I am posting this because some may find it interesting and useful.
Nomad.
aka Ron, N1AHH
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Every January, 400 or so Hams (Amateur Radio Operators) gather for 8 days in the Arizona desert to teach each other and swap gear. This year I will be presenting a week long seminar titled GRID DOWN COMMS. It will focus on establishing a local communications system for use during an extended Grid Down Communications failure.
The seminar will include the creation and operation of several VHF/UHF remote controlled repeaters which the participants will use throughout the week to study selective calling techniques, radiation patterns, sophisticated scanning methods and to increase their personal skill set.
To supplement the seminar I will be publishing GridDownComms.pdf which provides some suggestions about preparing for a Grid Down event as well as in depth technical presentations on various associated subjects.
Part of the process of authoring GridDownComms.pdf is the creation of a blog that will contain all of the information as I create it. The blog will be used as a sort of peer review for the eventual publication.
Much of the blog is a bit technical as it is meant for Hams, but there will be several very basic sections like "What is Radio?" which gives a very simple explanation of how radio works, a section on tone encoding and several other basic concepts.
There will be a section on non-Ham communication systems like GMRS Repeaters, MURS, FRS, Cell Phone, mesh networking and other technologies.
There is a detailed section on creating a Communications Plan (ComPlan) and a section on Communication Conditions (ComCon) which helps to define when to do what.
All are welcome to participate in the review process and the finished product will be available sometime in December. Until then, the Blog will be presenting the topics for review.
Here is a tinyurl that will take you to the Welcome page.
http://tinyurl.com/GDC-Welcome In the tradition of Amateur Radio, the Blog, the published GridDownComms.pdf and the QuartzFest Gathering are all free and non-commerical.
The gathering is called QuartzFest and it has been going on for about 20 years or so. It is an open and free gathering, but you must be self sufficient as there are NO FACILITIES OF ANY KIND at the desert site. Information about Quartzfest is linked on the blog.
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I Welcome comments and suggestions.
Nomad.