NSW WICEN NEWS Official Journal of WICEN (NSW) Inc Autumn 1994 From the Editors Bench...... Hi once again from myself, and all the contributors of the newsletter. Many things have happened since the "Winter 93" edition of WICEN NSW NEWS, as you probably guessed, there was no "Spring" edition, this was unfortunate, but if nobody sends me anything, I have nothing to "edit" and so nothing was produced, the one or two items I did have have been included in this edition. Inside... we have exercise reports on SOME of the exercises, I have not heard how the "EXPO" went, nor numerous other events held in the past 6 months. We have reports on 2 different Bike Rides, Car Rally report copies of LOTS of correspondance re the "Bushfires", PLUS (of course) the MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL FORM ! Last year, a few of our Co-ordinators got to attend the WICEN (Victoria) Co-ordinators training seminar held at the Victorian Police Academy. I am sure that the other attendee's (I went in my role as RCO for "HUME in Victoria) got a lot of benefits out of the seminar, and I have heard rumors that this years conference at Goulburn will have a few things "borrowed" to keep us all entertained. Seriously though, the seminar dealt with many aspects of WICEN's operations & responsabilities, the latter being bourne out during a "Mock Trial" conducted by Mr Hal Halenstein, the Victorian Coroner, and all I can say is that I hope I NEVER have to appear before him in real life ! Okay, Enough from me, now open up the following pages and enjoy yourselves. 73.... Phil, DE VK3XQP *************************************** President Retires ___-------------- When I took up the position of President of WICEN (NSW) Inc. I said I would give it two years, if we all lasted that long. Well, I haven't lasted that long. I have received medical advice, from two sources, that I must withdraw, or suffer the consequences. Accordingly, I have today formally resigned as President and from the Committee. I would like to record my appreciation of the support, loyalty and assistance accorded to me by the Committee, and others, during the past couple of years. I will remain a member of WICEN and will still be active at the Regional level at least for the time being, and Rosemary and I hope to continue the associations formed during my time on the Committee. 73, Bill Allen VK2APN. *************************************** BBS NEWS ___----- We have currently 94 verified users on the BBS. Of these approximately 44 are WICEN members, 28 are Amateurs but not members of WICEN, and 22 are neither amateurs or members of WICEN. There have been over 1600 calls made to the BBS since it has been running. I would hope that by the end of this year we would have more then doubled that, and that we would have in excess of 150 users. I would still like to see a lot more members of WICEN using the board on a regular basis, especially regional co-ordinators. UPGRADING BBS SOFTWARE In the next couple of weeks we will be changing the BBS software. Proboard will be installed which will replace Maximus as the BBS Software. This will enable us to improve the services offered on the BBS for all users. I am always looking for suggestions or ideas on how the BBS canbe of use to you the members. If anybody has any ideas on any thing that they would like to see on the BBS please let me know by leaving me a message. Happy BBS'ing Brett Wilkinson VK2XMU Sysop *************************************** Storm Watch ___-------- Following the severe wind and hailstorms in the Northern Rivers Region in November, 1992, Leith VK2EA and Norm VK2BBY both joined the Severe Storm Watch Volunteers set up by the Met. Bureau. As little guidance was available on what to do, they started experimenting on the detection and tracking of thunderstorms by radio as well as by visual means. Equipment was, and still is, the simplest possible, so that any ordinary mortal could do the same thing with what they had on hand. Although better results could be obtained with more sophisticated equipment, they are both still using portable transistor receivers which are capable of tuning down to 150kHz. It was found that these sets, used with headphones can give accurate bearings on isolated storm cells by nullifying the static that they generate to determine the direction. As a thunderstorm cell builds it emits a peculiar "Hashy" radio noise long before it starts throwing lightning. Average storms only produce about one static click per minute, but a rip-tearing one may generate several hundred perminute, and is an indication of the storms intensity. Of course the listener has to learn to disregard all the "DX" static and other generators like electric fences and other appliances. Norm and Leith are some 70km appart and thus have sufficient separation to allow accurate cross bearings to be taken. So far they have successfully tracked nearly every storm that has