NBEMS for Emergency Communications Dan N0PI, Scott ARES Asst. EC Bob W0NFE, Scott ARES Asst EC

Accurate, Rapid Communications Emergencies come in many different forms: weather related, natural disaster, infrastructure, or terrorism. One thing they all have in common is the need for accurate, reliable communications. NBEMS is a communications tool that will contribute to that need. Accurate, Rapid Communications

Agenda Why Digital ECOMS What is NBEMS What NBEMS can and cannot do for you Components of a NBEMS system How to set up a NBEMS system How to use NBEMS Practice time

Why Digital ECOMS Think back to your last public service event, drill, or deployment. You probably passed a lot of traffic best suited for voice communications but... What if you had been asked to pass Roster of evacuees Required prescription medications Directions to a disaster scene

Why Digital ECOMS The needs of our Served Agencies have changed. They still need voice communications but... There's an increasing need for data communications. We need to be able to provide more than just voice communications from a ham with an HT.

Agenda Why Digital ECOMS What is NBEMS What NBEMS can and cannot do for you Components of a NBEMS system How to set up a NBEMS system How to use NBEMS Practice time

What is NBEMS Narrow Band Emergency Messaging System Consists of four programs: Fldigi – Fast Light Digital modem application Flmsg – easily send ICS forms and Radiogram Flwrap – Wrap a file with a checksum Flarq – Fast Light Automatic Repeat Request Can download from www.w1hkj.com Runs on Windows, Linux, and Mac. Released under GNU Public License, so it is completely FREE.

NBEMS philosophy Keep it cheap. Keep it simple. Use Open Source software. Don't depend upon infrastructure. Make it fun to use between drills and disasters. Any computer, any radio.

Using NBEMS in your net. Auxiliary method to handle formal traffic. Voice used for basic check-in’s etc Traffic passed by digital – Same or different channel Much faster than Voice. Number / letter sequences are 100% accurate. All message are save to hard drive. Bulletins broadcast to all station All Digital net Mix of keyboard to keyboard and formal traffic sent via forms.

Agenda Why Digital ECOMS What is NBEMS What NBEMS can and cannot do for you Components of a NBEMS system How to set up you NBEMS system How to Use NBEMS Practice time

What NBEMS can do for you Fast accurate method to provide Keyboard to Keyboard communications Send, save, and print standard ARRL, ICS, and generic forms Typical ARRL radiogram takes ~40 seconds to send Data is verified via checksum Can broadcast messages, one to many Supports unattended reception of messages Not encrypted, but general scanning public will hear noise. Will work when voice is marginal.

What NBEMS will not do for you It is not a store and forward system like e-mail Each station in the system must have an operator Receive message will be stored on local hard drive. No built in connection to the internet It will not move large amounts of data 2 K bytes, or 1 type written page is a practical limit. Over this size and likelihood of an error increases, causing a checksum failure. Have to resend message. Flarq could handle larger files, up to 8K or more, but requires practice and more training to use.

Agenda Why Digital ECOMS What is NBEMS What NBEMS can and cannot do for you Components of a NBEMS system How to set up you NBEMS system How to Use NBEMS Practice time

Components of NBEMS system Flwrap Flmsg Flarq Software on Computer Fldigi Sound Card Interface Hardware connection Computer to Radio Radio and Antenna

Components of NBEMS system Bottom Up - Radio Any voice capable radio will work FM, SSB, even AM if you want.

Components of NBEMS system Bottom Up – Radio Interface Signal Link USB – Just needs USB Port Rig Blaster – USB and audio ports March 2011 QST, Page 34 - Audio Ports Only Anything hardwired is better, but Audio coupling (Caveman) does work, and can be used.

Components of NBEMS system Bottom Up - Fldigi

Components of NBEMS system Bottom Up - Fldigi Provides the basic digital communications for the NBEMS system Supports keyboard to keyboard communication like many sound card programs. Has special hooks to connect to the other components. Supports many modes of communications We will focus on two, MT63-2K and Olivia 16/500

Components of NBEMS system Bottom Up - Flmsg Rapidly and Accurately formats and transmits information. 4 Formats ICS Forms Radiogram Generic (e-mail) Blank

Agenda Why Digital ECOMS What is NBEMS What NBEMS can and cannot do for you Components of a NBEMS system How to set up a NBEMS system How to use NBEMS Practice time Next we will cover the BASIC settings that will get you on the air with NBEMS. Our goal is to configure the software to send and receive a message using MT63 – 2K using VHF. Let’s get started.

Basic Fldigi Set-up Operating Mode MT63 – 2000 Olivia If you have a decent FM voice channels start with MT63-2000 When MT63-2000 fail, switch to Olivia 16/500 When Olivia fails, no communications. This is the basic Fldigi screen. Across the top you will find the usual menu bar. Below that is information that would be important if you were involved in normal ham QSOs. We will not need this info for our purposes today dealing with emergency communications. Immediately below this we have the receive window, the beige colored area. This is where incoming message information is displayed. Y The lower half of the screen contains the blue transmit window and the waterfall below the transmit window. Let’s take a look at a few options we need to set to get started. - Under the Op Mode, select MT63 2K - note that the Op Mode also appears in the lower left corner of the screen as well. - next let’s take a look at the Configuration Menu.

