RI ARES and FEMA Winlink exercises in January
RI ARES Winlink Exercise
The RI ARES weekly net for January 23, 2024 was a Winlink challenge prompt exercise. Who could respond quickly to a request to provide situational awareness information within a five hour window? Unannounced exercises like this help demonstrate an ARES member’s self-initiative and readiness to take follow-through action despite short notice, and capably provide the desired structured communication. We have the shared goal of building a community of prepared RI ARES radio amateurs.
Jeremy Taylor, K1JST – the RI ARES Section Emergency Coordinator – offered the Winlink challenge exercise net as a further opportunity for RI hams to develop their Winlink skills and ask for futher mentoring if needed. Here is the request K1JST sent out yesterday to the RI ARES mailing list:
“Send a WINLINK message to K1JST [@winlink.org] with the following information:
- Subject: RI ARES Digital Net Check-in
Body: Exercise – Exercise – Exercise
Call Sign
Current Location (City)
Current Outdoor Temperature
Source of your Current Outdoor Temperature
How you are sending this message. Include Application, Radio and Band/Mode or specify Telnet (that’s ok too).
I’ll also announce this net on the repeater Network at 7:30pm tonight. … Check-ins received after midnight tonight will be considered late check-ins.”
The successful check-ins included two from Newport County – including Mike Cullen K1NPT from his reinstalled VARA-FM node at All Saints Academy. (Maybe a follow-up tour? See Post update at end). Two stations were from Kent County, and two from neighboring Massachusetts.
If you would like to join the RI ARES mailing list for future net exercise “heads-up” announcements, please send an email to: https://riares.org/membership
FEMA Region One 2024 Winlink Exercise Underway
Gaining awareness of Winlink capabilites in Rhode Island (and across FEMA Region One) was the motivation behind a new 2024 series of monthly unannounced “thunderbolt” Winlink exercises that FEMA Region One began earlier this month for the amateur radio community.
During the initial January exercise, 47 stations signed up and almost 90% responded to the unannounced request for secific situational awareness information. Rhode Island amateurs represented almost 20% of those stepping up in the time window assigned.
Shout out to: Jason AA1VV; Mike K1NPT; Mike KC1NEJ; Nancy KC1NEK; Corry KE1AK; John N1SXB; Teri W1UP; Michael KB5RWX.
For those interested in joining this training opportunity now before the February exercise, here is a repost of the original:
“FEMA Region 1 will begin conducting monthly Winlink tests starting January 2024. The purpose of this test is to exercise the Regional PACE plan, Winlink is part of the “Emergency” category of the plan. We would like to include Amateur Radio and SHARES stations in New England in this test. Here are the details:
Testing Procedure: Each month FEMA Region 1 Disaster Emergency Communications Branch will generate a Winlink message to participating stations. The message will be sent via Winlink through an Amateur Radio or SHARES gateway. The message will contain simple instructions on how to reply – which form to use, information requested, response time, etc. The receiving stations will reply to FEMA Region 1 via Winlink with the requested information within a set timeframe. The date and time of the monthly test will vary.
Participating Stations – Open to Amateur Radio or SHARES stations in New England. Stations must have Winlink capability and a valid Winlink email address. Participating operators should be aware that this test is conducted without announcement, so it is important that Winlink messages are checked regularly.
How to Sign Up – Stations wishing to participate can sign up online at https://forms.gle/sTibzJjZhftHXR4J9
Please feel free to share the above information with those who may be interested in participating. Any questions, let me know.
Thanks, Mike
Mike Corey – Emergency Management Specialist | Disaster Emergency Communications, Response Division | FEMA Region I
Federal Emergency Management Agency
fema.gov
Blog Post Update Thursday January 25, 2024
Mike Cullen, K1NPT shared this additional information about Winlink Stations in RI:
Important architecture “factoids” for more RI hams to understand:
- three VHF gateways continue to operate 24 hrs/day on 145.050
- they’ve been running since early 2021
- they use VARA-FM, not Packet, and can be selected by Winlink clients as VARA FM digipeaters
- WB4SON-10 North Kingstown
- N1ASA-10 Middletown (photo attached) – solar-powered
- K1NPT-10 Newport
