Hurricane comms and nav

[OldRadioGuy]

I was watching the Louisiana game wardens show which covered their participation in the recent hurricane rescues.  The wardens had absolutely no comms or navigation because the repeaters and wireless internet were all down.  Without the repeater their radios are completely useless and they apparently use their phones with online maps for navigation.  They didn't even download offline maps.  And these guys are outdoorsmen?

I was absolutely amazed that they would not have a Garmin GPS and/or some FRS GMRS radios.  They could have had a portable repeater or even a "human repeater" stationed somewhere and had at least limited coverage of an area.  Or what about marine VHF? 

Maybe they would tell us that GMRS is not secure (private) and therefore could not be used.  They could use codes for sensitive situations.  They used to do this all the time when police comms were easily monitored.

They kept making a point of how difficult it was to work with absolutely no comms or nav - which made me scream at the TV

Apparently they don't have amateur radio ARES/RACES groups there either???

Maybe it was just the "animal channimal" pumping up the drama.  Would they do that??

Vince

[axorlov]

Starlink is going to help with that. But yes, strange that rangers do not have offline maps. I'd expect them to have a paper topo maps of good quality too. These work when batteries are empty. Could be a dramatization by media.

[WyoJoe]

1 hour ago, OldRadioGuy said:

Maybe it was just the "animal channimal" pumping up the drama.  Would they do that??

I suspect this was just a ploy to add drama. I'm sure those guys have old-school 2D GPS (paper maps) available to them, as well as direct connection (simplex) via radio. But, how would the show be able to drum up suspense if they simply used their back-up systems without incident?

[DeoVindice]

19 hours ago, WyoJoe said:

I suspect this was just a ploy to add drama. I'm sure those guys have old-school 2D GPS (paper maps) available to them, as well as direct connection (simplex) via radio. But, how would the show be able to drum up suspense if they simply used their back-up systems without incident?

If they do not, that illustrates serious negligence on the part of that agency. No reason to not have their own simplex freqs as well as the various 7TAC interop freqs programmed.

[Radioguy7268]

My understanding of the newest wiz-bang AT&T provided FirstNet LTE is that there's simply NO provision for radio to radio simplex in the Voice over LTE protocol.  All conversations must go through the network backbone. I believe their concept is that since they're building a "hardened" backbone, it's not supposed to go down.

There are other Public Safety systems that want to force every conversation through a repeater because it makes central control and recording of all calls possible. It also means that a "lost" radio can't be used if it's killed/stunned on the network. If you allow the radios to run simplex, who knows where it might migrate to?

Not how I would run a multi-million dollar public safety system, but then again, nobody is tossing me the keys and asking me to run one.

[gortex2]

I doubt LF&G is using first net for radio traffic. Maybe cell phones but not for radios. Louisiana has a statewide radio system that the game wardens are on. I can't imagine every site in the state was down if they needed it. Maybe during a hurricane some sites are down but in that area sure they have hardened public safety stuff. 

[DeoVindice]

VoLTE on FirstNet is unusual. Not to say nonexistent (BeOn), but unusual. FirstNet is primarily a data service. My experience with LTE has been very poor - consumer-grade junk that sacrifices coverage for data speeds and falls down even in populated areas. For essential communications, we use encrypted LMR, and the SWCRS system when longer range is required. WQVS960 has done an outstanding job building that system.

I understand the desire to record traffic, but forcing repeater operation without provision for contingencies is negligence no matter what the justification. Radio inhibit commands keep the unit from working at all, not just on the system.

[OldRadioGuy]

You would think in areas prone to strong hurricanes that they would have better contingencies.  And you wouldn't think it would be very good PR to let the Animal Channimal portray them as having zero comms and nav. backup.  But they showed these guys asking directions from people on the flooded streets.  They made the point several times that all radio communication in that area was down.  Incredible!

Vince

[MichaelLAX]

On a slightly related note, a few years ago during Hurricane season in North and South Carolina, I setup a Hurricane Zone on my Radioddity RD-5R DMR HT to listen in:

TalkGroup Name          TalkGroup Number

Hurricane                      3199

NC                                 3137

SC                                 3145