Simulated Emergency Test - 1st week of Oct. Anyone can participate.

[WA4STO]

This year's Simulated Emergency Test (SET) is being held in early October. The exact dates are up to local groups and participating individuals.

My personal goal is to send 500 SET messages, although I'm hoping that a substantial number of return messages will be received here at WA4STO as well.

I need recipients. No, not addressees; I have thousands of those, but rather recipients. You know, folks who would be willing to receive a few, a few dozen, or a few hundred messages.

What would you need to do in order to participate? You would need to be willing to receive them. That's it. Nothing more. If you wanted to send back responses, such as "Your number 7712 received" or even "Your number 7712 received x addressee does not appear in local shelter database", that would be appreciated.

Now, what modes are we talking about? In order to participate in "my" version of this year's SET, you would need one of the three following capabilities:

1. Pactor 1, 2, or 3 so as to retrieve them from your nearest MBO as per your local NTS(D) plan.

2. Winlink. That is, you would need to have a winlink.org address.

3. An email address.

That's it. Just about everybody here can manage one or more of those. But here's the thing:

No matter which of the three (above) that I use, I'll get SAR/ORS/DRS and Target Station 'points' on my monthly reports. Why is that? Because the PSCM and the MPG both say so. Gonna be a big month...

And for you, if you use #1 or #2 above to send OR receive these messages, you'll get credit as well. Number 3? Not so much... Or, actually, not at all. Your choice.

What formats will be used? For #1 above, I'll be using NTS format for all outgoing Pactor MBO messages. But for Winlink, I'll be utilizing "radio email" format, which is to say, no specific format at all, as per the PSCM and the MPG. They're all good.

As for your use of #3 above, you have the option of using a particular format (NTS or otherwise) or not, since I'll be getting them via Winlink anyway.

I have a questionnaire / survey ready to send out, asking everybody I know (hams, non-hams, anybody) if they'd like to participate, on which of the three modes specified above, and how many maximum they would be willing to take. Remember, there's no particular action required of you, although acknowledgments would be appreciated.

But I'm holding off on the survey for just a bit in order to see how much potential activity and/or discussion this generates.

I do have a reason for all this. Certain Sections and even whole States suffer from a pretty bad disconnect between various groups that used to participate together in SETs. Today, one "side" either fails or is very reluctant to admit that they have no long-haul capability whatsoever. I'm betting that my follow-up SET article to Steve Ewald at HQ as well as to our Division Director and Vice Director who put out a wonderfully vibrant newsletter will go a long way toward helping point out what could be if everybody would agree to agree.

What about you? Think you might be interested?

73, Luck WA4STO

[gil]

Hello Luck,

You might want to clarify what all those abbreviations mean... The only one I know is "NTS," none of the others  :o
I am sure I am not the only one... Have a great day  :)

Gil.

[WA4STO]

KF5RHI - Thanks for the message:

SET message recipients:

I have you listed as wanting to receive SET messages during the first week of October at this address: kf5rhi@winlink.org

*** Please advise the maximum number of messages you'd be willing to accept.

No relay or delivery attempts are necessary.  Individual receipt messages including message number and name are encouraged but not required.

The text will look something like this:

EXAMPLE ONLY, NOT LIVE
---

NR 7777 TEST W WA4STO 30 WILBER NE OCT 1
K7FLI
BT
TEST MESSAGE LOCAL AGENCY REQUESTING HEALTH AND WELFARE REPORT ON TIMOTHY JENSEN
KD0WNV THOUGHT TO HAVE TRAVELED TO YOUR AREA DUE TO
DISASTER SITUATION HERE REQUEST CHECK OF SHELTER DATABASES
BT
LEIGH HURDER WILBER NEBRASKA

I have sent this same message (above) to your Winlink address.  Please respond that way.  Best 73 - Luck

[RichardSinFWTX]

Very true!  I'm still a newbie with a lot of this; but I'm willing to help out.  I don't know anything about the various message formats; but the way I see it, there's time!

Just tell me when to be on the air and I'll make sure my ears are up!

[WA4STO]

KF5RHI de WA4STO

That's the beautiful thing about Winlink and Pactor; you don't need to necessarily be on the air at any given time to participate.

For example, since I have injected a message for you into the WL2K system, you're free to log in via your VHF setup.  You'll find that the message is awaiting you and you can reply when you have the opportunity.

Thanks for the help; much appreciated!

73

Luck, WA4STO

[WA4STO]

KF5RHI asks:

Can you see if I understand this right...

     NR 7777 TEST W WA4STO 30 WILBER NE OCT 1  <--My message number will be different.  Is "Test W" standing for "Test WinLink"
     K7FLI  <--What's this?
     BT      <--I've seen this in other messages before.  "Beginning transmission"??
     TEST MESSAGE LOCAL AGENCY REQUESTING HEALTH AND WELFARE REPORT ON TIMOTHY JENSEN
     KD0WNV THOUGHT TO HAVE TRAVELED TO YOUR AREA DUE TO
     DISASTER SITUATION HERE REQUEST CHECK OF SHELTER DATABASES
     BT
     LEIGH HURDER WILBER NEBRASKA  <--This is you, so I'll sub my own info!  THAT part I can figure out!  ;)

How long is this test to run?  I don't really have a maximum amount of messages I'll handle I guess.  How many are you thinking?

--------------
Everyone is free to establish their own timing for SET, but generally in the October 5 to 6 time frame.  In my case, I'll be sending the messages during the first week of October.

Yes, *IF* you generate your messages (for example, acknowlegments of having received mine) you will use your own message numbering system.

But in the case of mine to you (or ANY that you receive) you may not change anything about the message.