passed within 300km from Norm's QTH (Palmers Island, near Grafton) and 100km from Leith VK2EA's QTH (Goonellabah,near Lismore). On November 20, 1993 a severe storm hit the small town of Tucabia which is near Grafton. Of the 100 approx houses in the area, some 70 lost or had significant damage to their rooves. At least 3 buildings were totally destroyed (including the local bushfire brigade shed). Norm and Leith recorded their observations that afternoon. The storm cell that hit Tucabia was only one of a number of cells that developed during that afternoon and evening. Most of the cells were trying to build on a hot day (36 deg) against a Northerly wind. The one that hit Tucabia was a storm that built up from the moist and lifting air in a strong South Easterly change. From Lismore (over 100 km away) the cloud was described by Leith VK2EA as a "Tall pillar of dark cloud, standing vertically and Back-Lit by incessant and intense lightning. Statick clicks [on the radio] too numerous to count - estimated at several hundred per minute". Norm VK2BBY stated that "At no stage in the afternoon was there any sign of a severe cell building up. The indications were that cells were only local and that there was insufficient moisture in the atmosphere for sustained cell build up". The building of this severe storm was very rapid. Amateur radio is a perfect vehicle for Severe Storm Watch. Plenty of observers over the coutryside, instant communications and lots of expertise. Leith, Norm and other Amateurs in the Northern Rivers area also send reports of severe storms to the University of New England's Geography and Planning Department,who are also interested in Severe Storms. If anyone is interested in Severe Storm Watching they can contact Leith VK2EA at Fiford Ave, GOONELLABAH, 2480 or on Phone 066-242550 Thanks to Leith Martin VK2EA and Norm Bodycote VK2BBY for the information Greg Wilson, VK2DIL *************************************** BATEMANS BAY STAGES RALLY ___---------------------- Over the weekend of August 14-15 1993 the Bay Stages Car rally was held in the hills around Batemans Bay. This is an annual event and is conducted in stages varying in length from 2 km to some 40km. The participants must drive slowly between each stage and loose points if they arrive too soon at the next start. The safety of the event is paramount and is conducted under very stringent guidelines. The role of WICEN in the event is to provide safety and control communications. There were 19 WICEN operators involved in the event and were located at the start and finish of each stage. Because of the large areas to be covered, there were three repeaters used. The WICEN repeater was used as the prime race net channel. This was located South of Batemans Bay. The Nowra repeater was re-located to North of Batemans Bay for the weekend and was used for the secondary net and general use. As a backup, there was a third crossband repeater from 2 mx to 70 cm for emergency use. All three were directed nets. All calls were directed to control. The system worked very well. The messages handled from the start to control contained the car numbers entering the stage. This information was supplied by the checkpoint people. The stage finish called control and (in groups of 5) gave the car numbers and elapsed times. At this time, the start of the stage would cross off each car number and would know that the stage was clear. The system worked well. Most operators were on the prime channel, a few were on the secondary net. On the Sunday, quite a few stages were transferred to the secondary channel to reduce the loading on the prime. HF was used on the Saturday but the 40 Mx channel was weak operating in the skip zone. There was no packet used at all. In all the communications worked well. The voice proceedure was such that the messages got through with a minimum of fuss. The operators were confident and the control operators were very good. Occasionally, a message was read back - but not often. Most of the operators spent the Saturday night at the Scout hall where we enjoyed the time together. It really made for a good weekend. Yours truly had a problem staying awake so I decided to talk from the sleeping bag. Didn't last long I was asleep very quickly. At some stage of the night I woke up and heard this quiet, low snoring coming from a couple of areas. I thought how peaceful and restful was the sound. I don't know who won the snoring contest (all denied they snored). Back on the Sunday to the rally. The event finished about 1500 hrs. Plenty of time for all to return home. My thanks to Dave Hawkesworth, "the Mountain man" Steve Johnson on the hill with the repeaters and to the South coast members for a great week end. Peter Corkeron (VK2AGB). *************************************** NSW WICEN News is produced using Microsoft Word for Windows (Version 2.0), Printed on an Apple Laserwriter II. Courtesy of the Information