Radios!

We have 'walkie talkie' radios. Catherine picked up a few with money from a grant. Wendy and Casey have bought a mess more and handed them out. Some folks have purchased their own.

There are a handful of Baofang radios in the field. These are a mix of UV-5r, UV-5x4, and? something else Wendy and Greg are using. Some folks have brought their own compatible radios out. Casey, using original programming from our friends at SC4ARC, has been programming the radios as we proceed with our preparations.

Wendy * at 'Sept18' level
Michael UV-5R * at 'Sept18' level
Casey BTech UV-5x3 * at 'Sept18' level
Mitchell BTech UV-5x3 * at 'Sept18' level
Catherine has a mess of radios I guess
Ken ( passed along by Casey & Mitchell ) BTech UV-5x3
Greg
Gate Don
Road Don Baofeng VX-5R v2. re-programmed 6.22.2018
?Lisa?
Mark & Sandy - Bofang BU-888. programmed 6.20.2018
Chris - UV-5R, on loan from BCEC. not yet programmed?
Dallas UV-5R * at 'Sept18' level
Bob Spears UV-5R * at 'Sept18' level

There are N Ham radio operators in the canyon

Catherine
Brendon Yeasu VX-6, Peter Chupity memory set
Casey KA5WAX a Yeasu VX-6 ( MARS modified ), modified Peter Chupity memory set
please add whoever else

and a few just outside the gate

the lady on the other side of the creek up at the end of that dirt road? Linda?
The people at the Running Horse Ranch
the double dog people?
Rita at the Girl Scout Camp

channels / frequencies

Note: "channels" can be different for regular walkie talkies - one manufacturer's labeled channel 2 may be another's labeled 12. Additionally there are a set of folks who remember CB radios and assume that 'channel 9' is for emergencies. This may be fine for CB radios but was never a convention for plain old walkie talkies. And each manufacturer's numbered Channel 9 was a different frequency...

Catherine and folks in the SC4ARC / San Mateo Coastside Emergency Corps developed a radio plan for Butano Canyon. The plan was seeded in the first set of radios by Mr. Peter Chupity ( sp ) and then cloned into others by Casey Dunn. This plan is intended for tactical emergency communications by a small set of people who have been practicing with each other. It wasn't originally intended to work as a general emergency broadcast ( which we need! see below) It is mostly a set of GRMS walkie talkie channels with other Ham channels for listening in. ( see below )

BU1 or BUTANO 1
BU2 or BUTANO 2
BU3 or BUTANO 3
BU4 or BUTANO 4

We are adding

BU0 or BUTANO 0

on a 'regular' walkie talkie channel summer 2018. This is the channel we'll use for mass communication / gathering info from folks with the older talkie talkies. It's called a FRS channel.

more info: http://www.sc4arc.org/ http://www.sc4arc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/cecnewsletterspring2018v2--2-.pdf

Radio Check / Practice / range-testing

While these radios are pretty darn good for the price, we have to check them out under varying conditions ( and see if they are still working ( see: price )) so we have a radio check the first Saturday of each month.

Monthly Radio Check

other radios

Some folks have FRS/GMRS radios;regular walkie talkies such as you would get at a sporting goods store. The red boxes in the next illustration show which Walkie-Talkie channels overlap with the BaoFang channels. The first channel at the top is Butano Zero - it's a very common walkie talkie channel. The other channels were chosen specifically so that they would not be 'stepped on' by older, regular walkie-talkie communications in an emergency.

NOTE: Butano Zero / Channel 1 has no privacy code so tell your FRS folks to turn off their codes on 1 ( they will probably know what you mean.

Mark & Sandy have bomb-proof BU-888's. they have no display, but work fine BU1-4. They don't have the ability to reach the Ham repeater up on the hill. If you want a solid inexpensive little radio get one of these.

Yaesu

Brandon and Casey have Yaesu VX-6 radios, which without modification only receive on the defined GMRS channels. The next illustration shows channel settings for Butano. BU1-4 are the 'regular' channels for within the canyon. BU UP and BUPD are the Ham radio frequencies for reaching up to the CMD33/CMD31 repeater link up on John's redwoodtree on South Ranch Road.

( there is a modification called the MARS modification which allows them to transmit on other channels. ) Note; if you are programming these to match / copy the Butano channels you have to remember that PeterC set up the Bofang GMRS channels as simplex. infact he chose GMRS channels which are often reserved for GMRS repeaters and defined those for the canyon, for some reason. See the above chart.

Baofang BF-888

Mark and _____ have a pair of Baofang BF-888 walkie talkies. Casey programmed one so the last 4 ( of 16 ) channels match the current Butano GMRS channel plan. It seems to be a very inexpensive straightforward UHF radio. It does have a scanning capability.

Reaching the Outside World via Radio

an overview

As far as the San Mateo Coastside Emergency Corps folks are concerned, we're in Branch or Zone 3. The CERT co-ordinator for this area is Robert Smith ( [email protected] ) Branch 3 runs from Tunitas Creek to the Santa Cruz County line (La Honda, Loma Mar, Pescadero)

This is why you see all the 3s in the official channel names around here. Those are 'our' channels.

The naming scheme has reasoning behind it. The CTL (Control) channels are intended to reach the Red Cross, the California Office of Emergency Services ( OES) , and the County Seat. The CMD channels are Command channels, and are where logistics, coordination and administrative conversations take place. The VTAC channels are tactical channels, intended to be used when emergency services are on-site, or when we don't want to bother folks 'up the ladder.' Specifically in Zone 3 the channels

VTAC31 is assigned to La Honda,
VTAC32 Loma Mar & Skylonda,
VTAC33 Pescadero & San Gregorio ,
VTAC34 and the South Skyline Emergency Preparedness Organization ( SSEPO ) respectively.

