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

Steve Totaro asterisk at totarotechnologies.com
Sun Sep 11 18:06:40 MST 2005 

Just a shot in the dark here. 

I bought this unit http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5792377951&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT&rd=1 a couple months ago hoping to connect it to an * system for experimentation.  I am a HAM n00b.  I can found no documentation on this unit anywhere.  Does anyone know where to start?

I joined a local HAM club but have not had any time to go and pick brains.  I am afraid to really even plug it in until I know what I am doing and have a call sign and everything so the FCC does't kick in my door.  I did plug it in for a minute and there were no lights or anything so I not even sure it works.

Anyone have any links or ideas?

Thanks,
Steve
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Don Fanning 
  To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion 
  Sent: Sunday, September 11, 2005 1:37 PM
  Subject: RE: [Asterisk-Users] civil emergency comms: Asterisk + HAM


  Time and time again, emergency action drills take place in cities to target where their weaknesses are in "crisis" handling.  Usually they involve planes crashing or explosions (mock of course).  Obviously they were never prepared for this sort of disaster in their recovery plan.  I've participated in a few ARES/RACES drills and have to say that much could be done to improve upon the "HAM" infrastructure.

  Most of the time, communications is coordinated through 1 repeater system.  When this repeater goes down, of course people would switch comms to another but in a case like this, where all the repeater systems go down except for maybe one, there needs to be a better plan.

  In Amateur Satellite Service, these orbiting "Repeaters" employ a system called RUDAK where a chunk of spectrum is repeated.  Obviously this isn't feasible in terrestrial repeaters but they do have the ability to turn off radios and switch bands at will depending on operating conditions.  With software controlled radio and Asterisk, the repeater system could be made to be more resilient to disaster by linking to other repeater systems via radio where it could connect outward.  

  If you figure the overhead of a repeater's transmitter and receiver plus the controller, replaceing the controller with an asterisk based unit (integration) would make more sense as it would give the repeater system much more capabilities in the same footprint and power.  Additionally, these repeater systems are located on hilltops with other radio systems so they should have emergency power available (if you've ever been to a hilltop repeater site, you'll know what I mean).  

  I think the biggest thing that hurts ham radio's ability to react to a crisis is the lack of equipment and operators.  Most of the traffic we pass is "Health and Welfare" with "Logistics" being the second to it.  What defeats this is that in a disaster where local/high band long haul capabilities are diminished, is simply the one repeater that is functional because everything is squeezed onto one VHF/UHF repeater.

  Where I could see thing being improved?  Installation of 802.11b/g WLAN under Part 97.  It would allow for more users into the system, there are less hardware and power components and allows the system to be dynamically configured.  Asterisk could play a huge role then as it's made for IP based traffic and could re-route in a split second.

  -Don




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  From: asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com [mailto:asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Michael D Schelin
  Sent: Saturday, September 10, 2005 10:20 PM
  To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion
  Subject: Re: [Asterisk-Users] civil emergency comms: Asterisk + HAM


  The two best forms of communications in a real disaster and one always has been is #1 Ham radio. and #2 satellite telephone. Ham radio is global and has proven time and time again to be the most reliable when the infrastructer has been damaged.  The U.S government is the biggest user of satellite telephones which is also becoming a valuable tool again when the communications infrastructure is down.  It would be nice If Asterisk could be used but in this case but it's useless.  People are displaced and most of the communications infrastructure for the city is unusable.  I don't mean all of the telco's systems. It's the flood that wiped out  most home and business systems.  For us, The best thing that a provider can do is to have redundant servers in different cities.  This should remind us all how fragile our lives are.  

  Chris Travers wrote:


    Mark Phillips wrote: 


      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? 


    These are excellent points.  I have a few interesting suggestions here....  The first is that the only obstacle to any sort of longer-range point to point line is merely power.  This is true whether you are talking HAM or fiberoptics.  Note that if you have the power, it would take disruption of the physical line to disrupt a fiber line.  Note that DirectNIC in New Orleans remained operational without *any* downtime or loss of connectivity with the rest of the world. 

    The suggestion that I have is for various areas to have dedicated civil emergency com units with strategic reserves of fuel (3-4 weeks worth), battery backups, etc.  These units would have links (fiber, microwave, and/or satellite, better to pick 2 of 3) to areas outside expected disaster zones.  Asterisk could then run across these links.  (Sattelite links would best be POTS-type). 

    The point is to a disaster-tolerant communications infrastructure which could then be used to to provide additional communications services to the relief workers.  With various point to point wireless capabilities, it might be possible to use them to provide cell service to relief workers etc through the installation of GSM microcells (which could be brought in after the fact). 

    See where I am going? 



      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. 


    How do IP hardphones work with satellite internet?  I always thought people had real trouble getting them to work at all..... 

    Best Wishes, 
    Chris Travers 
    Metatron Tecnology Consulting 

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