"K7FLI" is the addressee of this example message.  The ones you get during SET will have the addressee as KF5RHI@winlink.org

The characters after the message number (in this case "TEST W") represent the precedence of the message or how quickly it must be handled.  Normally you will only see "R" for routine.  In this case, the precedence is "W" for welfare.  We precede anything other than "R" with the word "Test" so as to alert the others that this is only a test.

"BT" is commonly known to mean "Break Text".  There are two BTs in an NTS message.  If you count the exact number of words between the BTs, you will come up with the "check" or the word count, which is the very same as the number following the station of origin.  In this case, 30.  If you don't get a check of 30,  you should query the operator to get it right.

Thanks again!

73

LH

[gil]

I am willing to receive and reply to a FEW Winlink messages. Good for me to practice using it from time to time. I'll receive and reply on the air too  8)

Gil.

[WA4STO]

FB, Gil -

What's your winlink address?  I'll set you up for five SET messages if that's ok

73

Luck

[RichardSinFWTX]

For those of us new to message traffic I found a primer...

     http://www.w7arc.com/nts/

[WA4STO]

KF5RHI sent me the following yesterday:

----------
NR 0001 TEST W KF5RHI 30 FORT WORTH TX OCT 1
KF5RHI
BT
TIMOTHY JENSEN KD0WNV CHECKED IN AT SOUTH FORT WORTH SHELTER 0715 AND DEPARTED
0915 ENROUTE TO FAMILY IN AUSTIN TX
BT
RICHARD SLUSHER FORT WORTH TX

Questions: 
1.  First line you had "30" after your call sign.  What's that?
2.  Was the message body done properly.  Was wondering if the time should be local or   
    UTC/Zulu.  Should the date be included?  Formatting?

-----------------

Richard, your effort was fabulous.  I particularly liked the thought process you used to make the return message so very believable and applicable to the drill.

1.  The "30" is the "check", that is, the number of words or groups between the two "BT"s.  So in the case of the message I sent to you, a check of 30 would be accurate, whereas your message should have a check of 20. 

2.  The body/text of the message was perfect.  It stipulated what you, the originator, was trying to get across without being too wordy.  If I was the agency or family on the receiving end, I'd be delighted at the news.  Job well done.

3.  As for the time, I believe it's accurate to say that if you don't stipulate the time zone, it's thought to be "local".  If you wanted to make it zulu time, you would format it like so:    0940z   which would be one word in the "check".  Otherwise, I think it's assumed to be local time.

You wouldn't need to include "fort worth" in the signature since it's already stated in the preamble.  Having said that, I see that *I* include 'wilber nebraska' when my wife signs my outgoing.  Go figure...

Again, nice job.  73

Luck

[RichardSinFWTX]

KF5RHI sent me the following yesterday:

----------
NR 0001 TEST W KF5RHI 30 FORT WORTH TX OCT 1
KF5RHI
BT
TIMOTHY JENSEN KD0WNV CHECKED IN AT SOUTH FORT WORTH SHELTER 0715 AND DEPARTED
0915 ENROUTE TO FAMILY IN AUSTIN TX
BT
RICHARD SLUSHER FORT WORTH TX

Questions: 
1.  First line you had "30" after your call sign.  What's that?
2.  Was the message body done properly.  Was wondering if the time should be local or   
    UTC/Zulu.  Should the date be included?  Formatting?

-----------------

Richard, your effort was fabulous.  I particularly liked the thought process you used to make the return message so very believable and applicable to the drill.

1.  The "30" is the "check", that is, the number of words or groups between the two "BT"s.  So in the case of the message I sent to you, a check of 30 would be accurate, whereas your message should have a check of 20. 

2.  The body/text of the message was perfect.  It stipulated what you, the originator, was trying to get across without being too wordy.  If I was the agency or family on the receiving end, I'd be delighted at the news.  Job well done.

3.  As for the time, I believe it's accurate to say that if you don't stipulate the time zone, it's thought to be "local".  If you wanted to make it zulu time, you would format it like so:    0940z   which would be one word in the "check".  Otherwise, I think it's assumed to be local time.

You wouldn't need to include "fort worth" in the signature since it's already stated in the preamble.  Having said that, I see that *I* include 'wilber nebraska' when my wife signs my outgoing.  Go figure...

Again, nice job.  73

Luck

Starting to get the hang of it...

So the second line where I had MY callsign was right?

[WA4STO]

KF5RHI -

Oh, I didn't see that 'second line'.

That would be the place where the addressee of your message goes.

Thus, you could have it say:

Leigh Hurder
Wilber Nebraska

or

WA4STO
Wilber Nebraska

You are SO getting the hang of this!

BTW, my name is "Luck" and my wife's name is "Leigh".  I often sign my outgoing messages with her name, or to put it another way, I often ORIGINATE messages from her.  That has the benefit of almost doubling my traffic "scores" each month.  Here's my traffic report for a previous month:

NR 6275 R WA4STO 18  WILBER NE AUG 1
NF0N
SOUTH SIOUX CITY NE
BT
OFFICIAL RELAY STATION REPORT JULY
X ORIGINATED 653 RECEIVED 230
SENT 872 DELIVERED 4 TOTAL
1759 X 73
BT
LUCK

So here's your test question for the day:  What does the "18" mean in the preamble, and how did I come to that figure?

73

Luck

[RichardSinFWTX]

Luck,

Ha!  I know this one!  18 is the number of words (or groups) in the body of the message.  Error checking.

Nice to meetcha, Luck, BTW!  Richard here!

[gil]

Well, I couldn't raise any Winlink stations right now, I'm sure I'll have better luck tonight...

Gil.

[RichardSinFWTX]

I'm lucky in that I've got a VHF gateway about 5 miles from my house.  Barring any major issues I should be able to hit it with no problem!