EmComm Can Be Fashionable

When one thinks of an emergency communications location, some think of a dark place, out of the way and forgotten until the radios are needed. Even in emergency trailers or other modes of transporting the emergency radios, the locations are usually an after thought and do not look the best. It is tough to sell an idea to someone who doesn't want wiring everywhere and thinks of emergency equipment as intrusive and ugly. What has anyone done to change that image? What can anyone do to change that image? Historically we go into a location, sell the idea, show them a radio and tell them that we want to put it and the associated cabling out of sight so no one trips over it or otherwise feels like it is in the way. How do you sell that idea to a place that prides itself on looking good or being open to use by others? With the help of Tom Walker of Southern Hills Hospital in Las Vegas, Nevada, I may have found the perfect solution.

Tom Walker is the Director of Facilities at the hospital and after being approached by Howard Mark, K3HM who is the Hospital AEC for the Clark County ARES/Races, Tom became enthusiastic about setting up an emergency communications location in the hospital. With John Campo, his Chief Engineer, they set about locating a place in the hospital that would be suitable for the radios. They then allowed Frank Kostelac, N7ZEV; Linda Kostelac, K7IIT ; Mike Lee, WB6RTH; Tom Petrakis, KE4ULL; and Howard Mark, K3HM to run the cables needed to feed two dual band (2 meter and 440 ) antennas on the hospital's roof above the central building's fifth floor. They ran two LM400 cables down from the roof to the Education Room cabinet where they were terminated with “N” type connectors and then locked and protected from unauthorized use. The terminated LM-400 cables will have Belden 9107 coaxial adapter cables that run from them to the radios.

The terminated cable boxes

A suitable space existed right next to the incoming cable cabinet that was a perfect size and location for a desk and had an emergency power outlet readily available for use as well. In the past we would have been happy to acquire such a space and having tables and chairs would be a final touch for us. We talked about the radios being secured until needed and Tom Walker had a place for that too. But in the absence of me and Howard, Tom didn't stop thinking about the security and usefulness of the emergency location.

Tom Walker called me and said he had an idea for the emergency cabinet and wanted to talk to me about the idea. I went to the hospital and Tom and John took me to the upper unused floor of the hospital. There we found four cabinets that were not being used and had no future work location that was available for them to be used. If you have ever been hospitalized for any time, you may have noticed that the room where you stayed had a position for a computer for the station nurse to input their update about you. It is unobtrusive and compact. Some are made of metal and some are of wood. The ones we were to be given to use were made by “Proximity Systems” ( http://www.proximitysystems.com/) and are their CM models. They can be locked and remain secure until the next duty nurse has a need to use the computer. Tom was thinking hard now.

Tom asked if they would work as stand alone emergency communications cabinets. After looking them over, I thought it was a terrific idea. Not being familiar with them before, I would have never thought of them for that use. We took quick measurements of the cabinets and then the space made available for the emergency radios and they would fit with room to spare. Tom checked and found out the cabinets were not purchased with any particular location in mind and that he could acquisition two of them for his use. The deal was sealed! We now had cabinets for the use and security of the radio and associated equipment. The units were hung on the wall near the cabinet where the cables came in from the roof. The fit was perfect and an emergency stand by power outlet was available as well.

The two cabinets near the cable boxes

Tom and John weren't done yet! They didn't want us to have to worry about using an outlet that may need to be used by someone else so they arranged to have new ones placed inside the cabinets for the radios. The equipment for the cabinets was placed in them to figure out where they should be positioned and then Tom set to work getting them configured as we discussed. Each cabinet got it's own emergency power outlet. The outlets are tied to their emergency gensets that take about four seconds to come on line and provide the power needed for the total hospital. As long as the hospital had power, so did the cabinets.

The equipment in the left side

The cabinets were hung so the writing surfaces were about thirty one inches off the floor and can be closed to secure the whole setup. The coax cabling from the cabinets was placed inside a protective cover and run from both cabinets to the coax from the roof. The left cabinet supplies the total power to three radios in both cabinets from a 50A MFJ switching power supply. That is fed to a RigRunner 50A power distribution panel in the same cabinet as the power supply. The power leads from the left cabinet go through a protective cover to the right cabinet for those radios.

The upper part of the left cabinet

The cabinet on the left houses the two meter rig, an Icom IC-2200H with a DCI passband filter to keep any spurious radiation from affecting any of the in-house medical equipment used to treat hospital patients. The radio is mounted directly to the lower folding shelf and the mike is mounted to the back of the cabinet. The DCI passband filter is mounted on the lower back of the cabinet close to the radio to keep that lead short. A new Kantronics TNC will be mounted in the same cabinet with the IC-2200H. When looking into the cabinets it can be seen that the setup fits without being cramped and allows for the use of the radio with plenty of room to write. The installation in the cabinet is neat, clean, uncluttered and presents an appearance of one that “belongs” there. There is plenty of room for a computer to run the TNC programs when running Paclink or another program for passing messages between facilities.

The left cabinet ready to use

The cabinet on the right side of the space houses the two single band radios. One a 2 meter radio – an Icom IC-F121 and the other is a 440 radio – an Icom IC-F221. Power to these radios is provided from the MFJ power supply in the other cabinet and is brought overhead to the right cabinet through the conduit between the units. The DCI dual band passband filter is mounted in the upper part of the cabinet. The two radios are coupled with a splitter that will allow a single coax to run from the radios to the passband filter and then to the dual band antenna on the roof. In this cabinet the radios were mounted on the rear surface of the cabinet in order to in order to leave writing room on the shelf for or a computer to be used if needed.

The right cabinet ready to use

The two cabinets have a professional appearance when open and look like they are meant for serious business. The mounting of the radios and associated equipment gives one the looks of a plan well thought out and carried through in a manner that invites one to want to be part of a group that uses it. Gone are the days when a radio group could just put radios anywhere and then expect to be treated professionally. Now, in these times when Emergency Communications is a phrase for almost every activity, appearance plays almost as a large a part of where we are as well as how we are do our part when we provide communications. With thanks to all those involved in the acquisition and arranging to have placed these cabinets, that the hospital and the staff agreed to the need for them and the Clark County ARES/Races group to work together says a lot for the idea who's time has come. Professionalism is part of being an “Amateur” Radio Operator and having these cabinets provided by Tom Walker and the Southern Hills Hospital shows that it can be done well.

Both cabinets powered up and almost ready to use

The plan now is to use them at least once each quarter for regular ARES nets and hopefully that will all they will ever be needed for. But if the day comes that an emergency arises that calls for the amateur community to be in place, these cabinets will provide the space to do that in a manner that will let others know that EmComm can be fashionable and stylish while providing serious communications to the community

Member Comments: