The Wireless Messaging Newsletter

Good morning. My name is Greg Sarratt. I am an amateur or ham radio operator. My FCC issued amateur call sign is W4OZK. I have been a radio amateur for over 22 years and hold the highest class of FCC license. I am the Alabama State Manager for the ARRL, the national association for Amateur Radio. Thank you for allowing me to speak about my experiences in the Katrina relief effort.

During Hurricane Katrina, amateur radio provided volunteer operators to support many served agencies such as Emergency Management, National Weather Service, Hurricane Watch and the American Red Cross. This is business as usual for many radio operators in the Amateur Radio Emergency Service, or ARES, nationwide.

After Katrina, amateur radio provided many more volunteer operators to support an even larger host of served agencies that requested our services. The ARRL coordinated hundreds of amateur radio operators who traveled to the devastated area and provided critical communications capabilities. This work continued for many weeks.

Katrina almost wiped out communications in southern Mississippi. Both Public Service and amateur communications were decimated. Local communications workers and volunteer amateur operators, suffering their own personal obstacles were greatly reduced in numbers, equipment and capacity during the storm.

I arrived on the afternoon of August 30^th in Mobile, Alabama to set up and provide communications for a Southern Baptist Kitchen site in a joint Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) / Southern Baptist communications role.

I was called by the ARRL on September 1^st and was asked to establish relief communications for the American Red Cross. The American Red Cross quickly realized they had no communications into the disaster area and requested an immediate force of at least 700 volunteer amateur operators to set up and maintain communications at numerous locations across the Alabama and Mississippi disaster area. The Louisiana disaster area was a secondary task for us and was handled by amateurs in that state, but we did provide them a few amateurs near the end.

On September 3^rd I arrived at the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Headquarters in Montgomery, Alabama and immediately established an amateur radio operations post in this center. The Montgomery Amateur Radio Club was instrumental in providing a radio station and local support throughout this operation. The next day began a 37 day effort that would ultimately result in over 200 amateur radio operators from 35 states and Canada being processed and deployed to the devastated region through the Montgomery center. Amateurs were deployed to multiple Mississippi counties and towns to set up at kitchens, shelters, Emergency Operation Centers, distribution centers, warehouses and various command and control centers.

The sufficiency and effectiveness of amateur radio to reestablish communications systems with equipment they brought in, much of it owned by these volunteers and quickly building complete systems from scratch, was tremendous. Amateur radio operators themselves were part of the solution, providing experienced communications operators to replace and supplement local public service communications personnel in the devastated area. These systems of equipment and operators were very effective, not only for amateur purposes but in support of Emergency Management, Red Cross, Southern Baptist, Salvation Army and many other organizations.

In each town we set up a High Frequency (HF) amateur radio station to communicate out of the area to Montgomery and the outside world. We also set up a communications network connecting every Red Cross facility in a town on a local short range radio frequency. Our network included fixed and mobile disaster vehicle stations.

Hundreds of volunteer amateur radio operators made up the largest Amateur Radio Emergency Service army in history to provide critical emergency communications support. Our army included amateurs of all genders, ages, types and backgrounds. Many worked from home, supporting field operations; and others were field-deployed in the devastated region. When needed, amateurs provided many services in addition to communications, working long hours, living in terrible conditions, contending with heat, bugs, ants and in many cases much worse.

We deployed several hundred thousand dollars worth of equipment and resources to the area. Individual amateurs and dozens of amateur radio manufacturers donated thousands of dollars of radio equipment and resources. Several amateur-owned self-contained communications vans and trailers were effectively utilized in the disaster area.

Radio amateurs bring a wealth of resources to the public service and emergency communications table: Most amateurs possess a broad range of communications and technical skills outside of amateur radio, thus creating interoperability, at both the systems and operations levels. Many amateurs are familiar with Emergency Management, public service and Red Cross communications, practices and equipment. Amateurs practice many of their communications skills on a daily or weekly basis. They bring the ability to set up communications systems quickly and then effectively communicate with them.

Amateur radio operators provided technical skills in addition to communications. During the relief effort the technical knowledge of amateurs was thoroughly utilized: Amateurs repaired EMA repeaters, radios, antennas, generators, forklifts, telephone systems and a host of other electronic items.

The most important feature that amateur radio brings to the table in emergency and disaster communications is interoperability. You may have heard amateur radio described as “old technology.” That’s not really true; we use state-of-the-art Digital Signal Processing, surface-mount construction, advanced software and hardware technology, but our newest equipment can communicate with our oldest. We use many bands throughout the frequency spectrum, supporting short, medium and long-range communications.

The individual amateur radio operator is a part of the interoperable system. Amateurs demonstrated their adaptability by communicating successfully with a multitude of amateur, commercial, public service, EMA, Salvation Army and Red Cross radio systems and personnel.

