A SHORT GUIDE TO EMERGENCY RADIO COMMUNICATIONS INTRODUCTION The following document is not intended to be detailed and comprehensive. It is intended to be a SHORT synopsis of the things a communicator should know in order to be most effective. It is hoped that it can be read and understood in less than thirty minutes, and will enable the reader to function effectively as a communicator. Also, it is in a "straight ASCII" format - this to assure that a disk copy can be read by anyone possessing and IBM compatible computer. ALL word processor or editor programs should be able to read it without difficulty. Alternately, the DOS utility "TYPE" can be used. It does not utilize fancy fonts, or other niceties which require special programs or printers. (It was written using a shareware editor called VDE - video display editor). It is my conviction that when there is an emergency, we should ALL be "reading from the same music". To that end, this document is submitted in the hope that we can standardize on methods, etc., at least in King County. 73 - Cal Morgan W7SFT --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AUBURN SUPPORT GROUP RADIO COMMUNICATIONS MANUAL PREFACE A. The first several paragraphs of this document are not essential to understanding of communication practices and may be skipped if the reader is anxious to save time. Move to the section entitled OPERATIONS for more essential information. B. Please note that the use of the masculine pronoun "he" or similar is intended to encompass the general case of either masculine or feminine. When singular reference is made (as in the case of operator) it may sometimes ALSO include the plural case - operators. C. This information is intended for the use of amateur radio operators, or those who are directly supporting licensed amateur radio operators in emergency communications or exercises. It is therefore assumed that the reader is familiar with the FCC regulations concerning such communications. These regulations are well defined in Part 97 of the rules and regulations published by the Federal Communications Commission. Obviously, these regulations MUST be adhered to. D. This manual is intended to cover ONLY voice communication. Digital techniques (including CW) are beyond the scope of this document. E. Much has been written concerning techniques for communication by radio. It is hoped that this will serve as a short guide to the Auburn Support Group (ASG) which can be read in a few minutes, and will provide sufficient information to allow an operator to function effectively. For those who have the time and wish to become completely familiar with the system upon which these instructions are based, reference is made to the following: 1. ARES "DISASTER AUGMENTATION COMMUNICATION PLAN" 2. Department of the Army Publication FM-11-490-7, COMMUNICATIONS-ELECTRONICS MILITARY AFFILIATE RADIO SYSTEM (MARS). 3. Navy-Marine Corps MARS NTP-8 SERIES. 4. ARRL "PUBLIC SERVICE COMMUNICATIONS MANUAL" and other ARRL publications. While sometimes conflicting with each other, these documents embody the wisdom gathered by radio operators over this century concerning communication by radio. F. Much of the credit for this document belongs to the military manuals mentioned above, AND to Fred (Blackie) Moser, WA7ZJB, my predecessor in the position of training officer for the ASG. Many other experienced communicators have also aided. G. It is imperative that members of the ASG communications team be willing to abide by the procedures herein described. In an emergency, we must all work TOGETHER to provide all possible assistance to our community and to that end, we must all be willing to follow instructions of our leadership. THOSE WHO ARE NOT WILLING TO CONFORM HAVE NO PLACE ON THE TEAM! OPERATIONS NOTHING IN THE MANUAL SHOULD EVER BE PERMITTED TO JEOPARDIZE THE ACCURATE AND TIMELY DELIVERY OF MESSAGE TRAFFIC!!! LET COMMON SENSE PREVAIL. I. NET OPERATIONS. Much of the communication required during an emergency will be conducted on a NETWORK of radio stations. A radio network (NET) is an organization of radio stations capable of direct communications on a common frequency. NET CONTROL STATION - In order to control the net, one station is assigned to direct all net activities. This station is designated the NET CONTROL STATION, hereafter referred to as the NCS. The NCS is empowered to