[Asterisk-Users] civil emergency comms: Asterisk + HAM

[Mark Phillips]

Hold on here folks,

I'm guessing that the original poster of this thread isn't a member of 
his local RAyNet team.

Whilst I don't profess to be an expert at this I have been doing 
emergency radio for quite some time and have seen service at the 
Lockerbie bombing, Docklands bomb, Ground Zero (I'm sure I'm a terrorist 
target y'know - they seem to follow me everywhere) and soon I'll be in 
Louisiana.

In all of these events the KISS principle must and does prevail. We need 
a system that is a simple and energy efficient as possible.

Building a network of * servers and Wi-Fi links is all very well but how 
are you going to power them?

Generators require fuel which is always in short supply and batteries 
die out quickly. Adding Ham Radio to the picture doesn't really add much 
when you are trying to do something like a * network. The radio gear 
just isn't designed to integrate with the * server.

Ham radio is being used down in the Katrina affected area with great 
results for both emergency and heath/welfare related traffic. They are 
using both "phone" (that's when one talks in to the radio) and data 
modes and can be heard all over the 75 and 40 meter bands here in the US.

Power for most of these stations comes from batteries they loot (with 
Police approval) from abandoned cars or a combo of solar and batteries. 
Many stations are only hear on the air after dark so that they can put 
as much sunlight into their batteries as possible.

Yes, electricity is available in some places either all day or across 
the peak hours (allowing the workmen to restore power to other areas).

Yes, there are radio to phone interconnects but these really are a 
single phone to a single radio. Think of it as a cordless phone in that 
the radio user can be anywhere within reach of the base station.

Such technologies, whilst legal here in the US, may not be legal 
elsewhere. When last at home (UK) I was not able to connect my radio to 
the phone system by law (this may have changed recently - not been home 
for 8 years). Many countries have such restrictions and as we saw during 
the Tsunami, rules don't get relaxed just because there's a panic on.

Without question a phone system would be much better than a radio 
station. As such I'll be taking a portable * server I've built, all the 
IP hard phones I can find and 5 DirectTV style Internet systems.

My (approved by the Red Cross) plan is to install the * server and 2 
phones in the HQ at Montgomery, AL. And then the other 4 systems in 
shelters where they have electricity thus relieving the Radio Hams for 
duty at other places.

As hams are in short supply (they need over 700 every day) The best I 
could think of was to replace hams with phones rather than augment hams 
with phones.

I guess after all this waffle I'm trying to say that ham radio is not a 
replacement for the telephone and cannot handle the kinds of load that 
is required by a phone system.

Mark


Mike M wrote:
> On Thu, Sep 08, 2005 at 07:28:34PM +0000, Mike Hemstock wrote:
> 
>>On Tuesday 06 September 2005 15:27, Mike M wrote:
>>
>>>Imagine what a network of systems composed of Asterisk, ham radio, wifi,
>>>generators, batteries, and a reserve of fuel could have done for the
>>>Gulf coast.  I have all of the components above except the ham radio.
>>
>>That's a very interesting idea. 
> 
> 
> I've initiated a request to join my local amateur radio yahoo group.
> I'm going to see if I can enlist help to demonstrate this idea.
> 

-- 

Mark, G7LTT/KC2ENI
Randolph, NJ
http://www.g7ltt.com