Amateur Radio, Federal Government Engaged in Joint 5 MHz Communication Exercise:

Amateur Radio operators and federal government stations are engaged ina 12-day nationwide test of their capability to communicate with eachother on HF in the event of an emergency or disaster. The HighFrequency Interoperability Exercise 2014 (HFIE-2014 http://hflink.net/hfie2014/) is running concurrently with the federalNational Exercise Program (NEP http://www.fema.gov/national-exercise-program) 2014. Activity istaking place on two of the five 60 meter channels. The primarycenter-frequency channel is 5358.5 kHz, and the secondarycenter-frequency channel is 5373.0 kHz. Amateur Radio is secondary togovernment users on the band. The joint readiness exercise that beganMarch 27 will continue through April 7 and include all areas of the US.Participants will use Automatic Link Establishment (ALE http://hflink.com/automaticlinkestablishment/), a standardizeddigital selective calling protocol, to establish communication betweenstations.

"The HFIE has been a semi-annual exercise for some years," explainedHFIE-2014 Coordinator Bonnie Crystal, KQ6XA. "Previously, HFIE has beena ham-only exercise. This year, we scheduled HFIE so it coincides withthe NEP."

Participation in the interoperability exercise is open to allALE-capable federal government radio stations and to all ALE-capable USAmateur Radio stations. A Special Temporary Authorization (STA) hasbeen granted, giving permission for radio amateurs to communicate withfederal government stations for the duration of the exercise.

Crystal said ALE signaling "sounds like turkey gobble," adding that ALEcalls last about 15 seconds. Stations listening "may also hear theoperators then start talking on USB voice," she said. "The signals canbe up to about 40 seconds long, if there's texting riding on it, usinga very rapid type of ARQ [automatic repeat request] handshaking."

"Once someone links with another station, they have the choice of usingSSB voice or sending/receiving up to about 80 characters of text,"Crystal said. "Or they can switch to some other mode, such as CW or PSKor PACTOR."

ARRL Regulatory Information Manager Dan Henderson, N1ND, said theexercise offers an excellent opportunity for those amateurs with ALEcapability. "It is a good exercise that highlights one of the keyelements under which US amateurs were granted secondary status on the60 meter band," he said. "The amateur community's ability toparticipate in an interoperability exercise with governmentalcommunications is a great way to assess where things stand in this area-- and to explore the next steps to take. We encourage those amateursfamiliar with the ALE protocols and have the station equipment toparticipate in a meaningful way to do so." Read more http://www.arrl.org/news/amateur-radio-federal-government-engaged-in-joint-5-mhz-communication-exercise.

Source:

The ARRL Letter