Also, I am proud to mention, the amateur radio emergency service received favorable mentions in the WHAT WENT RIGHT section of, The Federal Response To Hurricane Katrina Lessons Learned report recently submitted to the President of the United States.

And amateur radio also gained praise for our efforts in the A FAILURE OF INITIATIVE hurricane Katrina report generated by the Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina.

And finally, our interface and working relationship with the FCC personnel contributed to our success.

There are many ways to improve disaster preparedness. We have conducted several lessons-learned meetings and certainly have learned many lessons from this event.

The ARRL and amateur radio will continue to Prepare, Train, Practice and Test ourselves for the next event. Public Service is a large component of the charter of the amateur radio service. We support hundreds of public service activities across the United States each year.

There should be permanent amateur radio stations built in to Federal, State and local emergency management operation centers, select public service, Red Cross chapters and other served agencies. Local teams of amateurs would support these operations.

The ARRL has greatly increased emphasis on training over the past five years and this has paid off, but we need additional assets to provide enhanced training for our operators.

The ARRL must set up additional training and management of a special core of first responder amateur operators that can immediately go into a disaster area and setup vital communications systems.

The ARRL must raise the awareness of amateur radio within the government agencies, Emergency Management and first responder community such as police, fire fighters and emergency medical personnel. This awareness will let the first responder community know what amateur radio can do for them.

The ARRL needs a nationally recognized credential system to be effective when disaster strikes, possibly a FCC credential issued to each responder. An FCC credential makes sense because the amateur radio service is part of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau and licensed by the FCC. This credential will enable amateurs to quickly and effectively go into a disaster area, and be immediately accepted by Emergency Management and first responders.

The FCC and ARRL work together to issue FCC credentials to the ARRL for amateur radio responders.

The FCC and the ARRL should be key partners in the amateur awareness program for multiple government agencies such as FEMA, state and local Emergency Management and first responder community.

The FCC and ARRL should continue working together on critical frequency spectrum protection and interference avoidance issues.

In Conclusion:
The disasters of 2005 have proven the worth of Amateur Radio Service and its selfless cadre of operators; we were tested as never before. While we wish the summer had been uneventful and that our annual Field Day preparedness exercise won’t happen again until next June, we need to be vigilant and recognize that to be fully prepared, we must assume the next “big one” is just around the corner.

During this event, my experiences reaffirmed that many amateur or ham radio operators are much more than hobbyists. I saw amateurs sacrifice, contribute and succeed in providing many weeks of critical communications and additional services to meet dynamic and unique needs. Amateurs created interoperable emergency communications systems where there were none and saved lives as a result. Moreover, they brought the love of public service, a variety of communications, contesting, training, and public service skills and most of all by applying the amateur “can do spirit” to help people in need.

This was indeed, an example of our favorite phrase, “When all else fails… Amateur Radio”.

It was my pleasure meeting and working with hundreds of amateur radio operators during this event. I am proud to have been a part of this relief effort.

American Radio Relay League
225 Main Street
Newington, CT 061111494
www.arrl.org

Subject: PTC Meeting and AAPC Wireless Forum
Date: March 28, 2006 5:37:30 PM CST
To: PTC distribution list

Hello Everyone, it's time to get together for our biannual face-to-face meeting of the PTC. This is the initial call for attendees and topics for discussion. Please let me know if you plan to attend and if you have items for the agenda. I will send out agenda as we get closer to the meeting.

This year's first meeting will be held on May 31^st from 8:00 AM to 12 Noon in Myrtle Beach in the same venue as the AAPC Wireless Forum. Please visit www.pagingcarriers.org for information about the hotel and the great AAPC Wireless Forum. Be sure to make hotel reservations and register for the Wireless Forum soon. Last year, the hotel got completely booked.

The AAPC has invited the PTC to present at a session if we would like to do so. If anyone has an idea or would like to present something on behalf of the PTC, please email me or call me ASAP to firm up.

In addition, we will need a corporate sponsor to help defray costs for the meeting. The costs will be around $2000. If your company would like to be the sponsor, please let me know so arrangements can be made.

Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer, said in a recent interview that his company is looking into the possibility of creating its own Apple iPod like device, and possibly combining it with a cell phone.

“In five years are people really going to carry two devices? One device that is their communication device, one device that is music?,” Ballmer told Fortune magazine. “There’s going to be a lot of opportunities to get back in that game. We want to be in that game. Expect to see announcements from us in that area in the next 12 months.”

Of course, in the digital entertainment and communication industry, 12 months is quite a long time, and most analysts think that Apple will have created its own converged iPod device within that time. This means that Microsoft will still be a little behind when they’re product hits shelves, so it better be good.

