1. Disaster Communications

2. Objectives ●Become familiar with types of disaster communication ●See strengths and weaknesses of different radio frequency bands and where the different radio types fall in the spectrum ●Learn about radio channels and codes ●Touch on disaster communication programs Note: This is not the Basic Radio class required to attain the Dallas CERT “member” level

3. Communications at a Disaster Site ●Face-to-face ●Messenger ●Land lines ●Cell phones ●Internet ●Radios

4. Face-to-Face ●Restricted to short distances ●Shouting adds to confusion

5. Messenger ●Longer distance than face-to-face ●Time v. distance ●Chance the message or reply will be garbled ●How many messengers do you have?

6. Land Lines ●Also known as POTS (Plain Old Telephone System) ●Are not mobile ●May be underground  Not susceptible to being blown down ●May be unusable due to power outage ●You may not have all the phone numbers you need

7. Cell Phones ●Cell towers may be down or without power ●If phone service is down or slow, you might be able to text  Differences between voice and text ●Long-term events present battery problems ●You may not have all the phone numbers you need ●Using cell phones and land lines is OK to:  Activate CERT team members  Connect CERT team to the Emergency Operations Center

8. Internet ●Might be wired or wireless  Same vulnerabilities as land lines and cells ●Email ●Texts may get through if email won’t ●Social media

9. Radios ●Citizen’s band (CB) ●Business ●Multi-Use Radio Service (MURS) ●Responder ●Family Radio Service (FRS) ●General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) ●Nextel Direct Talk ●Amateur (Ham)

10. The Electromagnetic Spectrum

11. Radio Frequency Spectrum Freq 3 KHz 30 KHz 300 KHz 3 MHz 30 MHz 300 MHz 3 GHz 30 GHz 300 GHz Very Low Frequency (VLF) Low Frequency (LF) Medium Frequency (MF) High Frequency (HF) Very High Frequency (VHF) Ultra High Frequency (UHF) Super High Frequency (SHF) Extra High Frequency (EHF) Most Disaster Communications Wavelen 100 km 10 km 1 km 100 m 10 m 1 m 100 cm 10 cm 1 cm

12. Radio Frequency Characteristics HFVHFUHF 3 MHz30 MHz300 MHz3 GHz Worse Building Penetration Better Farther Distance Travels Less Far

13. Citizen’s Band (CB) Radios ●No license required ●40 channels ●26.965 MHz – 27.405 MHz (HF) ●Power limit of 4 watts AM; 12 watts SSB ●CB is old technology ●HF does not penetrate structures well

14. Business Radios ●May be restricted by licensing ●Various frequencies from 30 MHz to 989 MHz (HF – UHF) ●Power limits vary with frequency ●Note: If life or property is at risk in a disaster, FCC licensing is not an issue for ALL radios.

15. Multi-Use Radio Service (MURS) Radios ●Recent, established in 2000 ●No license required ●5 channels ●151.820 MHz – 154.600 MHz (VHF) ●154.xxx Mhz shared w/ business band ●Power limit of 2 watts

16. Responder Radios ●Responder radios are restricted by law to responders ●Typically VHF ●In some jurisdictions, responder radios may be available to CERT for liaison use

17. Family Radio Service (FRS) Radios ●No license required ●14 channels ●462.5625 MHz – 467.7125 MHz (UHF) ●Power limit of 500 mw (1/2 watt) ●Short range – “line of sight” ●FRS channels 1-7 are shared with GMRS channels 9-15

18. General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) Radios ●FCC license, 5 years w/fee ($85 currently) ●Unique call sign per license ●License covers business and personal use by immediate family members ●15 channels ●462.5500 MHz – 462.7250 MHz (UHF) ●Power limit of 50 watts (ch 1-8); 5 watts (ch 9-15) ●Short range – “line of sight” ●Can make use of repeaters to extend range, but repeaters may be down in a disaster ●GMRS channels 9-15 are shared with FRS channels 1-7 ●No license needed if 500 mw power is not exceeded ●Combined FRS/GMRS radios are good for your own go-kit

