1. Bucks County Amateur Radio Emergency Service - Digital Communications - - 2014 EPA SET Report Discussion & BCARES Solutions -

2. ARRL EPA SET 2014 Scenario – Category 3 Hurricane Impact Loss of Power in Eastern PA Loss of most public safety communications Landline, internet, and cell phone service failing

3. Similar Concerns General concerns of the grid’s reliability Increasing Cyber incidents and threats Weighing them together as a related incident

4. ARRL EPA SET 2014 - Report On the digital communications component… Packet node grossly underutilized Winlink® used widely in the region, few effective nodes to link in the Section.  Winlink® was not a large traffic contributor to SET When used in the SET, packet performed flawlessly. FLDIGI/NBEMS not interoperable with NTSD or Winlink®

5. ARRL EPA SET 2014 - Report On Resources…in a real incident Concerns to the number of available and/or proficient stations Coordination of those stations that are available and/or proficient

6. Bridging the “last mile” is an important concept in Emergency Communications. Slide by - Loring Kutchins W3QA EPA Asst SEC, Digital ARES Digital Network Management Team

7. Bridging the “last mile” is an important concept in Emergency Communications. It is the path across an area where conventional communications have been disrupted or overloaded by an incident. Slide by - Loring Kutchins W3QA EPA Asst SEC, Digital ARES Digital Network Management Team

8. We cannot predict the size of “the last mile”. Slide by - Loring Kutchins W3QA EPA Asst SEC, Digital ARES Digital Network Management Team

9. We cannot predict the size of “the last mile.” Local Slide by - Loring Kutchins W3QA EPA Asst SEC, Digital ARES Digital Network Management Team

10. Regional We cannot predict the size of “the last mile.” Slide by - Loring Kutchins W3QA EPA Asst SEC, Digital ARES Digital Network Management Team

11. International We cannot predict the size of “the last mile.” Slide by - Loring Kutchins W3QA EPA Asst SEC, Digital ARES Digital Network Management Team

12. We cannot predict the duration of interruption in “the last mile.”

13. Current Digital Modes D-Star ® Digital Smart Technologies for Amateur Radio Packet Automatic Packet/Position Reporting System (APRS ® ) Outpost ® Winlink ® Soundcard Narrow Band Emergency Messaging Software (NBEMS) Winmor ®  VHF / HF Winlink ®

14. Real Incident Reality You are going to be busy with your reality In reality, you are not going to have AC power to run a PC, internet, etc. all the time! IF/WHEN you have AC…you are you going to monitor a PC and or a radio all the time? 12V DC will be your friend…if you plan to have it available before hand…and a plan to conserve it during the incident

15. Current Digital Modes D-Star ® Digital Smart Technologies for Amateur Radio Packet Automatic Packet/Position Reporting System (APRS ® ) Outpost ® Winlink ® Soundcard Narrow Band Emergency Messaging Software (NBEMS) Winmor ®  VHF / HF Winlink ®

16. Outpost® A Windows-based packet messaging client, with a simple email user interface display/format Supports ARES ®, RACES, and other amateur radio emergency response teams and their need to pass digital traffic Helps automate the packet message handling environment Manages all message-handling between you and your BBS or PBBS Lets you read, delete, create, reply to, or forward messages back to the BBS/PBBS Delivery and/or read receipt of messages NTS or ICS-213 Formatting http://www.outpostpm.org

17. Equipment Basics and Requirements Station Transceiver (TXCVR - usually VHF/UHF) Kantronics KPC3+ TNC or equivalent in KISS Mode  Usually a 9-Pin to 6-Pin Mini-DIN cable between the TNC and TXCVR PC with Outpost ® installed Outpost ® PBBS Transceiver (TXCVR - usually VHF/UHF) Kantronics KPC3+ TNC  9-Pin to 6-Pin Mini-DIN cable between the TNC and TXCVR

18. Outpost® PBBS Equipment “Full Service” TNC Stand alone - Autonomous Digipeater Mail Drop Remote Administration Control Bullet Proof / Robust…set it and go. 12v and you have a off grid digital network Can run on as little as 50mA RX / 1.5A TX @ 5 watts Leverage Height and Gain…and you have a wide area network

19. Features Outpost Packet Message Manager Message viewing Supports viewing, printing, deleting or saving a message to a local file Reply and Forward message formatting

20. Features Outpost Packet Message Manager Message creation Supports Private, Bulletin, and NTS message types Message formatting before sending Set messages to Urgent Request delivery or read receipts Different ways for originating messages NTS Message Maker

21. Operational Concept Outpost ® PBBS TXCVR TNC TXCVR TNC TXCVR TNC Station #1 w/ Outpost ® Station #2 w/ Outpost ® Messages stored and retrieved here http://www.outpostpm.org

22. Operational Concept TXCVR TNC External Station can chose which system they want to use to send/receive email from. PBBS for Outpost® direct (brown path) or Winlink® direct (green path) TXCVR TNC PBBS for Outpost® Messaging TXCVR TNC External Station The Internet Winlink ® Node

23. Operational Concept w/ Digipeater to expand coverage area and extend resources Digipeater and/or PBBS TXCVR TNC TXCVR TNC External Stations can chose which system they want to use to send/receive email from. PBBS for Outpost® either direct or indirect through Digipeater (brown path) or Winlink® either direct or indirect through Digipeater (green path) or double Digipeat (blue path) through PBBS and Digipeater for External Station #1. TXCVR TNC PBBS for Outpost® Messaging TXCVR TNC External Station #1 The Internet Winlink ® Gateway External Station #2

24. Outpost ® Message Application Summary Digital messaging “Within the last mile” vs. Winlink ® ’s “Bridge the last mile” No infrastructure required Portable (Antenna, Radio, TNC, 12v) Slight learning curve  Very User Friendly

25. APRS ® Merged packet and GPS technologies Position Telemetry WX Information Text messaging…before cell phone text messaging Autonomous

26. APRS ® APRS ® Equipment Station Based  PC Software WinAPRS UI-View Standalone  APRS Digipeater Antenna, Radio, TNC, 12v

27. APRS ® APRS ® Equipment Mobile  Fully Integrated APRS Radio & GPS Kenwood and Yaesu offer full service radio products  Radio, Byonics TinyTrak & GPS Portable  Fully Integrated APRS Radio(HT) & GPS Kenwood and Yaesu offer full service radio products

28. Operational Concept w/ Ad Hoc APRS® Digipeater Digipeater + APRS® Digipeater TXCVR TNC TXCVR TNC TXCVR TNC PBBS for Outpost® Messaging + APRS® Digipeater TXCVR TNC External Station #1 The Internet Winlink ® Gateway External Station #2

29. Next Steps Set-up the Three BCARES RACES Kit Kantronics TNCs to have full Digipeater, PBBS, and Ad Hoc APRS® settings. Exercise/train with the kits…just put one of the air…so folks can exercise/train as they have time. Get 12VDC Savvy!