completely direct the activities of the net. All transmissions on the net frequency should be initially directed to the NCS, who MAY then authorize stations to contact one another directly on the net frequency (or direct them to move to another frequency and conduct their business). The authority of the NCS over the conduct of the net is absolute, and decisions made by the NCS are final so far as net operation is concerned. DIRECTED NET - A directed net is one in which it is necessary to obtain permission of the NCS before transmitting to other stations in the net. Emergency nets will always be directed, unless otherwise specified by the NCS. FREE NET - A free net is one in which any station may contact any other station WITHOUT obtaining permission of the NCS. CHECKING INTO A NET. When a net is opened (by a Net Control Station), the NCS may call for check-ins by callsign as follows: NCS - This is the Auburn Support Group Net. Please answer to roll call. N7CAK over. If N7CAK is listening, she answers "This is N7CAK, no traffic, over." If she has traffic she may respond "This is N7CAK, I have one routine for XXXXXX, over." NCS may open the net with a statement such as "This is the Auburn Support Group Net. Members will check in now. Over". When net is opened in this fashion, members should respond WHEN CHANNEL IS CLEAR "This is (unkey for about one second - then if channel is still clear, continue) W7SFT, no traffic (or list traffic if appropriate) over. This technique will minimize doubling, though it may not eliminate it. Obviously, the preferred method is for the NCS to call roll, but this is not always practical. If a net is in progress, and you wish to check in, wait for the proword OUT, or until the channel is obviously clear and give your callsign (THIS IS W7SFT OVER). NCS should then acknowledge you, and get your traffic count. If you have URGENT traffic, use the proword BREAK and your callsign at any time when no one is transmitting. Once you have checked into a net, it is imperative that you remain on frequency until excused by the NCS. If you must leave, obtain permission of the NCS first. II. PROWORDS. (From the term "procedural words") It is valuable to have a set of special words or groups of words whose meaning is well understood by all participants. Prowords for voice communication within the Auburn Support Group (ASG) are as follows (given alphabetically): BREAK - Has two uses. During net operations, the word break, followed by a call sign, indicates to the net control that a station has important information which should take precedence over what is being done on the net at the time. Upon hearing this proword used in this way, all stations should remain silent and allow the NCS to ascertain the cause of the break and what action is required. BREAK is also used as a proword to separate the text of a message from the preamble or other parts. See the section on MESSAGE HANDLING. FIGURES - Indicates that the numerals following are Arabic, as opposed to the spelled-out form. For example, "FIGURES two eight" designates that the receiving operator should write "28" rather than "two eight". GROUP - Word. When used in the singular, may denote a particular word in a message, for example "GROUP after sending", where "sending" is one of the words in the message. Or, it may refer to the numerical identification of a word, such as "GROUP six", meaning the sixth word in the text of a message. It is commonly used in the plural form to give the number of words in a message, for example "GROUPS sixteen" meaning that there are sixteen words in the message. In ARRL format, this is called "check". A GROUP is a set of letters/numbers delineated by spaces. For example, "check-in" is a single GROUP, "check in" is two GROUPS. INFO - Indicates that the address(es) following should also receive the message, usually for information purposes only. I REPEAT - see I SAY AGAIN I SAY AGAIN - employed by the Military to mean "I repeat". Used to indicate that a word or group of words will be repeated by the sender. I SAY AGAIN is the preferred proword, but I REPEAT will do nicely. I SPELL - Indicates to a receiving station that a word or group of words is about to be spelled out letter-by-letter, using the International Phonetic Alphabet. MESSAGE FOLLOWS - Indicates to the receiving operator that a formal message in standard ASG