SAR & Ham Radio?

[W2SDC]

I am trying to get a pulse on how others might be using amateur radio to benefit search & rescue operations. If you have experience with this topic, are you using AR within your team as a means to communicate with each other? OR, are you using AR emergency services (like ARES/RACES, etc) to provide supplemental services?

I have some ideas that might work for our team and I am trying to get some "real-life" input (and maybe some first-hand accounts) of how others have integrated ham radio with search & rescue operations.

[AL7N]

I've been watching APRS with much interest. The things having to do with real time tracking by using VHF transceivers and GPS receivers coupled together to allow a base to keep track of the actual locations of search teams and/or individuals and vehicles etc. #Lots of potential there. #I haven't progressed much beyond getting a fixed location beacon going, but the thing works. #I'm working on fattening the piggy bank enough to geta suitable GPS receiver to play with.

AL7N http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[W2SDC]

That certainly sounds beneficial and I will begin looking into that. Any ideas on specific places on the internet where I can snoop around for some info on the topic? Thanks!

[KA4DPO]

Quote[/b] (w2sdc @ Jan. 13 2005,06:50)]That certainly sounds beneficial and I will begin looking into that. Any ideas on specific places on the internet where I can snoop around for some info on the topic? Thanks!
Try looking up the Civil Air Patrol. They have used amateur radio for years while performing search and rescue missions. Perhaps a coordinated effort with CAP using APRS would be a good idea.

[W5HTW]

Quote[/b] (KA4DPO @ Jan. 13 2005,08:57)]
Quote[/b] (w2sdc @ Jan. 13 2005,06:50)]That certainly sounds beneficial and I will begin looking into that. Any ideas on specific places on the internet where I can snoop around for some info on the topic? Thanks!
Try looking up the Civil Air Patrol. They have used amateur radio for years while performing search and rescue missions. Perhaps a coordinated effort with CAP using APRS would be a good idea.
I haven't heard CAP using ham radio around here, for downed aircraft searches, though I suppose it's possible. They appear to use CAP radio, and aviation radio, not ham. In some cases it may be modified ham gear that is being used, though I'm not sure that fits CAP specifications anymore. Many CAP members have ham tickets, of course, but many CAP radio operators do not. I haven't kept up with that, but it used to be the requirement to operate a CAP radio was a Restricted RadioTelephone Permit, the same required to operate an aircraft radio. No permit is required now to operate the aircraft radio, far as I know, but I do believe a permit is required to operate a CAP radio on CAP frequencies. Whatever, the bottom line is CAP here doesn't use ham radio in their searches. They may elsewhere, but if so, they need ham licenses, and I think they would have to operate under ARES authority, rather than CAP.

SAR here uses ham radio (ARES) in searches, but the backbone appears to be a VHF freq (155.160) since SAR is operated by the State Police. ARES backs up the 155 mhz freq, which is a simplex frequency, so can be limited in coverage, though it is generally high power equipment. ARES comes in very handy because of the repeaters and the expanded area that can be covered with low-power radios such as HTs. I'm sure some of the searches that succeed would not do so if it were not for ham radio.

APRS has actually been around for well over two decades in the non-ham world, probably closer to three. It came into heavy use in the late 70s or early 80s in tracking military convoys and trucks carrying nuclear weapons, under the Dept. of Energy. That was before GPS was available to the public, or even to commercial companies.

Now, of course, just about every trucking company in the nation uses it (commercial, not ham) as well as smaller delivery vehicles, such as those by UPS, DHL, and FedX. Many police departments are also APRS equipped, though, again, it is not related to ham radio. Seems to be quite reliable in the trucks, keeping the drivers from parking at the local cat house too long!! Or stopping for a beer at Tammy's Tough Little Tavern. Kidding (sort of) but it has proven very effective in the trucking industry.

At least two recent searches here involved police helicopters using GPS to pinpoint the location of the subjects and report GPS readings back to police dispatch, so those directions could be used by sheriff's department vehicles, including off-road ATVs. Terrain prevented a helicopter rescue. Hand held GPS units helped, but the actual direction of rescue units to the victims was done visually by a chopper aloft. "Turn left here, turn right there" etc. I would think APRS could make that job easier!

With all those capabilities APRS is a very nice system to have for SAR. It has proven itself thousands of times every day in keeping track of commercial and government vehicles, so no good reason it should not be used by hams, too, as more than a toy. I do giggle a bit at the hams out on I-40 using APRS to tell others where they are. Seems an expensive way to say "I'm westbound at milepost 205." But then, it's a hobby, so the object is to have fun. If we can put APRS to serious SAR use, I'm all for it.

In this highly rural area of unmarked dirt roads and vast expanses of desert, I'd love to see APRS in all the sheriff's department and ambulance vehicles, but the money for the system isn't there and isn't likely to be any time in the foreseeable future. Some of the units carry hand-held GPS units, but no tracking capability.

Hope you get something feasible going. Good luck!

Ed

[K4KWH]

CAP doesn't use ham radio per se, tho some of the frequencies are nearby. Their communications systems
fall under US Air Force Frequency Management since CAP is the Air Force Auxiliary. #Frequencies are scattered from near 160 Meters up near the 10 Meter band--and even THAT can vary as they also operate on FEMA and SHARES (intra-government traffic handling) frequencies. #What you *think* may be CAP's frequencies may not be true--particularly since 9/11 as their repeater frequencies (VHF) will change sometime this year. #And, no, I am not allowed to "blab" them all over the place anymore:p because of security concerns. #True, you *might* know what they "are", and you can tell them, but as a member, I cannot.:laugh:

Some member-owned equipment is "ham" gear--the IC-706 series is approved and is on the NTIA list. The
FT-100D is disapproved and doesn't meet muster even with the TCXO installed. #The Auxiliary mostly purchases Motorola Micom II's for HF and EF Johnsons and Tait T2000 for VHF (Johnson won the contract last year I think it was). #Even so, there are a number of "civilian" ham sets that DO meet NTIA's requirements from all of the Big 3. #Incidentally, since CAP is strictly on military frequencies (use of ham frequencies for CAP business is forbidden by regulations). it no longer falls under FCC, but NTIA. All frequency allocations, discipline matters (if any), licensing, and interference matters are handled by USAF and its subsequent subordinates.

So if you are looking for a way to serve the Nation, take a look at Civil Air Patrol. It has a lot to offer volunteer and there's plenty of personal rewards for participating.


73

[W2SDC]

We actually did a mock search recently with the CAP. I must say, they are a great bunch of kids.

Right now, we are using non-ham frequencies, on non-ham equipment, during actual searches. Several of us on the team are ham operators and we use local repeaters and our ham rigs to communicate on the way to a search, to share directions and plans, then we usually carry the radios with us as a back-up, in case the SAR radios malfunction.

One of the ideas I am toying around with, is using local ham clubs or AR emergency service orgs to assist during searches for persons affected by Alzheimer's (which actually account for about half of our call-outs). This way, ham operators can be placed at fixed loactions outside the perimiter of the search area, and radio in to the command post if the subject wanders outside of the search area. It may seem kind of boring, but it would free up other resources to concentrate specifically on searching within the designated area. Not only that, but every ham I know would love to assist in such a case, and they all have the necessary equipment.