turn out for the meeting – with 15 members in attendance and 10 apologies received. A full set of minutes has been completed and distributed – please contact the secretary if you need another copy or did not receive one.  There was some good discussion and a set of actions produced – with target completion dates (see below).

The new Committee for 2012/13 can be seen by clicking this link

Summary of Action Points

 AP1/12                  G7OOW/G8XOR to urgently pursue the recovery of cable from Civic Drive if it is possible as there is considerable value in what we have.  Also to come to a decision on what to do with the installations at Babergh (Hadleigh) and SCDC (Melton Hill)

 AP2/12                  M0JAJ/G7OOW to sort paper work and come up with a business plan for a lottery grant (with regards to Replacement of the Communication Vehicle) over the winter period. This should be completed by 1^st March 2013.

 AP3/12                  G6EUO to find out the legal position of high visibility tabards/jackets and other PPE specifically to the use on public roads and report back.

 AP4/12                  2E0JBI as the new Training Officer to pursue the arranging of an internal training exercise – if possible to take place sometime in 2013

 AP5/12                  2E0JBI to arrange some activity/training on the use of HF/NVIS equipment – if possible to take place sometime in 2013

 AP6/12                  G7OOW/G6EUO to circulate a Policy Statement with regards to the claiming of legitimate expenses to all Members by January 1^st 2013

 AP7/12                  2E0JBI to arrange bi-monthly meetings either formal training, committee or social for next year

 AP8/12                  G7OOW/G7OPO/M0JAJ to complete the repair of the Caravan window before the next RAYNET duty of 2013

 AP9/12                  G7CIY to make sure that the National RAYNET site links back to our own new site

 AP10/12                M6CUD to arrange the purchase of a Gazebo for use on RAYNET events before the next RAYNET duty of 2013

Event date – Sunday of the 20^th May

RAYNET have been assisting with communications for the Woodbridge Round The Town Races for many years and it’s normally good weather for such a nice event.  The duty itself starts at around 11:30am and we normally finished by around 14:30hrs.  Some of our operators can’t assist in the role of RAYNET operators, as they are needed in their role as Red Cross staff on the day.

This event is supporting the Red Cross with radio communications cover for the 10 kilometer course in and around the Woodbridge town center.  We are asked to pass voice communications for the Red Cross and actually used the Red Cross frequency and their own hand-sets to be able to have an open channel with them.  We did not log competitors and numbers or use data logging for this event.

This year saw a slight shift and refinement over previous years, with most operators already given their user service provided radios, avoiding the need to travel to the RV point and having to navigate road closures and parking at an already busy location.  This also meant an extra hour in bed for most on the day.  This event is organised each year by the Woodbridge Shufflers with their own volunteers out on the course, not being in direct communication with RAYNET.

We had operators in place for the start, standing down as the last place runner/walker passed through each checkpoint.  The ambulance was coordinated by the Red Cross event coordinator with most direction and traffic handled by the RAYNET event coordinator.  While there was one patient transport needed, the event was quiet and a good job was done by all.

The winner already had a good 3 minute lead on his second lap, finishing just outside the course record having travelled down from Manchester to compete in this year’s Woodbridge Round The Town Races.

RAYNET will be invited back to help again next year with the Woodbridge Round The Town Races 2013 and we thank the organisers for the opportunity to hone our skills and practice our procedures equipment and readiness for call out by other services.

To find out more about what we do, check out the about us page of our website.

A full blog is written here

The event consisted of three routes, Red 26 miles, Yellow 13 miles and Blue 6 miles that needed radio cover on checkpoints and our control caravan back at the start finish.  We put members of RAYNET on 9 checkpoints and 3 members back at the the control station, passing information mainly consisting of competitor numbers, to allow us to check status of competitors and when all had finished the route.

East Suffolk Raynet for emergency communications infrastructure, planned communication for sporting events, supporting the community and offering solutions to volunteer services, charities and groups that need better manned communications than users mobile phones to enhance this safety cover.

Are you planning an outdoor event over a large area or checkpoints?

Can RAYNET help you?

The event consisted of three routes, Red 26 miles, Yellow 13 miles and Blue 6 miles that needed radio cover on checkpoints and our control caravan back at the start finish.  We put members of RAYNET on 9 checkpoints and 3 members back at the the control station, passing information mainly consisting of competitor numbers, to allow us to check status of competitors and when all had finished the route.