19. Nextel Direct Talk Radios ●Walkie Talkie feature of [decommissioned] cell phones ●No license required ●10 channels ●902 MHz - 928 MHz range (UHF) ●Nextel i355 power is 890 mw (.89 watt) ●Short range – “line of sight” ●Dallas CERT has about 60 Nextel i355 units for use during deployments

20. Amateur (Ham) Radios ●FCC licensing is required and obtained through training, passing written exam(s), and paying fees (currently $15 per exam) ●Three levels of amateur radio license – technician, general, amateur extra ●Licenses are good for 10 years ●Unique call signs are assigned to each licensee ●Ham radio is granted for access to a wide range of frequencies available to amateur operators (LF – EHF) ●Disaster operations mostly limited to HF – UHF ●Power limit of 1500 watts ●Can reach thousands of miles, depending on power and antenna ●Communications can use repeaters, digital modes, and a variety of special applications, including video and GPS, which allows them to be tracked

21. Channels ●A channel is an assigned frequency ●Assigned by:  FCC  Radio manufacturer  Channel/frequency pair may vary by radio model ●Example: A Cobra 15-channel GMRS model would need to be tuned to channel 11 in order to communicate with a Cobra 22-channel FMS/GMRS model tuned to channel 15 (FCC GMRS channel 1: 462.5500 MHz)

22. FCC FRS/GMRS Channels FCC #FRSGMRS 01FRS 1GMRS 9 02FRS 2GMRS 10 03FRS 3GMRS 11 04FRS 4GMRS 12 05FRS 5GMRS 13 06FRS 6GMRS 14 07FRS 7GMRS 15 FCC #FRS 08FRS 8 09FRS 9 10FRS 10 11FRS 11 12FRS 12 13FRS 13 14FRS 14 FCC #GMRS 15GMRS 1 16GMRS 2 17GMRS 3 18GMRS 4 19GMRS 5 20GMRS 6 21GMRS 7 22GMRS 8 Remember: Channel x on your radio may not be on the same frequency as channel x on the next person’s radio.

23. Privacy Codes ●Can be entered for channels on some devices ●Reduce interference, do not secure transmission ●FRS/GMRS/Amateur  Continuous Tone Coded Squelch System (CTCSS) – up to 42 codes  Digitally Coded Squelch (DCS) – up to 103 codes ●Nextel Direct Talk  Digital – up to 15 codes

24. Channel Sharing ●FRS/GMRS/Amateur  Only one person can talk on a channel  Even if a privacy code is used ●Direct Talk  One person can talk per channel/code combination

25. Disaster Communication Programs ●Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) ●Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) ●SKYWARN ®

26. Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) ●Created by FEMA and the FCC ●Volunteer operators are:  Licensed radio amateurs  Certified by a civil preparedness agency  Able to communicate on amateur radio frequencies during drills, exercises, and emergencies  Activated by local, county, and state jurisdictions  The only amateur radio operators authorized to transmit during emergencies when the President invokes the War Powers Act ●Part of the National Incident Management System (NIMS)

27. Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) ●Not government affiliated; therefore, may activate before RACES. ●Part of a national structure formulated by the Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL) ●Volunteer operators are:  Licensed radio amateurs  Any ham may be an ARES member  Able to communicate on amateur radio frequencies during drills, exercises, and emergencies ●In jurisdictions with RACES, many hams belong to both ARES and RACES

28. SKYWARN ® ●Established by National Weather Service ●Volunteer program, not a club or organization ●SKYWARN spotters identify and describe severe local storms ●Class is free from NWS and is two hours long (advanced class is available) ●In Dallas county, RACES membership is required if you report by amateur radio

29. Summary ●At a disaster site  Find out what communications are available  Be prepared to use a radio ●Know (or find out) about the radio you are given  Type, band, power, range, channel, code ●If you’re interested, consider amateur radio ●If already a ham, consider RACES/ARES

30. Questions?