format is about to be transmitted. OUT - informs the receiving operator that the sender has completed his sending, and that no reply is expected. It also relinquishes control of the channel, usually to the Net Control Operator. OVER - informs the receiving operator that the sender has completed a transmission, and is awaiting a reply. READBACK - May be used to inform the receiving operator that a message whose exact wording and routing must be carefully preserved and confirmed. While ALL messages should be accurately transmitted and received, a very few messages may be of such importance the mistakes would have potentially disastrous consequences. This proword should be used only at the direction of the ORIGINATOR of the message. In such cases the message must be prefaced as follows (by all operators) "Message follows - READBACK" ROGER - Indicates to a sending station that a message or transmission has been received and understood. When used in conjunction with the receipt of a FORMAL message, it acknowledges complete and accurate receipt of the message transmitted. THIS IS - when followed by a call-sign or other lawful identification gives the identifier of the station, most often the FCC assigned call-sign. FCC rules require that this be done at intervals of no more than ten minutes. Use of this proword and call-sign is SUGGESTED at the beginning of each transmission. WAIT - Indicates to the receiving operator that the sender requires a short (less than one minute) wait during which he will not be transmitting, but he still wishes to retain control of the channel. WILCO - Short for "WILL COMPLY", meaning the transmission is understood by the receiving station and instructions (if any) will be carried out. WORDS TWICE - When communication is difficult, this proword may be used to indicate that each word will be sent twice. May be used as a request, or as information to the receiving operator. III. Phonetic alphabet. When phonetics are required to convey the spelling of words, the use of the International Telecommunication Union Phonetics is essential for uniformity. All communicators are encouraged to memorize this alphabet and practice its use, so that it can be used without conscious thought. The alphabet, and its accepted pronunciation are found in Appendix C. The preferred pronunciation of figures will also be found there. IV. MESSAGE HANDLING. Whenever practical, information should be conveyed in the form of formal messages. While this is not always practical, it is always desirable. Several formats for radio messages are in wide usage, e.g. ARRL, MARS, WASHINGTON STATE GENERAL MESSAGE FORM, etc. A. It cannot be too strongly emphasized that when an operator accepts a message with the proword "ROGER number XXXX, he is ABSOLUTELY obligated to see that the message is either: 1. Delivered to the addressee(s) and/or info addressee(s). 2. Serviced back to the originator with an explanation of why it could not be delivered. See Appendix D for complete instructions for servicing messages back. 3. Relayed to another station for delivery or further relay. B. Privacy - all messages are to be considered privileged and should not be revealed nor discussed with anyone other than the originator or the addressee. For maximum effectiveness, the message SHOULD contain the following (this is a slightly enhanced version of the WASHINGTON STATE GENERAL MESSAGE FORM): *1. Special handling instructions IF APPLICABLE 2. Message serial number (assigned by originating station. 3. The message precedence 4. Date originated 5. OPTIONALLY, time of origination 6. One or more addressees (The TO line) 7. OPTIONALLY, one or more information addressees 8. Identity of the originator (The FROM line) *9. A group count (the number of words in the text) 10. OPTIONALLY, a short SUBJECT line. Should begin with the word SUBJECT. *11. BREAK 12. The text of the message *13. BREAK * These items differ from the WASHINGTON STATE GENERAL MESSAGE FORM While not a part of the message itself, the following should be logged by all operators handling the message: 1. Operator's name or call-sign (sending AND receiving) 2. Date/Time of receipt (TOR) 3. Date/Time of transmission or delivery (TOT, or TOD) Taking the elements of a formal message one-by-one: 1. Special handling instruction "READBACK" may be assigned by the originator. See appendix B for explanation of the READBACK procedure. 