Cape Cod and Falmouth ARES Teams held a Cape wide exercise on February 6 from 10 AM to
noon. Field Teams were set up at Falmouth Hospital, The Sandwich Council on Aging and at
the QTH of Barry, KB1TLR in Brewster.
Falmouth ARES was set up at the main parking area at Falmouth Hospital. This area is at a
high elevation which facilitates non-repeater assisted voice and data comm's to most areas of
the Cape and southeastern Mass.
It was chilly and windy there, and the two 44 foot Spyder poles used to hold VHF antennas were
bending but held. We had two stations: an FM voice station running simplex with 80 watts, and a
Winlink (radio e-mail) station.
The object of the exercise was to simulate a winter storm event that had disabled power and
communications facilities on the Cape. Communications were by FM voice, Winlink and other
digital modes. The control station was at Sandwich Council on Aging, they used all modes,
including HF, there. NTS and digital messages were passed between the various stations.
Power was provided by 2 vehicles as well as batteries and solar power. No commercial power
was used (remember, it was out of service). Antennas were ladder-line J-poles, which are
simple and highly effective, simply being taped to the top of the fiberglass Spyder poles.
After dealing with a few glitches, we concluded a successful exercise at about 11:45.
Thanks to Carole, KC1MAQ for bringing the coffee and a special thanks to Charlie, K1CB who
acted as net control despite having a recent surgical procedure.
Participating were Henry, K1WCC, Charlie, K1CB, Mel, KC1ELB, Jay, WB4KYW, Helen,
N1HVB, Carole, KC1MAQ, Gene, KX1C, Jim, KC1LMA, Max, KC1MAX, Andy, K7ADA and
Dan, KC1GOQ.
Anyone interested in participating in Falmouth/Cape Cod ARES can contact Henry, K1WCC at k1wcc@comcast.net