Technology Support Group of the Australian Taxation Office (Albury Branch) *************************************** City to Surf 93 ___------------ The 1993 City to Surf was run on Sunday August 8th with some 42,000 people running in the event. WICEN involvement started some weeks before with a meeting with the organisers. WICENs role this year was slightly changed with more checkpoints along the route but no officials being followed around. We had 21 checkpoints as well as Start / Tail, Network Control, Ambulance, Police and a Medical network. The City to Surf is a Fun Run run over a 14KM course starting in the City of Sydney and heading out to the beach side suburb of Bondi. Its course runs up and down several hills culminating in 'Heartbreak Hill' climbing from Rose Bay, a harbour foreshore suburb up to Vaucluse on the south head of Sydney Harbour and then turning south along the coast down into Bondi, finishing in front of the Pavilion at Bondi Beach. A portable repeater was set up for the event located on a high point at Bellevue Hill within the run path. There were also several backups available on the Paddington repeaters (2M and 70CM) as well as the WICEN repeater at Chatswood and a simplex 2M frequency. The portable repeater was trialed the weekend beforehand and was found to perform satisfactorily over the course. On the morning of the run, Brett VK2XMU, the exercise Commander, started in the city at 05.45 briefing the operators for the three mustering points for the runners. These were located in the basement of the Waterboard Building in the City, Sydney Grammar School just south of the Start line and in Hyde Park North next to the Archibold Fountain. Brett then travelled out to 1st Vaucluse Scout Hall for a 07.00 briefing for the rest of the operators at which time he and Eric VK2KUR, his assistant, did the allocations for the rest of the positions. All positions had been requested to be manned from 08.15 so that any last minute requests for supplies, assistance at checkpoints etc could be handled before the run. During this time, Kevin VK2CKD was setting up the portable repeater up the hill and it came online at about 08.00. Syd VK2AHF was to be the Net Controller and he operated from the same site as the repeater. Fairly shortly after the repeater was set up it became evident that there was a problem being experienced with it in the form of an interaction with some of the pagers causing the repeater to be sensitive to high deviation on the signals received. This was manifested by the signal being chopped by the repeater. It was found, however, that if deviation was kept low, the repeater could handle it without any problem and so it was decided to maintain the network on it. The reasoning behind this was that it was not causing undue problems and, as this was an exercise, it was probably a good thing to have to use a repeater running under less than ideal conditions. Had there been any real problems causing messages to be lost continuously, the network would have been switched to one of the other frequencies. Most operators seemed to have no troubles with the repeater except for having to be reminded from time to time by Control to speak more quietly. This year was also different from previous ones as instead of setting up a forward control vehicle at Bondi, the Ambulance service ran their control from their normal Radio Room in the city. WICEN, therefore, had its operator set up in their Radio Room with a temporary antenna set up on the roof. At ten minutes before the start of the event at 10.00, Control handed the network over to Start whose job it was to pass the sound of the start gun over the network for all to hear. This was achieved after which Start handed the Network back to Control. During the run the main traffic was the passing of numbers of leading runners at each checkpoint and, of course, any emergency traffic. There was one call to Ambulance from a checkpoint for a runner who collapsed near the checkpoint with a suspected heart attack and the Ambulance was on the scene within a few minutes. Despite the quick response, however, the victim was unable to be revived. CONCLUSION Overall the entire operation went off very well. The weather was fairly kind to us this year, being cool and therefore making for a generally quiet event. All operators performed well with most traffic being handled quite smoothly. We had good liaison both before and during the event with the Police and Ambulance services and, I believe, put on a good show. Network discipline was good despite the fact that some operators were new to this type of controlled network picking it up very quickly. One of the things I would like to see in the future would be the use of 70CM instead of 2M for the main net. One of our major problems, especially around large cities like Sydney, is the proliferation of pagers just outside the 2M band causing a lot of interference, not just to