TODO: Double Check

Coastside Radio Plan

Simply Simplex

We've participated in some 'simplex' tests intended to simulate regional connectivity a few days into a loss of power. The core issue is that most of the repeaters will of lost their battery back up power. Some will be running on generators as long as the gasoline lasts.

our WalkieTalkie things ( HTs ) may well last longer, if we don't do a lot of communicating on them. Also they can be recharged in cars, or by solar panels pretty easily.

SC4ARC Simplex

Wendy participated as a listen-only node during a SC4ARC simplex test in the Fall 2018. TODO extract the results from SC4ARC

HMB EOC Simplex

Casey participated in a broadcast and listen node during a test Spring 2019.

He set up with a computer UPS out by KPDO. Here is a list of who he could hear:

Foster City Foster City ARES W6MPR Michael Radovancevich 5
Half Moon Bay Coastside EOC KODTJ Brian Hunt 5 we served as relay to net control
La Honda Castanea Ridge KD6UCA Bryan Osborne 5
La Honda Woodland Vista KJ6VCP Michael Pittaro 5
Loma Mar KM6DOV KM6DOV David McIntyre 5
Menlo Park North Fair Oaks KF6RFQ Jon Mosby 3
Menlo Park Menlo EOC KK6DDU/KF6PBA Anne Perlman/Robin McClish 1
Menlo Park Menlo CERT Trailer KK6DAC Rachel Kinoshita 5
Pacifica The Snuggery KM6SCD Richard Scott Sutor 4
Redwood City Redwood City PD W6TEO Tim Olson 5
Redwood City Redwood City DOC KF6FSH/KI6HKN Dan Bennett/Al Schwoerer 5
SSF Station 62 Gire N6SSF unknown person 4

note that we could not hear netcontrol, KC6ULT, on simplex. Note we can hear the other netcontrol, WA6TOW, and talk to them from the canyon.

practical matters

There is a Ham radio 'repeater' up on South Ranch Road on the North Ridge.

This is the CMD33 channel repeater, known in the Ham world as KD6KGE ( John Killeen ). Given the topology of the canyon that's the easiest one we're able to reach, and then not from everywhere. It's listening on the same frequency as CMD31, coming up next. It's also listening on 442.325 ( CMD33 442.325 + CTCSS 141.3 Pescadero net, linked to Cmd. 31 KD6KGE ) if you're a HAM and want to use that frequency. I don't know if that works from the Canyon.

this needs editing as it's not right: ie - with a bigger radio we can hear and talk to WA6TOW

So I know this is sorta confusing. I don't think I am explaining it well. ok! KD6KGE up on South Ranch is doing double duty - or perhaps triple duty ( I haven't mentioned the Loma Mar repeater up there!) Let's just pretend we're talking to CMD31

This works becauseCMD33 has a 'private line' to CMD31 W6SCF, which has a great connection to the rest of Coastside. That radio then re-blasts the messages back into the canyon. W6SCF has a billion watts of power, it's set to 11 and transmits all over.

ToDo move the above hideous detail somewhere else.

In the table 2 jumps up you can see BU UP highlighted. That's how Casey has programmed his Ham radio to provide an shortcut to getting out.

The two highlighted lines below contain the settings for accessing the Repeater.

This is why we use CMD31 as the Repeater's two way setting. There are definitions for the input (RX) and output (TX) frequencies.

CMD31D is the repeaters 'output frequency' - or Direct line. This is the frequency we listen to to hear whatever the repeater is repeating. These get used if one simply wants to talk on the channel everyone is listening to - or if you cannot reach the repeater's 'input' frequency.

Note: it's ok to listen in on these channels without a Ham license. It's probably a good idea to do so now and then to get used to fiddling with your radio. And if there is danger to life or limb, it's OK to broadcast out on these channels. It's not OK to use them casually without a license.

Note: Casey proposes duplicating the programming of all the Bofang walkie talkies to provide the BU UP / BU UPD shortcuts, just in case. Peter C left 'room' in the memory map of the radios for customization. It's OK to repeat channel definitions with differing 'labels' or names.

geek for later

https://aprs.fi/#!call=a%2FW6SCF-10&timerange=3600&tail=3600 ignore me

RM-20-bb amp Astron 2? maggiore labs R1VHF35C25 Repeater maggiore labs Hi Pro 4RUH4 UHG receiver?

everything about privacy codes

https://www.k0tfu.org/reference/frs-gmrs-privacy-codes-demystified/

CMD33 on South Ranch Road

HAM Relay from CMD33 to CMD31

South San Mateo County document

http://k6mpn.org/training/resources/CERT11-0316UnderstandingRadioComm.pdf

==== FCC doc with older and current FRS / GRMS frequency definitions http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2017/db0522/FCC-17-57A1.pdf

page 12: original FRS / GRMS frequencies / channels
page 22: current settings

the interesting part is to compare how they changed. If we want to accommodate the older radios, without specifying a cut-off-date, we'll have to chose an overlapping channel which survived the changes.

here then, from South County, is the overlap

Channel Overlap

we need to designate one of these frequencies as BU0 or Butano 0.

in communicating with our neighbors we'll have to use the lingo of 'channels' most likely, and the problem here is that manufacturers use differing nomenclature. Additionally people remember the CB radio days where everyone used 'Channel 9' for emergencies - and believe that on their walkie talkies whatever is labeled Channel 9 is the emergency channel.

Casey propose that we have a booth or something set up at the July 4th event where we explain about the BCEC group and what FRS ( regular old walkie-talkie ) channel / frequency we'll be listening to / giving updates on. People can wander back with their walkie talkies and we can double check the specifics of their radios.

Communications/Radios

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