Training News

2006 AREN training will begin in February and it will be organised by distributing material on e-mail and in the post, and by using a directed net to go through it using the format set out in the manual.

The net will take place on Saturday mornings once a month at 0930 for 1.5 hoursllocal as this will leave the rest of the day free. This will continue on the third Saturday of each month. The next NET will take place on February the 25th and it will consist of an introduction to emergency situations.

These exercises have been prepared by MunsterCCoordinator Conor O'Neill, EI4JN.

National Training NET

The primary frequency for the national HF training net is 7.099 MHz and the secondary frequency is 3.690 MHz. This is a members only net, however non-member traffic, which is very welcome, will be taken towards the end of the event when the trainigg session has been completed. If you have an interest in Emergency Communications please listen to the net and you are very welcome to call when invited to do so by the NCS.

The first part of the training session, which helps to ensure the availability of a pool of trained radio operators, was completed in March 2005.

AREN NVIS Exercise Report

The AREN NVIS exercise took place over Saturday 21st & Sunday 22nd August 2004.

The objective of the exercise was to ascertain the feasibility and the amount of work needed to ensure readiness for effective operation of the NVIS mode of propagation for reliable and effective EmerComms use within Ireland. It was agreed at the last meeting of the AREN coordinatin panel to analyze the role of HF communications and make proposals for its use in emergency situations, this exercise is in response to this.

NVIS is an acronym for Near Vertical Incidence Skywave propagation.

Callsigns Issued

For the first time in EI for Radio Experimenters, Comreg issued callsigns having four letters in the suffix. The callsigns issued are EI0RENE to EI9RENE and these are for the purpose of conducting emergency operations including training events.

AREN coordinator John Ketch EI2GN at Ballinacourty Lighthouse in, Co.Waterford activated EI0RENE. EI1RENE was activated by John Costello, EI9ESB, AREN Structure and Training, at Cromwell Point Lighthouse, Valentia Island, Co. Kerry.

Saturdays exercise.

On Saturday a total of 6 stations called into Net Control EI1RENE. Conditions were good on 40mtrs and generally poor on 80mtrs.

Stations who checked in with Net Control were:

GW0VMZ	Alistair	Wales
EI7CD	Sean	Dublin
EI6JA	Stephen	Cork
EI4DC	Pat	Clare
G8OJQ	Alan	Cheshire
EI2JD	Thos	Louth

All stations were OK for traffic on 80mtrs except G8OJQ who was unworkable. All stations were Ok for traffic on 40mtrs except G8OJQ, but conditions were a little more difficult than on 80mtrs.

EI6JN has reported calling, but nothing was heard at EI1RENE. No other stations reported EI6JN calling.

The main conclusion drawn from Saturdays exercise was that stations were indeed workable, however the choice of frequency is an important one as evident from operations.

Stations remained workable at 50 Watts RF output and indeed many were still workable at 25 Watts.

Sundays Exercise

On Sunday a similar amount of stations called into Net Control EI1RENE. Conditions were good on 80mtrs and generally poor on 40mtrs.

It is worth noting that heavy QRM was experienced from close to the 40mtr frequency, made operations unworkable. As a result of this experience a protocol is been developed to deal with this type ofeevent, during an actual emergency event.

As for Saturday's operation, stations continued to be workable at low powers.

Conclusions

There is a need for careful choice of operating band for this mode of propagation. Theory dictates that as high a frequency as possible should be used and the published experiences of other groups indicate that a figure of 90% of the MUF (maximum usable frequency) of the F2 layer in the Ionosphere is a good reliable choice of frequency.

It often happens that this MUF doesn't extent as high as our 40mtr band an$ typically resides within the 60mtr band (5MHz). It is ok to use a lower frequency but absorption then becomes an issue as was seen on Sunday's operation.

A clear and decisive protocol is being developed for when QRM is experienced during AREN operations

A clear and decisive protocol is being developed for frequency choice; so as to ensure reliable communications paths are used.

The August event was a valuable field exercise in the overall activities associated with NVIS and experience gained from the event will be used within the training program currently being developed for AREN by the coordinating panel.

Last Updated: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 9:43