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About Winlink, RACES, and emergency
operations at the Riverside County Fire Department.
An example of Winlink interface with
civil emergency operations
The Riverside County Fire department, in cooperation with the California Department of Forestry and Fire protection, operates close to 100 fire stations, 3 inmate fire crew camps, and an air support program. The department to date is at a call load of 100,000 incidents a year, covers 7,280 square miles, and handles fire, EMS, rescue, major area wide emergencies, and is the lead agency for disaster planning and response.
We primarily uses a VHF based duplex radio system of 40 hilltop mobile relays, 500 mobiles, 750 handy-talkies, 1000 radio alert pagers, with a large mix of wireless devices for administrative use. VHF low band, microwave, and data networks, provide the connectivity for dispatching and incident support. There is a primary 9-1-1 center, two alternate dispatch facilities that are co-located within the county's two emergency operations centers. To ensure our incident support capabilities, the department maintains three mobile communication centers, staffed with both paid and volunteer staff.
There are about 700 full-time paid fire staff, 750 volunteers both fire/EMS trained, that includes the amateur radio support base (RACES). Dispatch and fire protection covers the county, 15 cities under contract, three sovereign reservations, and 1 fire protection district. The 9-1-1 center has 35 dispatchers, 7 fire captains, 2 battalion chiefs, and 1 division chief, with support staff in communications and information technology.
The Amateur radio support program, under the administrative wing of the county emergency services office, enjoys multiple mixed band repeaters, linked networks, and RACES operating locations that employ HF radio, due to the size of the protected area.
The RACES program, like many others, has faced evolutionary changes in its support role and operator base.
With budget support, the
Winlink 2000 PMBO, KF6NPC, operates to provide HF radio linking for internet/BBS email by way of two way radio.
This RACES system has shown that even though it's current message load of 35 emails a day and 200 MB of data, is minor to normal internet linked systems, it is fully stand alone, and can be accessed via radio from a remote location.
With the advent of a simple HF radio, or a local packet VHF interface, and the AirMail user software, a message with an attachment, can be sent from the field to an internet address. With a portable set up, HF-to-HF transfer is also available to get the traffic out of an affected area, that no longer has a viable internet backbone.
For further information, contact Mike Burton, N6KZB, Chief, Communications & Technology, Riverside County Fire CDF-Riverside Unit
Personal Information:
N6KZB is Communications & Technology Manager for Riverside County Fire/ CDF
He manages all aspects of telecommunications, radio, microwave, and I.T. Also oversees the county RACES program, of which the MBO was provided for.
Advanced class license and have two club calls W6CDF and KF6NPC (Winlink PMBO)
Station Information:
Pentium IV by HP, w/UPS
Radio: Kenwood TS-570 at 100 watts w/ battery back up
Ant: B & W broad band dipole at 50 foot
TNC: SCS PTC II Pro
TelPac node on 145.03 as KF6NPC
System is rack mounted at a commercial location and secure.
Scan Center Frequencies for KF6NPC :
7067.9 7103.7 (P3) 10146.2 (P3) 14096.0 (P3)
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