Actually very uneventful and that is just the way I like it. The medical tent had one mild case of heat stroke, a couple of small wounds (a cut and some road rash) and a couple of small sprains but outside of that, things were pretty easy. Running the radio was fun as always - I had a helper for the first two hours who was still very new to amateur radio so I handed him the mike and coached him on what to say - he did really well and will be a welcome addition to our little tribe. We were using tactical call signs instead of our FCC-assigned signs so there is an order to how you relay information in your communication.
Also, we were using a Net Control - think of a star with a center and then points radiating from the center. The center is Net Control and the points are the individual operators out in the field. This can slow things down a bit if you want to talk to another operator but it basically eliminates confusion.
- Me: Net Control, this is Exchange Six - I have traffic for Exchange Four
- Net Control: OK Exchange Six, switch to XYZZY channel.
- Me: - I change channels and talk with Exchange Four then switch back to the primary channel
- Me: Net Control, this is Exchange Six returning to the net
- Net Control: Rodger that - this is Net Control, (their FCC callsign) standing by
- Me: this is K3DGH (my FCC call sign) standing by
Like I said, a little more complicated but everyone knows what is happening and there is no confusion. This was a great drill for any future emergency situation as we had over 60 radio operators in three different counties and over five different radio organizations all talking together, passing traffic and working seamlessly. We will be better prepared when the big one hits us...
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