Simplex Exercise

DATE: 1st Saturday of Each Month

TIME: 11.00 am 
DURATION: 45-90 MIN
GOAL:
The goal is to establish who can be heard on various frequencies, bands, and modes while building operational expertise. In the event of a bad day, we encourage well prepared station operators to play a key communications role.

NCS SET PASS PHRASE FOR DURATION OF THE EXERCISE

For example: March Madness

STARTING FREQUENCY: (see Exercise Frequency List)
Net begins on repeaters

• PRIMARY: 147.225(+) PL-107.2 (CLICK DETAILS)
• SECONDARY: 145.29(-) PL-110.9 (CLICK DETAILS)

CROSS BAND REPEATER

The 147.225(+) PL-107.2  and 444.650 (+) PL-127.3 repeaters are linked in full duplex, cross band mode and some operators may find UHF performs better.

NEW OPERATIONAL PROCEDURE

MAJOR CHANGE: NET STARTS ON 147.225

An assigned NCS station will guard on 145.29 repeater and advise stations to QSY to 147.225 repeater to be checked into the net.

WHY THE CHANGE: We are adjusting our mission to become more inclusive of CERT stations and to help these stations meet their objectives. The 147.225 repeater has better county coverage than the 145.29 repeater.

CERT GOAL: WHO CAN BE HEARD BY WHO

This means when stations are checking into the 147.225 repeater for the first time, they will advise NCS their CALLSIGN and if a CERT STATION, say their  CERT EOA NUMBER (EG. N4BRF EOA 5 OR N4BRF EOA 6).

This will be used to construct a county map so message relays may be conduced .

LOGGING:
NetLogger for station and assigned alternate NCS

QUERY STATION CAPABILITY:
1. Bands (UHF, VHF, HF 10m thru 80m)
2. Digital (DMR, FLDIGI, FT8)
3. Modes (SSB, USB, LSB, FM, CW)
4. CERT trained (YES / NO)

AFTER ACTION REPORT (AAR):
All station may provide feedback on 145.29 after the drill concludes.

TRAINING VIDEO:

Click to View

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RI)

Net Control or any relay station will be requesting checked in stations to provide on a volunteer basis any of the following:

• • • WEATHER
    • SKY CONDITIONS
    • PASS PHRASE

Types of Information Requested – Request for Information (RI)

• • • Road Conditions PALM BEACH COUNTY
    • Local news
    • Internet status
    • Water status
    • Power status FPL STATE MAP
    • Hotel availability
    • Airport Weather KBTC WX
    • Fuel status
    • Telephone status
    • Station status
    • WWV frequency and status WWV

Please note – Analog voice will be our primary mode of communication. We will add more focus on HF. Before this net, stations should prep for their station setup.

PREPARATION:

• • Monday 7pm Voice Com Net on 145.29
  • Daily 6pm NTS Nets on 146.61
  • Wednesday CERT South at 5.15pm on 147.225

SAVE THE DATES

STATION TACTICAL GOALS:

• Check into 147.225 repeater at net start time
• Operate on assigned simplex frequencies
• Be ready to RELAY messages and stations
• Be ready to assume Net Control duty
• Begin using pro-words and other practices
• Make request for info(RI) and response (RRI)

CERT COMPONENT

We will dedicate a portion of this exercise to CERT.

NCS will start the net on the Boynton Beach Repeater at Boynton Beach Fire Rescue (BBFR) near FL Turnpike and query stations 147.225+ (PL 107.2)

CERT Helper Links

CLICK FOR FLORIDA CERT

CLICK FOR PALM BEACH COUNTY CERT

CLICK FOR ICS-205 Incident Radio Com Plan

CLICK FOR Enlarged EOA South PBC

CLICK FOR EOA PBC

• Fully test radios
• Setup the 2 simplex frequencies on their radios
• Become familiar with programming their radios
• Know how to use reverse when on the repeater
• Know how to turn on and off squelch
• Have set up best power and antennas options
• Have identified a location for optimal performance
• Station be ready to relay other stations

The Simplex Exercise will be established on 145.29 mHz  and stations will check-in.

Once NCS has checked in all stations, the following will occur:

• NCS will assign an alternate NCS (ANCS)
• NCS will direct stations to QSY to simplex frequency
• NCS will make a call for stations on simplex frequency
• Each station will provide callsign and signal report
• NCS will record each station’s signal report
• NCS will direct station to QSY to 145.29 mHz
• NCS will report findings on the 145.29 mHz Net
• NCS will ask for comments and then close the net

Stations may desire to remain on the repeater after the net closes to troubleshoot any problem that arise.

CAPABILITIES FOR THE EXERCISE 

• ID stations capabilities
• FLDigi and SlowScan
• Use approved pro-words
• Pass station messages eg brief news item
• Assign stations as Alternate NCS
• Alternate NCS report checked-in stations

Optional Capabilities follows:

• Test HF and integrated component
• Signal reports and QTH all stations
• Passing health and welfare
• Pass digital traffic
• Pass slow-scan pictures

What we choose to exercise will be by consensus and as suggested by participants.

REMINDERS AND OVERVIEW OF OUR EXERCISE

Because these exercises test our abilities and capabilities on simplex frequencies, we need to rely on clear communications. Using prowords and signal reports helps remove any use of coded communications such as 10-4 or “copy that”. Please note the use of the pro-words and examples.

READABILITY AND SIGNAL STRNGTH

• LOUD AND CLEAR
• GOOD READABLE
• FAIR READABLE
• WEAK READABLE
• WEAK UNREADABLE
• UNREADABLE

PRO-WORDS

For these exercises, stations should become familiar with use of this list of pro-words.

• AFFIRMATIVE – station response to YES or NO question
• CORRECTION – error made, continue with last word correctly transmitted
• FIGURE (S) – Numerals or numbers follow
• I SAY AGAIN – station repeating transmission or portion indicated
• NEGATIVE – station response to YES or NO question
• OUT – end transmission, no answer is required or expected
• OVER – end transmission, response is necessary, go ahead transmit
• RELAY (TO) – transmit message to all addressees
• ROGER – station acknowledgment of message copied
• SPEAK SLOWER – transmission is too fast, reduce speed
• WAIT – pause for a few seconds

Examples of use

• N4BRF THIS IS W1AW NEGATIVE OVER
• N4BRF THIS IS W1AW ROGER OUT
• THIS IS N4BRF SAY AGAIN CALLSIGN OVER
• N4BRF THIS IS W1AW ASSUME ALTERNATE CONTROL OUT
• THIS IS N4BRF FOR NET CONTROL ADDITIONAL STATIONS OVER
• N4BRF THIS IS W1AW RADIO CHECK OVER
• N4BRF THIS IS W1AW WEAK READABLE OUT

“THIS IS” may be omitted by stations for brevity.

DO’S AND DONT’S

• WHEN CHECKING IN, SAY YOUR CALLSIGN SLOWLY EG: “N4BRF OVER”
• WHEN CHECKING IN, NO NEED TO SAY “THIS IS”
• WHEN CHECKING IN, PLEASE PAUSE BEFORE TRANSMITTING
• PRACTICE AND USE PRO-WORDS
• ADVOID SAYING YOUR NAME, BREVITY IS BEST
• SLOWDOWN, KEEP COOL, PAUSE AS NEEDED

CLICK FOR SENDING VOICE MESSAGES