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![Previous (earlier) Story](/images/sty-down.gif "Hamvention "slave" pays debt for football loss"){kind=small} Previous: Hamvention "slave" pays debt for football loss |  Next: Broadband over Power Line video available |
June 18, 2004 -- The Southern Oklahoma
Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) Club in Ardmore, Oklahoma, recently
participated in a mass inoculation drill. The Carter County Health Department
sponsored the exercise in association with the Oklahoma Department of Health and
the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The drill scenario, a smallpox
release, marked the third of its type in Oklahoma this year. Although the local
Amateur Radio community was not included in planning the drill, ARES District
Emergency Coordinator, Mike Key, N5KEY, said health officials told the hams to
show up during the "walk-around" day, and "they would see if they needed us."
When the hams arrived, the incident commander presented them with a box of
Family Radio Service (FRS) transceivers from the state health department--units
that had not proven up to the task in the first two drills. The ARES group
checked out the FRS units and determined they'd work okay within a building but
not between buildings. At the officials' request, Key developed a plan to
coordinate communication between buildings and cleared it with the incident
commander and the primary communications manager. After checking in the morning
of the drill, the team set up stations in the command center at at strategic
locations, including the inoculation station and triage area. The net was run
on 146.550 FM simplex, with two or three operators at each station. Traffic
passed from the command center to the appropriate station via ham radio and to
its final destination within the building via FRS. Key reports the net was very
busy and ran smoothly. After the drill was done, Mindy Spohn, director of the
Carter County Health Department said, "I am now a firm believer in your group
and your abilities." Key said Amateur Radio definitely will take part in the
planning of any future drills. A dozen amateur volunteers participated in the
drill.
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