events such as this, but to everyday operation. This type of interference is totally absent on 70CM and, as we found out this year, the vast majority of operators do have the facilities available for that band. I also believe that having the briefing and debriefing in a hall where people could sit down and discuss things made it a lot more pleasant and the barbecue afterwards enabled people to relax and wind down after the event. Hope to see you all there next year. To finish up I will quote from a comment made by Syd VK2AHF net controller for the exercise "I had a great time - rain and all. A few laughs, some real brain-teasing network queuing, an opportunity to add real worth to a great community event and the opportunity to catch up with a few old friends. Isn't that what voluntary work is all about?" 73 . . . . Eric van de Weyer VK2KUR *************************************** Great Queensland Bike Ride ___----------------------- Although I am a VK2 member of WICEN, the VK4 WICEN people made me very welcome. So much so that I had the opportunity of participating with them in the "Great Queensland Bike Ride" which was run by the same group who are organising the 16 day ride from the Blue Mountains to Melbourne in November / December. The Great Queensland Ride was over a period of 8 days and covered some 500Km. It left Cairns on Sunday August 29th travelling to Port Douglas for the day. We camped at Port Douglas that night and continued on to a place called Kairi just north of Mossman. This was the second night, and a very wet one it was. On Tuesday we continued up the ranges to the Highlands and camped at Mareeba that night. Wednesday took us on through the highlands to Atherton. The Thursday was a rest day, so we stayed on at Atherton for the day. On Friday, with more hills to conquer, we went on to Malanda and survived another very wet night, followed by a very wet morning. Saturday was mainly a downhill run through to Babinda (known as the wettest town in Queensland) and it actively lived up to it's name - but we were all given a roof over our heads that night. Finally on Sunday we finished back in Cairns about Midday. A total of about 500 riders participated, but at Malanda about 100 took the 4 day trek back to Cairns with the other 400 continuing with the 8 day event. There was a total of 10 WICEN people who assisted with the communications, 6 of which participated for the full 8 days. those who took part were: Bill, VK4XZ; Anne, VK4FAB; John, VK4AFS; Ron, VK4ACZ; Alan, VK4PS; Ted, VK4YG; Dale, VK4DMC; Jim, VK4CJS & myself, Warwick, VK2JWP, all under the direction of Ian, VK4ZT. We were placed at various checkpoints along the route and our job was to report in after each 100 riders had passed that checkpoint, when any medical staff (Doctors or Nurses) arrived / departed the checkpoint, when the "Mobile Bike Repair" car & trailer arrived / departed the checkpoint and finally when the sweeps had gone through. It was a very enjoyable event and one of the highlights was we had some 125 Taiwanese riders who came to North Queensland just for this ride. the story goes that as one of the riders was pushing her bike up Mt Maloy towards Mareeba, a kangaroo came out of the scrub and knocked her off her bike. What a tale she would have to take home ! Warwick Paterson (East Riverina) *************************************** STATE COORDINATOR'S NOTES ___---------------------- SYDNEY BUSHFIRES Bushfires broke out around Sydney and in other parts of the state at the beginning of January 1994. WICEN was activated at about 2.30 pm on Wednesday 5 January with a request from Bush Fire Brigade for Central Coast Region to establish a link from Spencer near Wisemans Ferry to Erina (Gosford) due to telephone failure. Almost immediately there was a similar request for a link for SES from Erina to Hornsby in Sydney's north. Due to the high temperatures the Hornsby repeater had failed on two successive days but had been restored by Barry White (VK2AAB) but was viewed with some concern. The President of the WIA (Terry Ryeland VK2UX) was contacted and requested to restore the VK2RWI voice repeater, which was of the air in circumstances of which you are all aware. The WICEN involvement escalated on the Central Coast and members were supported by thew general Amateur community an Hunter, Mid North Coast, Blue Mountains/Penrith and Sydney North Regions. SYDNEY NORTH REGION : 7.1.94 Hornsby WICEN activated, link between Erina,Spencer and Hornsby SES. Both F3 and Pacific Highway closed,no northern access. Forward Command established at Lofberg Park (West Pymble). 8.1.94 Operators with gear including portable repeaters unable to get road access to Erina, RCO Sydney North took essential personnel and equipment from Brooklyn in own boat to Gosford, returned to brooklyn to find all road access from Brooklyn cut. HF link from Brooklyn to Hornsby established but fire later caused evacuation of all personnel by water to Parsley Bay. VK2RWI restored (note re this later) Link established to Village Green St Ives preparatory to moving major command post. 9.1.94 Warringah Local Area activated and base established at Terrey Hills. 