Craig Fugate KK4INZ was FEMA Administator for the entire Obama presidency. Now (for the moment, anyway) a private citizen... and ham... he's looking forward to attending his local radio club meetings. But his interest and commitment to both Amateur Radio and EmComm continues. In this episode he talks with co-host David Goldenberg W0DHG and me about what hams will need to do in the future to remain a valuable public service asset in emergencies. One key point we address is the proliferation of incompatible digital modes. Craig's message to equipment and system developers is that your job isn't done until you design interoperability into your radio. You figure out how, but your walled garden isn't a viable option. Neither is the Internet. You may notice with apt irony that my Internet service failed in the middle of the conversation (turned out to be a flaky amplifier in the Spectrum/Time Warner pedestal down the block that was fixed the next day). I switched to my phone's 'hot spot', which promptly reached the preset data cap and shut the conversation down again. I persuaded Arvin (HamRadioNow's Chief Financial Officer.... and piggy bank mascot) to cough up the funds to buy a little more bandwidth from Google Fi and we completed the conversation. We're looking forward to talking with Craig many times in the future! 73, Gary KN4AQ Play/Download AUDIO HamRadioNow is available as an Audio Podcast. Search for our name in iTunes our your podcast app.
HF digital interoperability was mandated by government and military in the 1980s and 90s. Today, it is relied upon by FEMA and other agencies for HF. The same exact system was later adopted by commercial HF radios and hams. It is called ALE. Automatic Link Establishment. A fancy name for what is, at its most basic level, a selective calling system (HF selcall) . 1. You dial up the callsign of another station. 2. The other station, whose radio has been monitoring silently, turns on its speaker when receiving the call. 3. A QSO can happen immediately. 4. That QSO can be voice SSB, text, CW, data, whatever. Hams have contacted FEMA directly using ALE on HF without a sked (on 5 MHz). ALE is more well-known for its advanced features such as frequency selection, receiver scanning, group calling, and text messaging. But, the simple feature of ALE that hams use the most is the selcall. There are now thousands of hams who have added ALE capability to their station. It is free, and no need to join ARRL ARES RACES EMCOMM, etc. Just get on the air and use it. You don't need any badges A peer-to-peer HF Global Area Network (GAN)
Bonnie, I love the reference to a great film....but IMO the ALE punt is way off (but keep plugging anyway). MY slant- Yes, ALE takes the operators *propagation knowledge base* to a different level. You notice I did not say which way....however (other than SSB voice or basic AMD messages) the data link hardware/ software after the connect is 'A' problem. So what is the amateur digital standard for HF? PACTOR, AMTOR, G-TOR, RTTY....CW, 110A? I do not see FNARS radios hooked to PCs running PC-ALE (this is directly related to the walled garden comment in the post; although I have been away from things for over a year). I know of many an amateur that are not going to sink a bunch of money in a SCS modem (I own Kantronics.....a good old Kansas made KAM). Hence the plethora 'software sound card modes'.... The only state that I know of that has an AUXCOMM buildt into the state response (by doctrine and *signed* MOA) is Colorado. I have not had an update from my friends in Washinton state...... . If I had the tolerance to watch the interview (Gary has great topics but his talking head style kills me), I am sure the UHF/VHF digital voice issue is referenced too (if not...what a hell of an oversight). The common standard on those bands has been analog voice.....the federal standard is P25 (yes, I know about the interops in the NIFOG and Redbook.....the Moto XTS 5000s here in Hawaii have them....all in P25 mode! IS this directly related to the walled garden comment in the post?). The state of Hawaii DEM seems to be setting up a lot of DMR....D-Star repeaters are already here....most 'system engineers' still want to rely on non-RF backbones....I am glad the ARES Folks here have enough sense to conduct simplex nets. Are amateurs going to be the interop piece? (I already know the answer to that at least here in Hawaii). Side note: Most of the amateurs that I have met that pontificate about 'served agencies', such as FEMA, don't even know where they will fit in the grand scheme of things, or they will not give a 'no holes barred' commitment, let alone take time to read some of the doctrine. And then there are the shining stars in the group.....by design, they put a mix of Folks with disparate gear in tiered locations with a common CP accomodating all modes (Cascadia Rising) or weekly.....run nets to 'stress test' levels. Alas, I am sad to hear that Mr. Fugate has moved on.....I wish him well on future endeavors.....
