Communications Aid Software

[jeders]

So no internet = no mission?

Yep. Unless you can get into WMIRS airplanes do not fly.

No, you do a Form 99 paper release and then enter it into WMIRS ASAP.

[jks19714]

So no internet = no mission?

Yep. Unless you can get into WMIRS airplanes do not fly.

The Sun stops shining, birds fall out the sky, .... Newton's laws are no longer valid.   The entire emergency response goes out-of-service in the event of a DNS failure perhaps? (this has happened twice to the Winlink 2000 infrastructure recently, BTW)

[davidsinn]

So no internet = no mission?

Yep. Unless you can get into WMIRS airplanes do not fly.

No, you do a Form 99 paper release and then enter it into WMIRS ASAP.

You are correct.

[EmergencyManager6]

wow....so your saying that if we have an internet failure then all CAP operations stop?  are you kidding!
F99???  ring a bell?

UHF?   Explaine were we use UHF? 

"Like I said, I used to be just like you"  whats that mean?   You dont know who I am, and what my experience is!

"In the catastrophic event you describe there's going to be large incident command centers or other EOC-type facilities set up to run the incident that are going to have these capabilities even in a catastrophe. Get into that space and you'll be fine"

So again CAP is going to rely on others to give us what we need?  EOC's DO NOT run an incident.  EOC's support the local ICP's  Again another flaw in CAP's thinking.  You DO NOT run tactical operations out of an EOC.  Why cant CAP relize that we can not rely on others for internet, and support?

[Larry Mangum]

Who says we do? Alabama wing has 3 hotspot cards, as part of mission deployment kits. This allows us to deploy just about anywhere a cell phone works and have internet capability.

[EmergencyManager6]

Thats all and good.  But what if you dont have cell service?

[Spaceman3750]

wow....so your saying that if we have an internet failure then all CAP operations stop?  are you kidding!
F99???  ring a bell?

UHF?   Explaine were we use UHF? 

"Like I said, I used to be just like you"  whats that mean?   You dont know who I am, and what my experience is!

"In the catastrophic event you describe there's going to be large incident command centers or other EOC-type facilities set up to run the incident that are going to have these capabilities even in a catastrophe. Get into that space and you'll be fine"

So again CAP is going to rely on others to give us what we need?  EOC's DO NOT run an incident.  EOC's support the local ICP's  Again another flaw in CAP's thinking.  You DO NOT run tactical operations out of an EOC.  Why cant CAP relize that we can not rely on others for internet, and support?

Calm down . When I said I was "like you" I meant in terms of everything we do being able to run without internet access for days or weeks. Of course I have no idea who you are or your background. If your screen name has any bearing on your full-time job or role in our organization you probably have way more experience on this subject than I do, and I respect that. Consider this an "outsider's perspective".

And as for UHF - ISRs are UHF if I recall. That's what I was referring to but I should have been more specific.

Finally, let me give you a practical example. Here in Illinois the New Madrid fault line is of major concern to us. Projections are that everywhere north of Springfield should be mostly OK and everywhere south is problematic if there is a major quake. Our wing headquarters is in Chicago. If I were the guy in charge (and I wouldn't be, this is a "looking up" sort of perspective) of a New Madrid incident, I would use our wing's two RDP HF kits to run a mission base out of wing headquarters where infrastructure will be mostly intact (with a hardline, internet, etc) and have a staging area somewhere south with the other RDP. We also have plenty of places to the south where we could also set up an ICP if need be but still where we will have infrastructure.

The advent of RDPs and HF-ALE make it fairly easy for us to run an ICP almost anywhere within HF range and have staging areas in the "hot zones". In a total doomsday scenario, if we really have to, we fall back onto good old paper and go do our jobs.

I don't even remember where we started with this. Choose a technology and use it. If it requires internet, great. If it doesn't, that's great too. I like all of the suggestions here - technology can make our incidents much easier to run and safer, and the use of IT to manage incidents should be the norm. My point is that if you're putting ICPs at ground zero of a cataclysm you're not doing it right.

[EmergencyManager6]

yes ISR is UHF, but pretty limited.

Im glad to see that you have at least a backup plan in place.  ALE is cool and all but i woundlt rely 100% on it.
The FEDS have a ALE system im place , and in 'blue sky' it is spotty at best.

We need to be forward thinking and have a plan in place if we do lose connectivity.

Satellite internet?

[jks19714]

One thing that I am working on to reduce our reliance on the Internet is installing a small network-attached storage box (2 500GB disks, mirrored) in the Wing's Mobile Command Center to store topo maps, sectionals, forms, etc. 

We'll probably end-up running IMU3 in virtual server mode on an on-board server (little mini-ITX box).  The network is a Netgear business-class gigabit Ethernet switch with a Kyocera KR2 firewall/router for a USB-tethered cellphone (Internet) and a Ubiquiti Bullet2HP wireless access point.

It would be really nice if National would authorize the use of soundcard-based digital modes like WINMOR to enable us to send/receive formal message traffic without resorting to relatively error-prone voice transfer...

john

[EmergencyManager6]

One thing that I am working on to reduce our reliance on the Internet is installing a small network-attached storage box (2 500GB disks, mirrored) in the Wing's Mobile Command Center to store topo maps, sectionals, forms, etc. 

We'll probably end-up running IMU3 in virtual server mode on an on-board server (little mini-ITX box).  The network is a Netgear business-class gigabit Ethernet switch with a Kyocera KR2 firewall/router for a USB-tethered cellphone (Internet) and a Ubiquiti Bullet2HP wireless access point.

It would be really nice if National would authorize the use of soundcard-based digital modes like WINMOR to enable us to send/receive formal message traffic without resorting to relatively error-prone voice transfer...

john

Sounds like you got a good plan.

"Better to beg for forgiveness than ask permission."  In a disaster if you got to use data on HF just do it.