Secure digital communications for EmComm (part 1) Brad Low-K5BDL Cherokee County ARC August 2, 2007

Purpose of tonight’s presentation  Provide a brief overview of systems we can use in the field  Discuss a plan for next several months to describe each system in detail  Chat with you about what we can do as an ARES team

Why it is needed  Consider a scenario that a disaster has occurred in our area and all and Internet communication has been affected  Secure communications for EOCs containing patient data and other sensitive communications may be needed and we can provide this service

 Today’s technology allows us to quickly deploy into an affected area with our computers and radios and set up a communications link.  The agency we serve and the traffic they need to move will dictate what mode(s) we will use to communicate What can we do?

Options  Winlink 2000 packet system  High Speed Multimedia (HSMM)  Soundcard Packet (SV2AGW packet engine) and other soundcard modes (FAX, PSK, etc.)  D-STAR

Winlink 2000  Winlink 2000 is a system (rather than a specific software program) that connects packet stations to the Internet. *Think Echolink for digipeaters and packet stations. Can be accessed by the following ways:  TelPac (TELnet PACket bridge); VHF/UHF  Paclink AGW with Paclink Post Office; VHF/UHF  Airmail (mainly for HF Pactor)  More information at

HSMM For HSMM, you need only at least two computers to connect in ad hoc network mode. Once connected, you can use through your program (Outlook) or communicate via a client program such as Microsoft NetMeeting (digital data and VoIP).

Soundcard Packet  Employs SV2AGW Packet Engine  Useful when TNC (such as a PK232) is not available

Soundcard modes  Relatively easy way to get on the air on short notice  Software is free and widely available  All digital modes can be run on HF and also VHF/UHF  Drawback: could be monitored by someone who has software and a scanner/shortwave radio. In other words, perhaps not very secure  TWISTER (encoding)

D-STAR  Probably is the most costly option  Operates in the 1.2 GHz band  Simultaneous voice and data transfer

 I invite all of you to consider taking part in experimenting with these modes and we can learn together how to effectively provide emergency communications to our served agencies in the area  Starting next month: discuss the various modes in detail (one mode per month)  September 2007: Winlink 2000  Information regarding digital projects can be found at

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Questions??