We had a successful comm drill today in support of the Hurricane Evacuation Exercise at Memorial Medical Center. This was an annual table top drill for the leadership and EOC staff at Memorial. We set up the amateur radio station K4MUM to demonstate our communications capabilities in the event of loss of primary modes of communication.
We also took the opportunity to include Candler-W3SJC and St. Joseph's-K4SJH Hospitals in the exercise. Both of these hospitals have new radio station equipment and this is the first time they have been included in a local exercise. Thanks to Kevin-KW4B for his leadership in acquiring the equipment, coordinating the installation of antenna and feedline, installation of the HF antenna, configuration and testing of the radios, etc. What a great asset Kevin is to the ARES program.
The comm portion of the exercise went very well with operators arriving onsite at the three locations around 0800 to setup and test. The exercise kicked off at 0900 and we established communications between all three hospitals and tested all of the available VHF and UHF repeater systems. We also made sure to test operating on simplex which went very well. We also established HF comm between Memorial and Candler. All three locations operated very well today.
The exercise wrapped up right around 1100 at which time all equipment was disconnected and stowed to be ready for the next drill or emergency activation. Thanks to the following operators for participating today. We have a great ARES program in Chatham and surrounding counties.
Kevin - KW4B
Raymond - KJ4HAE
John - N2DRL
Peter - KJ4FAW
Steve - K4SDJ
Lester - KF4JBQ
Carl - KC4UHM
Guy - K4GTM
Ken - W4JKG