Russel Keen the RAYNET controller for the event has issued personal thanks to Jay and Chris for all the efforts they put into getting the APRS data and tracking working smoothly on the day.  Thanks also need to go to Tony for coping with a very  busy point at CP 9 and Anne for stepping in at the last minuite when Johnathan had to work.

We have worked out that we should put a fourth packet data station at point 9, as this is quite a busy point and would help by sending more on the data net and less by voice.  This is something that we are very good at,  feeding back and improving every year for every event we support.   Jay and Russell also discussed putting a trailer mast at CP 2 which could act as digipeat for data, and if needed link talk through for voice, as the UHF signal from there would reach the entire area we were covering.

I was sent out with the Roving Marshal, the organiser, Graham in his Bentley, rather worried about scratching the paint with the two mag-mount Ariels we stuck on!  RAYNET impressed Graham with it’s infrastructure, equipment and working practices, set up and administered by volunteers with our own kit and donations.

We did have a report of some-one collapsed on the beach but the Roving Marshal was in the north of the area, so the St Johns ambulance 4×4 was dispatched to this and searched the beach.  The Roving Marshals vehicle was only used to transport 2 runners who had dropped out due to minor injury, so the car was used to take them back to the start finish.

Click here for the video of the event.

A good day by all and well done to every one on the day, looking forward to the Woodbridge round the town races in a few weeks.

Jay had some very interested self contained kit, some home brew stuff and some really interesting compact kit.  The PC he used was mounted on a rack to be installed in his vehicle, running off 12v, and as small as a large modem, with the modem of nearly the same size on top.  This was connected to a Radio on 144.800 listening and transmitting packet data.

It was very well attended with 14 people turning out to hear about APRS and it’s newest features, positive uses and some real interest from RAYNET users of APRS and novices APRS interested parties alike.  Jay did confess he has headache.

If yuo want to email Jay please contact him on East Suffolk RAYNET Facebook and the email address for himself as M0JAJ@RAYNET-UK.Net

A useful link to show APRS in action is http://aprs.fi/#!lat=52.08330&lng=1.16670

It was ‘on’…

Andy M3FDQ with Mandy had gone round a week before and checked access, safety and parking for 10 checkpoints chosen around the Ipswich area, as being suitable for the map reading element of the planned RAYNET exercise for a sunny Tuesday evening in August.  The OS grid references checked over by Mark G7UQV whom took control of the event with great success and attention to detail from the cab of his van, starting at 19:00hrs as call sign G7 SCR proving to be a great operator.  We didn’t feel the mobile control room was needed and it would be a good test to prove this could be done ad-hock from a vehicle and it worked very well.

The tags seen in our gallery were set out from 17:00hrs and operators finding these tags using the OS references, had to pass the messages on the back of the tags accurately, as the message handling element of the exercise.   Single members of RAYNET appeared soon after the call out working out the route, asking for help with map reading where doubtful and setting off on their journeys with the 6 digit locations to find

Stand Down

The event was stood down at 21:30 without incident and attendances from Paul G4YQC, Jason M0JAJ, Keith G7CIY, Chris G7VNN, Wayne G7SMW, and Julian driving for Patrick G8VZZ.

The person with the best improvement and gained most from the experience was Jason, MoJAJ who seemed to develop from claiming to being a novice map reader,  to getting many checkpoints found.  All of the RAYNET stations passed the messages perfectly and only one checkpoint was read incorrectly.

Andy and Mandy went round on the Wednesday and removed the tags collecting them to be used again for another event.  The result was clear that we can all read a map and handle messages, control can be run from Mark’s van, Keith likes to food at Orwell Crossing and Mandy wants to do the foundation licence!

Many thanks to Orwell Crossing, everyone who kept GB3PO clear for the evening and Andy, Mandy and Mark for setting up the event.  We intend to do something similar in a few months as a table top exercise in message handling.

If you are interested in RAYNET or what East Suffolk RAYNET do, then please do contact us.  If you have any issues with the tags, our exercise or any element of this post please do contact Andy M3FDQ.

The caravan had a full strip out and re-pack with everything cataloged and stored for future duties.  The generator was started and mast pumped up to full reach and a few items fixed, with more taken away to be repaired and ordered.

Thanks must also go to whoever sorted out the storage of the caravan at Saxmundham as well as the site operators themselves for allowing us the indoor parking of the control caravan.

Next – Map reading and radio comm’s exercise on the 9th August.