International Amateur Radio Union Region 3
	IARU	IARU Region 1	IARU Region 2
Last Updated: October 09, 2008

Global Simulated Emergency Test - November 2008 Global Simulated Emergency Test - November 2008
Saturday November 8th 2008 04.00 - 08.00 UTC

IARU Region 1 invites the HQ-Stations of all IARU member societies and stations of Emergency Communications Groups to participate in a Global Simulated Emergency Test on Saturday November 8th, 2008 04.00 - 08.00 UTC. The operation will take place on and near the emergency Centre-of-Activity (CoA) frequencies on 80, 40, 20, 17 and 15 metres (+-QRM ).

The objectives of the test are;

1/ increase the common interest in emergency communications.
2/ test how usable the CoA frequencies are across ITU regions.
3/ create practices for international emergency communication and
4/ practice the relaying of messages using all modes.

Please remember that this is not a contest, it is an emergency communications exercise !

Following the recommendation of the GAREC conferences, participating stations are requested to use /D in their callsign (D=distress/disaster) where permitted by their licensing administration.

Traffic may be passed on voice (SSB), Data or CW modes as detailed below.

Voice mode
Each IARU Region will have a HQ station operating on voice as follows:
Region 1 - TBA
Region 2 - TBA
Region 3 - TBA

HQ stations will be QRV simultaneously on all CoA frequencies appropriate to their region +- QRM as shown below.

Region 1	Region 2	Region 3
3760	3750 or 3985	3760
7060	7060, 7240 or 7290	7060
14300
18160
21360

Stations intending to participate are requested to send their callsigns to globalset08 @ raynet-hf.net before the exercise so that HQ stations can be aware of the number of stations calling them. A list of participating stations will also be available at www.raynet-hf.net

To practice relaying messages, each participating station is allowed to send six (6) messages: three during the first two hours and three more during the last two hours of the test.

After sending their own messages, participating stations should start to relay messages of other stations, when a message has been relayed twice it should then be sent to the HQ station of their own region. It is very useful if messages'jump' between countries and/or Regions.

Participating stations should call 'CQ GLOBALSET' giving their callsign and organisation ( ARES, RAYNET, NETMAR etc. ).

Each participating station will send up to six messages to their Regional HQ station as follows;

- Time of sending the message in UTC
- The callsign of the sending station
- Message number - 1, 2 or 3 in the first half of the exercise, 4, 5 or 6 in the second half.
- Bands available for use - use the meter band designation NOT frequency.
- Number of operators at the station
- Emergency power available - 1=None, 2=Battery, 3=Generator (of any kind), 4= Battery and Generator.
- Emergency Communications Group or National Society
- As messages are relayed, add via... via... to show the callsigns of stations which have relayed this message.

A one-character prefix will be used before each part of the message in order to make it easier to decode

Where:
- M(ike) = Message number
- B(ravo) = Band available
- O(scar) = Operators
- P(apa) = Power available
When a station other than an HQ station receives a message, it should relay the message towards the destination in whatever way it can.

For example :- a message originated by SU1KM in Egypt for the Region 1 HQ station might be passed initially to a station in Malta on 40m, from there to a French station on 80m, and finally to the destination HQ station on 80m.

For example :-

1.   ZS6BUU sending message number 1 at 0430UTC, 80,40,20,10m bands available, 3 operators, no emergency power, member of HAMNET.

"0430 ZS6BUU M1 B80 B40 B20 B10 O03 P1 HAMNET"

2.   MM3UJL/P sending message number 4 at 0700UTC, 160,80,40,20,10m bands available, 2 operators, both battery and generator available, member of RAYNET

"0700 MM3UJL/P M4 B160 B80 B40 B20 B10 O02 P4 RAYNET"

Regional HQ stations will not sending messages, only receive them. To avoid QRMing the HQ stations, please move to frequencies near the CoA in steps of 5KHz for contacts with others.

To create a more realistic situation, please limit your transmitting power during the exercise to 100 Watts. Special value is given to stations operating mobile/portable and/or on emergency power.


Data modes
Data stations must send the same format as used for voice messages. There will not be any HQ stations for data modes, data stations should use the frequencies defined for their preferred mode in national bandplans. This makes the use of 'CQ GLOBALSET' and registering your intended participation particularly important.

'Structured' modes such as Winlink, ALE, PSKmail should send their messages directly to globalset-data @ raynet-hf.net , other data modes should attempt to relay the messages through two other stations before sending them to globalset- data @ raynet-hf.net for analysis.


CW Mode
CW is included in this SET to increase the possiblility of stations making contacts in difficult conditions and should be used when SSB or data contacts are proving impossible. There will not be any HQ stations for CW, CW stations should operate near the CoA frequencies when SSB traffic cannot be heard.

CW stations must send the same format as used for voice messages and not exceed 15wpm. If necessary CW messages can be relayed through two other stations before sending them to globalset-cw @ raynet-hf.net for analysis.


Conclusion
Please send your logs with comments, pictures and suggestions for future exercises to;
globalset08 @ raynet-hf.net as soon as possible after the SET. A brief report of the event is required for the IARU Region 1 conference in Cavtat on 16th November but the full report is hoped to be available in December 2008.

To be fair to all regions we use three different time slots for the exercise, the next exercise will be on May 2nd 2009 at 11.00 - 15.00 UTC with the event in November 2009 being at 18.00 - 22.00 UTC.

Thanks for your support of emergency communications.

Greg Mossop, G0DUB
GlobalSET Organiser