"Professional Volunteer communicators linking the community in time of need"
WICEN Exercise 2012
QLD Police Disaster Preparedness exercis
WICEN Emergency Operators train to be part in the Bundaberg Regional Council's Disaster Management Plan and in June 2012 we participated in an exercise organised by the Disaster Management Groups within Bundaberg and North Burnett Regional Councils.
The Exercise
Parameters
Held to test WICEN's capability to establish radio contact between regional centres in the event of a breakdown in phone and internet communications during a disaster. Organised by the Disaster Management group at Bundaberg Police to assess the long range communications between isolated Councils.
The exercise scenario was that a Category 4 cyclone had
destroyed normal telecommunications between the regional centres
so Bundaberg WICEN members set up both HF and VHF stations at
Bundaberg and Gayndah, a distance of 120km, and normally within
the "skip zone" which inhibits comms between these regions.
The team at Gayndah [Gail VK4ION, Kevin VK4FKEV and Linda
Sullivan] and the Bundaberg home team [Ross VK4JRO, Margaret
VK4FHAM and Rusty VK4JM] deployed ENVIS HF Dipoles and set up
their stations.
Senior Sergeant Grant Marcus [QPS] was in charge of operations
at Gayndah and Matthew Dyer, Disaster Management Officer for
Bundaberg controlling theBundaberg operations.
The exercise was evaluated in line with the Emergency Management
Queensland Evaluation Approach and evaluators were to report
against all objectives using the following criteria:
Ability of WICEN to identify suitable locations and establish
portable radio transmission stations within close proximity to
regional council offices at both Bundaberg and Gayndah.
The effectiveness of WICEN to establish two portable radio
transmitting stations in a timely manner.
Effectiveness of messages to be communicated between
Bundaberg and Gayndah utilizing WICEN resources.
The Operation
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Contact was established within seventy five minutes, which included erecting antennae and setting up the stations and message handling commenced using standard WICEN message forms and procedure.
The messages were not previously seen by the operators and were
deliberately long and involved with sitreps, obscure items and
requests which provided a real-world environment for the
scenario.
At the conclusion of the exercise WICEN members were confident
while the evaluators, together with observers from Councils,
EMQ, Police, Rural Fire, Ambulance and SES gave their assessment
and all were wholeheartedly impressed with the demonstration.
In his report to Bundaberg Regional Council Local Disaster
Management Group on 12th June Senior Sergeant Grant Marcus said
[quote] “Conducted WICEN exercise on 7th June to test
communications with North Burnett Regional Council and BRC. The
system worked very well, however the main learning is to
condense messages. WICEN will be incorporated into DDMG
communications plan as a backup in the event Telstra cannot
restore communications.”
The exercise proved that effective communications were possible
between geographically isolated Councils and we hope provided
inspiration for remote Councils to pursue similar communications
models. Their support personnel are tasked with drawing the
communities together after a disaster and restoring
communications is seen as a vital step.
The day also provided real time testing of the new WICEN
portable stations which Bundaberg have built.
The ENVIS Dipole antennas worked brilliantly into the zone
required and the whole exercise provided excellent publicity for
the hobby of Amateur Radio.
There was story on Ch7 local news which included interviews with
club members, Disaster managers and the SES controller and this
was followed by a print article with photo in the Bundaberg
News-Mail.
Gallery
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