Non-Ham: Radio Service ideas needed

[MACGYVR]

The setup you need is a linked repeater system. Ideally it would be a repeater every 25 miles (just throwing out that number for coverage) So the 14 repearters are linked via various means like internet, 10mtr links, 220Mhz, links, 440 etc The entire system acts as one giant repeater.

I used a system like this in NY calle dthe N2HJD system. I think at that time it was 8 repeaters all linked and you could use everything from 10mtrs to 1.2Ghz to access it depending on where you were in western NY. That covered from about Buffalo to Syracuse and worked great. But it took years of engineering to get it right and cash.

But as you can see the 350miles is a problem. Albany to Buffalo is 300 miles so basically you are talking the distance from the canadian border to the mass border if it was in NY.

There is no single system out there that will do what you want. You need relay stations setup with HF radios. Those HF radios share a common frequency and operate as a net. They then will pass off information to the person responsible for local VHF net operation for their section of the route. This VHF person then will be on a freq that is assigned to that section and is used by the mobile units. Mobile unit calls the VHF net who then passes info to the HF operatior who then sends info to HQ and vice versa. If the end of the route needs to talk to the beginning of the route then the HF station at the end calls netcontrol, netcontrol calls the begining of the route and confirms wether they can hear the end directly. If so the net control allows the direct comms, if not netcontrol relays the information between the 2 stations.

This is basic emergency comms 101 in amateur radio and is the most effective way to communicate over large distances.

 

[Turbocharged]

The FCC no longer licenses organizations on that service. Each volunteer would have to be licensed individually. This would have been ideal for the site areas, but the change in license policy makes it both too expensive and too difficult to do.

IIRC, each licensee has a license for a specific # of portable, mobile, base, and repeater stations. If I'm correct in that thinking, only one person would need a license, with the amount of radios being used not exceeding his/her limit. I also recall that the # of different radios effects the cost of the license.

That's just what I remember. It's been a while since I read up on GMRS, I'll have to do some research.
Till then, the above information is pure speculation. IANAL

 

[Talon3]

Heres my thought:

Instead of a fixed netcontrol, have a roving one. Rent or borrow a RV. Have maps a cell phone bank and 3 or 4 people to staff it.
Put it in the middle of the motorcade. This will cut down the distance required to transmit over.
Every vehicle gets a Scanner, programmed with the frequencies :ham, frs, gmrs, cb whatever to be used. This will ensure everybody in the motorcade can at least listen to all the chatter.
Each vehicle would have the phone number to the netcontrol vehicle.

*interesting side note= a google voice equipped phone would be great because you could give out 1 # and have say all the phones ring in the netcontrol vehicle. Callers would never get a busy signal or voice mail provided you add the other phones to the profile.

Something I would decide on is maybe centralize the mechanics. This will free up a rider space in the smaller vehicles. Using the netcontrol vehicle as a dispatch center they could take requests for mechanics and parts keep inventory and dispatch them out, in a more efficient manor.

Worst case you could buy a FCC business license buy commercial radios and run them without licensing the individual operators. This would be the most expensive way, but easiest on the non-technical users.


X=support vehicles + = mechanics vehicles with spare parts C= netcontrol vehicle M= medic dedicated response vehicle S = spotter vehicle with GPS

S4 S3 + + M M x x x x x x x x x x + + M M x x x x x x x x x x + + M M x x x x x x x x x x + + M M M x x x x x x x x x x C M M + + x x x x x x x x x x + + M M x x x x x x x x x x + + M M x x x x x x x x x x + + M M x x x x x x x x x x S2 S1

So in the above picture we have at the far right Spotter 1 and spotter 2 they will have GPS navigation to keep the rolling motorcade on course and as a way to provide absolute locations to the netcontrol vehicle
next come the minivans to pick up riders and assist as required with the medics
next are the repair vehicles with combined mechanics and spare parts
in the middle is the rolling netcontrol
at the rear are spotters 3 and 4 with gps navigation to ensure nobody gets lost from the pack

The M vehicles would be used to begin transportation to the nearest medical facility of anyone who needs to go while calling 911 for an ambulance intercept if needed.

Each vehicle should have at least 1 cell phones 2 batteries vehicle charger, scanner of all freqs used, whatever radio platform(s) decided upon.

 

[ochmude]

Have you looked into MURS at all? More power and range than FRS, but no licensing requirement like GMRS. That's what we use at my security company. There is also no restriction on modifying the antennas like with FRS, so you can run up a vertical to get more range.

 

[Chris]

Talon3. An interesting idea. The biggest hurdle would be the number of people we have in the command center. I don't have the exact number handy, but it's between 20 and 30.

At our longest, the ride is roughly 80 miles from the first to the last rider. Since everyone is allowed to go at their own pace (it isn't a race) you have the people who can't stop thinking it is a race out front trying to get to the end of the 118 mile Day 1 in less than 5 hours (and then complain the beer tent isn't ready yet), while you have the more casual riders who will take 14+ hours. And in the middle, you can barely squeak a motorcycle by the 'pack' let alone an RV. On smaller roads without lines the pack spans from gutter to gutter. Patrols leap and patrol back to cover as much ground as possible. I've done rides where the mechanics were only at the pit stops and riders HATE it. They want to ride every mile. Only way you can get the response is to have the people on the road. In fact, things are so tight in the beginning, we station vans at 1 mile intervals and allow the ride to catch them. Just no other way to get the coverage.

ochmude,

MURS would be ideal IF we could use a repeater. 2 watts on a handheld would never carry across the town of Provincetown (our largest deployment site) GPRS does allow repeaters, but the FCC no longer allows organizations to apply for licenses. Families only.

In many ways, this whole ordeal is like trying to deal with gun laws. (^_^)

 

[ochmude]

Yeah, the repeater restriction is a bit irritating. I actually was cursing that particular restriction at 12:15 this morning as I was getting off shift at my security site. We could really use a simplex repeater on top of one of the apartment buildings to boost our radio coverage.

 

[Realtor MA]

You just need some hams who are willing to ride!!
Space them out and there you go.

How about recruiting the newly formed(forming) NES ham radio club. We could provide comms and security coverage

 

[Chris]

You just need some hams who are willing to ride!!
Space them out and there you go.

How about recruiting the newly formed(forming) NES ham radio club. We could provide comms and security coverage

Riders MUST (regardless of other duties) raise the minimum for their route. No exceptions. We turn away far too many people every year to give away a spot.

Our overnight is at the Mass Maritime Academy and we use schools of various kinds on the route for rest areas. No can carry without extraordinary efforts or LEO.

 

[Coyote33]

How about Nextel Direct Connect, or other similar cellular calling services? I would think a big operation like PanMassChallenge would be able to cough up some bucks for proper radios though. I bet they have big banquets for the execs, no reason they can't spend some on the event itself.