3/10/06 - Airspan Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: AIRN), a provider of WiMAX and WiFi based broadband wireless access networks, and carrier class Voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP) solutions, announced support for Mobile WiMAX on its AS.MAX WiMAX product line and the first details of its Mobile WiMAX USB device, called the "16eUSB".

"The 16eUSB is the first Mobile WiMAX USB device. It is designed to be fully compatible with the IEEE's 802.16e-2005 standard and the WiMAX Forum Mobile WIMAX System Profile, and to support the Profile's intelligence with MIMO ("multiple-input multiple-output"), Beam-forming smart antennas, Idle and Sleep modes and Handover. As a quad-band device that will operate in all key WiMAX frequency bands, including 2.3-2.4 GHz, 2.5-2.7 GHz, 3.3-3.7 GHz, and the 4.9-5.4 GHz bands, it will allow a user to have access to WiMAX networks virtually anywhere in the world," said Eric Stonestrom, President and CEO of Airspan Networks.

Airspan also announced support for Mobile WiMAX on AS.MAX, its class-leading WiMAX product line. Airspan's high-end AS.MAX Base Stations, known as HiperMAX and MicroMAX-SDR, will require a "software only" upgrade to enable them to support Mobile WiMAX. With the upgrade, the base stations will simultaneously support both 256 OFDM Fixed CPEs and SOFDMA Mobile WiMAX laptop cards, handsets and USB devices.

Paul Senior, Airspan's Vice President of Marketing and Product Management, commented: "Operators combining the 16eUSB with a high performance, mobile-enhanced base station like HiperMAX will deliver a completely new broadband wireless experience for their users. When MIMO and Beam-forming antennas are used with a device such as the 16eUSB that properly supports the full Mobile WiMAX specification, users' experiences are elevated to a new level. Always-on, any-place access to the internet will change the way in which people work, relax and play."

Sunao Takatori, President and CEO of Yozan Inc., observed: "We are proud to be a sponsor of the development of Airspan's 16eUSB Mobile WiMAX device. It will enable Yozan to deliver our vision of a truly holistic communication service, which binds together wireline and wireless infrastructures and provides users with global access to the Internet, anywhere and anytime."

San Jose, Calif.— VoIP provider 8x8 will sell its VoIP-enabled Uniden UIP160P cordless phone through Home Depot. The 5.8GHz digital cordless will retail for a suggested $99. Once 8x8 service is activated, consumers receive a $100 mail-in rebate. Home Depot will become 8x8's largest retail partner and marks the emergence of VoIP as a “mass market product,” said Huw Rees, 8x8's sales and marketing VP. The UIP160P is expandable to 10 handsets and offers a speakerphone, 20 distinctive ringtones, caller ID, handset paging and message-waiting light indicator. 8x8's calling services include unlimited dialing within the United States and Canada for $19.99 per month, which includes caller ID, call forwarding, three-way conferencing, voicemail, E-911, voicemail-to-e-mail notification, find me/follow me, simultaneous ring, seven-digit dialing and local number portability.

Trevose, Pa. — WorldGate Communications announced a second-generation Ojo videophone that's less expensive than the original. The Ojo Shadow will carry a suggested retail of $399 with a $150 rebate available, to bring it to $249. The phone offers the same specifications as the original Ojo minus the 2.4GHz cordless handset. Instead, it offers a speakerphone and a headset jack for plugging in optional headsets. WorldGate will keep the original Ojo on the market and bump its suggested retail down from $799, to $499 (or $349 with the $150 rebate). The videophones work over a broadband Internet connection with service provided by WorldGate. The original Ojo had been distributed and marketed by Motorola, but the two companies terminated the relationship in February. WorldGate will handle marketing for both Ojo phones.

San Jose, Calif.— CompUSA plans to offer a hosted VoIP solution for small business users in partnership with service provider Bandwidth.com and hardware supplier Vodavi. The 6800 Series Hosted IP terminals provide “carrier-grade” service and is the first such product to be sold through a retail channel, CompUSA said. The terminals support from 10 to 200 voice lines and offer four-digit dialing, automated attendant, voicemail and browser-based system administration. Pricing on the terminals wasn't set at press time.

San Jose, Calif. — Wireless product developer RTX America announced a firmware update for its USB DUALphone cordless PC phone for Skype calling. The update, which is available free online, lets the phone access Skype voicemail, receive incoming chat alerts, add call waiting and pull down more Skype functionality from the PC to the handset. The phone's base station connects to a PC for Skype calls and to a landline for traditional telephone calls. Different ringtones distinguish between incoming Skype and landline calls. It offers the ability to toggle between Skype calls and Skype chat notification. The DUALphone is based on the DECT 6.0 frequency with an indoor range of 150 feet and an outdoor range of 1,000 feet. The DUALphone is currently shipping for a suggested $139.99.

That's all for this week. Let me know if you come across any news for next week's newsletter.



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