AMATEUR RADIO DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS SUPPORT FOR EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS (EMCOMMS) LOCAL AREA NETWORKS (LANS) THE BULDING BLOCKS OF THE FLORIDA LAYERED PACKET NETWORK presented to FADCA WEBSITE presented by ‘bud’ Thompson N0IA Deltona, FL Charlie Crook N3PPC Sanford, FL FLORIDA AMATEUR DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION http://www.fadca.org

LANS - THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF THE FLORIDA LAYERED PACKET NETWORK. The primary function of the layered packet network is to provide a local ham radio community with an interference-free Local Area Network (LAN) on 2M. This is effected by each community (i.e. county or groups of counties) being assigned a coordinated frequency. That way, packet operations may be carried out simultaneously on adjacent LANS without interference. The secondary function of the layered packet network is to provide interference-free inter-LAN communications. This is accomplished using point-to-point backbones on coordinated UHF frequencies between adjacent LANs using packet switches. A typical packet switch has three packet radio ports: a 2M LAN, and a UHF backbone to each of two neighbor LANS. If every ham radio community supported a LAN and backbones to its immediate neighbor (adjacent) LANS, the network would cover vast portions of the state of Florida. The LANS in three counties in East Central Florida are schematic of building blocks on the Florida Layered Packet Network.

The Orlando LAN – Keystone of the E. Central Florida network. These diagrams are schematic and are not to scale. The Orlando LAN – Keystone of the E. Central Florida network. Orlando, in Orange County, is the largest city in East Central Florida. The Orlando FPAC switch provides a Local Area Network (LAN) on 145.07 that covers all of Orange and Seminole Counties. It also covers the southern portion of Volusia County and part of the northern portion of Osceola County to the south.

The Daytona Beach LAN – A building block one step closer to St The Daytona Beach LAN – A building block one step closer to St. Augustine. The switch at Daytona Beach serves Eastern Volusia County and Southern Flaggler County with a LAN on 145.05. However, it does not cover the Western portion of Volusia County.

The W. Volusia LAN – Filling in nicely and pressing northwestward into Eastern Lake County. Adding the switch at DeLand provides a Local Area Net on 144.91 to serve West Volusia and Eastern Lake Counties. Notice the overlap with the East Volusia County LAN (Daytona 145.05), and the Orlando LAN on 145.07.

Here the UHF back-bone links, shown as colored lines between the switches, are added to provide LAN-to-LAN messaging throughout E. Central Florida. The three counties, covering more than 2,300 square miles in E. Central Florida and serving more than 1.7 million people, are now interconnected for Ham Radio E-Mail messaging between any participating digitial messaging stations on any of the three Local Area Networks.

Adding Telpac or WL2K PMBO stations on each LAN provides a Bridge to Internet E-mail through each LAN. Now, from any location in the three-county area e-mail messages may flow to and from the Internet E-mail system, adding the Internet as a viable layer.

St Augustine With the addition of the UHF backbone links to St. Augustine and Melbourne, the East Central Florida portion of the Florida Layered Packet network functions as a key element between Melbourne on the South and St. Augustine on the North. Melbourne The next step will be to locate a LAN/switch in Lake County (to the west of this schematic), and establish backbones westward.

Status of the Florida Layered Network – September 1, 2003

AMATEUR RADIO DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS SUPPORT FOR EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS (EMCOMMS) REFERENCES ON FADCA WEBSITE 1. The Basics of E-mail Messaging over Ham Radio – An MS Power Point show for your served agencies and hams with little digital ham radio experience. 2. A Case for Systematic Amateur Radio Digital Communications to Support Emergency Preparedness in the 21st Century. This reference develops the need for Ham Radio digital communications in support of EMCOMMS in the 21st century, the basics of flat and layered networks, local area packet networks (LAN), message transfers between LANS, ham-to-e-mail linking, and how the state of Florida can be covered using the layered network including vhf, uhf, HF, and internet layers. This MS Power Point reference may be freely used at club/ARES meetings and served agencies as promotional material. 3. Local Area Networks (LAN) - Basic building blocks of the Florida Layered Packet Network – This MS Power Point presentation shows how the network functions from LAN-to-LAN. 4. Paclink for Dummies – It isn’t that hard after you check this out, then you can load MS.NET, AGW Packet Engine, and Paclink on your computer. 5. Establishing Digital Messaging in Support of EMCOMMS for Your ARES Group – A guideline for District and Local Emergency Coordinators for incorporating digital messaging in their EMCOMMs plans. 6. No 2M LAN in Your Area on the Florida Layered Packet Network? Four ideas are presented that can bring the network to your area. 7. FAQs – Why this, why that, how do I? Certainly a growing document- check it often!

A. Digital Networks in Florida AMATEUR RADIO DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS SUPPORT FOR EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS (EMCOMMS) INTERNET REFERENCES A. Digital Networks in Florida The Florida Layered Network http://www.fadca.org/map/index.html SEDAN Network in Florida http://www.geocities.com/floridasedan/ B. Ham Radio to Internet e-mail connection Winlink 2000 (WL2K) www.winlink.org Telpac http://www.winlink.org/TelPac.htm Paclink tbd C. Terminal Programs Paclink (e-mail client) tbd Airmail (e-mail client) http://www.winlink.org/airmail.htm Winpac http://www.btinternet.com/~g4fip/ D. Packet Radio Introduction to Packet Radio http://www.tapr.org/tapr/html/pktf.html Data Terminal/TNC to radio wiring diagrams. http://www.packetradio.com/Radio-TNC_Wiring_Diagrams.htm If you have any questions or comments, contact bud Thompson, N0IA at budt@cfl.rr.com