10.1.94 Operations continued but winding down until finally stand down on 13.1.94. David (VK2KLX) ============== SYDNEY SOUTH REGION : 8.1.94 Activated at the request of SES to link Heathcote Fire Control to SES HQ being set up at the Heathcote High School. From this time to 12.1.94 Wicen provided radios with operators for the Relief Vehicles in the area and for some vehicles performing evacuation duties in the COMO area. Telecom had installed multiple telephone lines into the school command post which relieved the interlinking form SES HQ,the Miranda telephone exchange was running at full capacity and could have overloaded at any time, so the WICEN link was of vital importance. To bring the tragic loss of many people closer to home, the family home of Julian VK2ZVG was destroyed in the Como-Jannali area whilst he was out with WICEN. Hope you are getting back on your feet now. Kevin (VK2CKD) ============== BLUE MOUNTAINS / PENRITH REGION : This Region was on constant standby and coordinated a survey for a link between Cessnock, Wilberforce, Wyong, Erina and Hornsby, the link was not needed but was prepared. Jim VK2KVD had the dubious distinction of leaving his Blue Mountain home to work a 12 hour shift at Erina on 6.1.94 and due to fire closing roads returned 64 hours later, being a true intrepid WICEN member and mindful of delays he gathered up his wife and returned to the fray in the Central Coast. Alan (VK2YYJ) ============= HUNTER REGION : Hunter Region was not directly activated but provided staff and support facilities to Erina. Pauline (VK2GTB) ================ MID NORTH COAST REGION : This Region was not directly activated but supplied two non WICEN members to the Erina base. Richard (VK2CHC) ================ CENTRAL COAST REGION : Considerable activity in this Region, from the first activation. a Command Post was set up in the SES headquarters and WICEN provided operators with equipment to many SES and other vehicles which were pressed into service without radio. During a power failure at the site for a significant time the WICEN system was the only one completely operational, and Ray VK2TV did good work keeping all base stations of the services in operation. A feature of this operation was the request for WICEN to provide operators for the Helicopter control at Gosford football ground which had eight choppers working from it, this was for the whole activation and two Wicen Members worked continually until 14.1.94 on this duty. The full details the Central Coast debrief are not yet to hand but will be part of the basis for the comments and recommendations for the next issue. A pat on the back for Phil Greentree (VK2IW) who, when some SES men made disparaging comments about the condition of WICEN overalls after about 7 days in the field, particularly galling because they have extras available to them, obtained from SES an order for an extra pair for EVERY amateur who worked at Erina. Sydney North did likewise but it was unfortunately too late and the books had closed before Sydney South could participate. Other members and friends worked as operators in various SES control rooms and some assisted Bush Fire Headquarter at Rosehill as telephone operators. Hunter, Mid North Coast and Blue Mountains /Penrith maintained appropriate numbers of members on standby for callout and relief of other Regions. Commitment of staff in the heavily engaged regions wa arriving at the point when significant numbers would have to be relieved. This forward planning is a credit to all RCO's, also in these circumstances it would be irresponsible to commit all resources, particularly from areas which at any time may have had escalation of their own situation. SUMMARY OF STAFFING DAY ERINA SY. NTH. H'COTE. HUNTER BM/P TOTAL WED 5 6 2 - - - 8 THU 6 7 5 - 5 - 17 FRI 7 11 15 - - 2 29 SAT 8 20 21 6 - - 47 SUN 9 33 30 16 - - 79 MON 10 25 20 10 - - 55 TUE 11 37 22 7 - 2 68 WED 12 32 14 - - 2 48 THU 13 15 8 - - 2 25 FRI 14 8 - - - - 8 SAT 15 8 - - - - 8 TOTAL 392 These results show a gratifying response from all concerned, approximately 5000 Hours were worked and almost 35 Amateurs attended who were not WICEN members The recommendations from all debriefings will be circulated as soon as all are in and collated, first impressions confirm the view that the Emergency Services will not call in assistance until a situation has deteriorated considerably, and that despite RCO's contacting them for two days prior to activation they still have little appreciation of WICEN's capability. ============================ THE VK2RWI 7000 REPEATER ___--------------------- The WIA NSW Div. has circulated all members with a pamphlet with a series of totally untrue accusations against WICEN and myself as SCO. I feel members should have an explanation of this and to reinforce our position I have included copies of correspondence with the Institute. (Not in DATA copy) Members may judge for themselves whether the action of that body was that of a responsible organisation in the circumstances, and that the President is a member of the Bush Fire Brigade. This correspondence may also help to convince any other Amateurs who might feel that this attack is justified. In addition to the correspondence enclosed I provide for members the following explanation. 