The Amateur Radio Emergency Response (ARES)
team met this week and wanted members like myself to give a quick demo of their
Winlink radio stations. I built one a
while back for supporting the ARES mission that fits in a backpack. Not
everyone has built a station for doing this and I’m guessing they are hoping
more people on the team build one. This isn't the best setup but it works and you could use the diagram to the right as a sort of reference design. The solar kit is a bonus and the backpack is, well, my style.
The ARES team in San Diego uses Winlink email to support hospitals and
other organizations in times of an emergency.
Should a disaster strike, like an earthquake, normal communications like
phone and internet may not work. When
that infrastructure failes, radio is the only game in town. Organizations can use the ARES team as one of
the methods to communicate
inter-hospital or with other agencies, like blood banks or FEMA offices.