2. The message serial number is assigned by the FIRST operator handling the message. It may be simply a sequential number (e.g. 1, 75, 213, etc). A good method is to assign a message number whose first two digits denote the month in which the message was taken, followed by whatever number of digits is required. For example, the first message handled in the month of June might be 0601. The exact method is entirely at the discretion of the operator, but should enable him to uniquely identify any message he has handled. 3. The message precedence is ordinarily assigned by the originator, and may be: IMMEDIATE - Message concerns a situation where lives are endangered and immediate action/response is required. This precedence may be assigned ONLY by the originator. Messages of this precedence are always handled before messages of lower precedence. PRIORITY - Message concerns a situation where a timely operational response is required to assure that lives are not further endangered. Handled before messages of ROUTINE precedence. ROUTINE - Messages that reflect routine data for operational, administrative, or logistical matters. If the originator has not assigned a higher precedence, the OPERATOR should assign the message a ROUTINE precedence. Notice that precedence concerns timeliness, and not necessarily the importance of the message. Abuse of precedence levels could impede response. Use of IMMEDIATE and PRIORITY should be limited to those messages which truly warrant such precedence. 4. Date originated is self explanatory. Date is expressed in the form month/day/year (e.g. 6/30/95). 5. Time of origination, expressed in the 24-hour format, using local time (e.g. 2145 PST). 6. Address - Be as specific as possible. Include name, office, city, and phone number as available and appropriate. 7. Information addressees - same comments as the address. Information addressees are persons or offices who need to be aware of the content of the message, but from whom no action or reply is expected. These addressees should be preceded by the proword, INFO. 8. The office and/or name of the originator. This serves as an authenticator of the message, and identifies the person or office which is ultimately responsible for the content of the message. In many formats, this is called the FROM line. 9. For accuracy, a count of the words or groups in the TEXT of the message is required. A word is a set of letters and/or figures, followed by a space. Punctuation marks are a source of confusion in counting groups. Therefore, suggest that punctuation be minimized. A. If the originator considers punctuation NECESSARY, the operator should spell out or abbreviate the punctuation marks. Acceptable abbreviations are: PD (period), XRAY (period), CMM (comma), CLN (colon), SMCLN (semicolon). In the case of the question mark, the use of the word QUERY is appropriate. Other less frequently used marks should be completely spelled out - e.g. asterisk, ampersand, hyphen, dash, dollar sign, slant bar, etc. 10. OPTIONALLY, a very short SUBJECT line, e.g. SUBJECT situation update, etc. 11. The proword BREAK, to mark the beginning of the text. 12. Text of message. While the operator will not ordinarily originate many messages, he may be called upon to assist the originator in drafting the message. Messages should be kept as short and concise as possible, consistent with clarity. 25 groups is the recommended maximum. 13. The proword BREAK, to mark the beginning and end of the text of the message. APPENDIX A ---------DEFINITIONS MESSAGE - For our purposes, a message is a written communication transmitted by radio conforming to the standard format discussed in the section entitled MESSAGE HANDLING. TACTICAL CALLS - It is often desirable that stations identify themselves with some word or phrase OTHER THAN THEIR FCC ASSIGNED CALL-SIGN. For example, during an emergency it might be appropriate for an operator to identify as "AUBURN GENERAL HOSPITAL", rather than their call-sign. However, this does not relieve the operator of the FCC requirement to identify with the FCC call-sign at intervals of no more than ten minutes. ORIGINATING STATION - The first station handling a message. Usually NOT the originator of the message. See below. ORIGINATOR - The person or office generating the message. It is implied that the originator is a person whose position