Configuration Options Basic Set-up Operator Waterfall Modems Rig Control Sound Card IDs Next we set the basic items we need to get started. The options we will set include: - Operator - Waterfall - Modems - Rig Control - IDs

Operator Callsign Tactical Callsign Location As determined by the situation. Set up the OPERATOR information. The information for these settings should be specified by your ARES EC. Will you be using a Tactical call or location for example? Always SAVE!

Waterfall Check the three ‘cursor’ options Check “Always show audio frequencies” Waterfall – make sure the three boxes dealing with the cursors are checked: Bandwidth cursor, Cursor center line, and Bandwidth tracks. Always SAVE!

Modems - MT63 Check interleave and tone All stations in the net need to have the top two button the same for this mode to work. Modems – check the MT63 tab. Make sure you have 4 boxes checked: 64 bit, 8 bit, Transmit upper tone, Transmit lower tone Always SAVE!

Sound Card Select the correct audio port for your computer. Volume control on computer, recording controls Select Mic option Adjust for a ‘speckled’ waterfall Speaker – adjust for transmit signal Sound Card – On the Devices tab, make sure you have the correct Audio Port Playback and Capture programs specified. If you are using an external sound card (Signal Link) make sure the device is specified. (The external sound card must be connected BEFORE Fldigi is started.) You need to make sure the audio levels are adjusted to levels that show activity on the warterfall and provide transmit audio to your radio. The process to set these levels will vary determined by your computer OS and interface. (On a Windows OS you might want to check the ‘Sounds and Audio Devices’ folder.) Generally, you want to select a mic input and set the volume of that input to provide a blue speckled waterfall with the squelch open. The transmit audio is generated by the speaker setting. Adjust the volume to transmit an undistorted signal. Less volume is generally better than more. Always SAVE!

Initialize and Save after changing Rig Control If using hardwire PTT Check Use Serial Port Select COM port Configure RTS or DTS Initialize to test operation Rig Control – If you are using a hardwire PTT interface, check the Use separate serial port box, select the correct Com Port, and RTS or DTR as required by your particular interface. Initialize and Save after changing

IDs Reed-Solomon ID DO NOT select “Reception disables detector” Pre-Signal Tone may vary depending on specific delay time in your equipment IDs – we are concerned with the Reed-Solomon ID areas. In the Receive ID section, check the two boxes in the upper section: Detector searches entire passband, and Mark previous frequency and mode. DO NOT check Reception Disables Detection. Always SAVE!

Text Capture Under configuration , Misc, Text capture. Make sure ‘Enable Detection & Wrap” and “Auto Open Wrap Folder” is selected. Always SAVE!

Agenda Why Digital ECOMS What is NBEMS What NBEMS can and cannot do for you Components of a NBEMS system How to set up a NBEMS system How to use NBEMS Practice time

Fldigi Verify communications with keyboard to keyboard Ctrl-T to Transmit Ctrl-R to Receive Or Use the T/R button

Flmsg Rapidly and Accurately formats and transmits information. ICS Forms Radiogram Generic (e-mail) Blank Another basic part of the NBEMS software suite is the FL Message application. This neat little add-on will properly format you message and automatically save a copy in a file for your log and send the message. The FLMsg program covers four message formats – FEMA ICS format, ARRL Radiogram, Generic (e-mail), and free-form blank. Let’s take a look at the FLMsg configuration.

Flmsg set-up Date format Time format Callsign Serial Number Words per line (5) The settings under the Configure tab will be specified by your ARES EC. It is important that all station in an emergency operation follow the same rules as they pertain to Date, Time, and message numbering.

ICS 213 Form This is the IC 213 form in FLMsg. The fields match up with the multi-part paper form you will see in an emergency. Preparing the message is a fill-in-the-blank exercise. The Date and Time blanks may be filled in using the buttons for the current values.

ARRL Radiogram Calculate Check Today Pick ARRL Message Here is the ARRL Radiogram format. You see the familiar fields in the preamble. The current date and time can be inserted using the buttons.

WRAP your message Sending your message is easy as selecting: File Wrap AutoSend The message immediately moves to FLDIGI and is transmitted Sending your message is a snap. Once you have your message form completed you can WRAP your message which automatically saves a copy of your message to a file on your computer and starts the transmission in the mode specified in fldigi. To stat the process, select the ‘File’ menu, ‘Wrap’ and ‘AutoSend’ Your message is flying through the ether! It’s that simple!

Received Traffic Received messages are stored within the NBEMS.files folder WRAP files are associated with flmsg for viewing Messages sorted by date/time stamp

IC 213 HTML Delivery You can ‘VIEW’ a received message in Flmsg in html delivery format. When the page is printed from your browser the form looks like a standard paper IC 213 message.

ARRL Radiogram Delivery

Agenda Why Digital ECOMS What is NBEMS What NBEMS can and cannot do for you Components of a NBEMS system How to use a NBEMS How to set up a NBEMS system Practice time Next we’ll send and receive a practice message. We will use the simplex frequency of __________ You can monitor and test your set-up.

Things to Watch Tx & Rx IDs Op Mode Squelch - off Here are a couple of areas that may trip you up from time to time. Check the upper right corner of the screen. Make sure the RX ID and TX ID are checked. This will utilize the Reed-Solomon ID You can check the Op Mode in the lower left corner of the screen. The squelch, set in the lower right corner of the screen must be set low enough to see the signal on the waterfall. If you set the squelch at the bottom, you may see some garbage print in the Receive Text area.

Additional Information This presentation is available at www.ScottARES.org from the Member Resources page. Questions?