1. amateurs, known to be WICEN members, discussed 'cooking up' a demand from WICEN to have it (the repeater) put back on air" Throughout the reputed faction fighting within the Divisional Council, WICEN NSW has kept aloof from alignment with either faction. I have no knowledge of such a plot and in no circumstances would have supported it. 2. "-- He belligerently demanded Terry (Ryeland) VK2UX have the 2m Dural repeater put back on air, but as he was unable to confirm that it was officially required---" The request was from the State Co-ordinator of WICEN to the President of the WIA NSW Division at a time when there had been bushfires burning for two days around Sydney, Both Central Coast and Sydney North Regions had been activated. This was asked for by the Regional Coordinators from both Regions. As members know, the entire station at Dural had been closed on ALL frequencies , WICEN's only need was for the Voice Repeaters. The Secretary (Roger Harrison) VK2ZTB phoned later and advised that for reasons of possible interference from irresponsible people and a legal threat, together with "advice from the SMA" to the institute,(but would not name the officer who gave the "advice") that the repeater would not be restored but WICEN could use the site for a portable repeater. At about 8.30 PM that night the President (Terry Ryeland) phoned and stated that the repeater would be restored. This DID NOT occur. 3. "--Over the following two days, John Howard repeated his demands and added threats about action against the Institute-" No threats of any sort were made against the Institute or any member. Several conversations were held over the next two days with the Secretary where he was assured that if there were legal implications WICEN would approach both the Minister and the Director of SES if necessary, to ensure no liability for WIA during this period. Comments relating to WICEN being "unprepared" are totally rejected, the WICEN portable repeater was committed in the Hunter Region. All other facilities were in place. The Dural repeater was finally restored about 6 PM Saturday 8 January THREE DAYS after the initial request and was IMMEDIATELY used to cover low signal areas in the Hornsby repeater's pattern. It is well known that the willingness and capability of Amateurs to respond in an emergency is an important point in any negotiations about spectrum use and band retention. =============== FM 828's ___----- Enclosed is a copy of a clipping from "THE AUSTRALIAN" page 18 on 10 January 1994, you will see my letter to the Institute thanking them for obtaining all these radios for WICEN and requesting details of collection and offer to distribute. NO REPLY HAS BEEN RECEIVED. The facts are, that as many members will know, 30 radios were delivered to HUNTER WICEN at a meeting at Westlakes Club recently. We have no knowledge of any others and the President has advised the RCO Blue Mountains/ Penrith that for an additional 20, negotiated with TELECOM prior to the donation WICEN WILL HAVE TO PAY THE INSTITUTE and that the WIA Council has approved the billing. I regret that, believing that the Institute would honour its implied obligation I advised the RCO Hunter to distribute the radios and this has been done. John Howard, SCO. **************************************** WICEN Uniform & ID Supplies: WICEN Uniform Epaulet Slides $14.00 a pair WICEN Badge $4.00 each WICEN Magnetic Car Sign $9.00 each WICEN T-Shirt $10.00 each WICEN "Bib" $8.00 each ** WICEN Banner $22.00 each Green & Silver Reflective Hat Band $4.00 each Green & Silver Reflective tape (45 mm wide) $7.00 per Metre VRA Badge $4.00 each VRA Tie $17.00 each Metal VRA Hat Badge $8.00 each VRA Car Sticker 80c each VRA Green Hard Hat $15.00 each ** - Bibs can only be purchased by REGIONS to be used by personnel without uniforms or by non-WICEN people. The above items are available from the WICEN (NSW) Inc. Supplies Officer, Pauline Jones (VK2GTB) Phone :(049) 498 786, Fax: (049) 498 843 or by mail to: 1A / 142 Kalaroo Road, REDHEAD NSW 2290. Overalls are best purchased direct from your local Overall / Uniform supplier in plain White and dyed with PEACOCK GREEN dye which can be purchased from Chemists. King Gee Pants, shirts etc again from your local Uniform or Work Ware Supplier. The Dress Hat is Ackubra Style in Dark Tan available from stores like K-Mart.