or authority empowers him to originate messages. He is the one who determines the exact wording of a message, and once he has put the message into the system, NO ONE is authorized to change the wording without his express permission. A trained operator MAY assist the originator with format and wording. OPERATOR - The person who directly controls and operates a radio station. Often an FCC licensed amateur, but MAY be a person under the immediate control and supervision of such a licensed amateur. Includes authorized operators of other stations (Government, Civil Defense, MARS, etc.) PREAMBLE - That portion of a message which precedes the text. APPENDIX B - READBACK PROCEDURES Under certain circumstances it is vital that a message be delivered in the exact form in which it was originated and sent. While accuracy is always of paramount importance, some occasions permit no latitude in the transmission of information. "READBACK" is designed to reduce error to zero. It is invoked by the message originator, and is to be used only when in their belief the importance of the message warrants it. In use, when a message is specified as READBACK the receiving operator repeats EVERY WORD SAID from the word READBACK to the final BREAK. Only after the sending operator says "That is correct", may the receiving operator reply, "ROGER NUMBER ___." APPENDIX C - PHONETIC ALPHABET AND PRONUNCIATION OF NUMERALS LETTER PHONETIC PREFERRED PRONUNCIATION * -------------------------------------------------- A ALPHA (OR ALFA) AL fah B BRAVO BRAH voh C CHARLIE CHAR lee D DELTA DELL tah E ECHO ECK oh F FOXTROT FOKS trot G GOLF GOLF H HOTEL hoh TELL I INDIA IN dee ah J JULIETT JEW lee ETT K KILO KEY loh L LIMA LEE mah M MIKE MIKE N NOVEMBER no VEM ber O OSCAR OSS cah P PAPA pah PAH Q QUEBEC key BECK R ROMEO ROW me oh S SIERRA see AIR ah T TANGO TANG go U UNIFORM YOU nee form V VICTOR VIK tah W WHISKEY WISS key X XRAY ECKS ray Y YANKEE YANG key Z ZULU ZOO loo *UPPER CASE indicates the accented syllable(s) Preferred pronunciation of spoken numerals is as follows: FIGURE PRONUNCIATION 0 ZEE RO 1 WUN 2 TOO 3 THUH REE 4 FO wer 5 FI yuv 6 SIX 7 SE ven 8 ATE 9 NIN er APPENDIX D - SERVICE MESSAGES Service messages may be originated by operators to exchange information with other operators concerning any phase of message handling. When service messages refer to some other message, sufficient information must be given to positively identify the message being discussed. For example, the text of a service message might be as follows: BREAK YOUR MESSAGE NUMBER 0215 FROM FIRE STATION FORTY ONE TO DEPARTMENT OF SANITATION JONESTOWN WA NOT DELIVERABLE BECAUSE NO SUCH DEPARTMENT EXISTS IN JONESTOWN BREAK APPENDIX E WASHINGTON STATE GENERAL MESSAGE FORM (As of Aug 94) (LINE 1) DATE:_____(LINE 2) TIME:_____(LINE 3) MSG NO.:_____ (LINE 4) TO: _____________________________________________ (LINE 5) INFO: _____________________________________________ (LINE 6) FROM: _____________________________________________ (LINE 7) PRECEDENCE: Routine Priority Immediate (CIRCLE ONE) (Approved by responsible authority) (LINE 8) SUBJECT: _________________________________________ (LINE 9) TEXT (10 LINES MAX - 69 CHAR./LINE (UPPERCASE TYPED) OR HANDWRITTEN BLOCK LETTERS): (9A) ________________________________________________________ (9B) ________________________________________________________ ......... ......... (9J) ________________________________________________________ DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE OF THIS FORM ARE ON THE REVERSE SIDE OF THE ACTUAL FORM (EMD 8/94), NOT REPRODUCED HERE. ============================================================= APPENDIX F - ARRL NUMBERED RADIOGRAMS (Not reproduced here) Footnotes COPIES TO W7AKA, W4UPZ, WB7AAE, AND KG7FA FEB 15 REVISED FEB 15 TO ADD PROWORD "WORDS TWICE" NOTE THAT MY DEFINITION OF "ORIGINATOR" DIFFERS FROM SOME OTHERS. COPY TO W7TVA FEB 16 REVISED FEB 17 IN RESPONSE TO EXCELLENT CRITIQUE BY W7TVA MAILED COPY TO FRANK (W4UPZ) EARLY APRIL SENT COPY TO K1IIF LATE MARCH SENT COPY TO W7EVS EARLY APRIL GAVE EXCELLENT COPY TO CHIEF JOHNSON APRIL 4 FOR REPRO SENT COPY TO WA7JAM (MARS) EARLY APRIL As of April 6, 1995 this file has: 29063 printable characters. 3441 words. 697 words with three or more syllables. 233 sentences. 4.8 avg. characters/word. 14.8 avg. words/sentence. Reading index 14.0 grade level.