Army MARS and Sandy Landfall:

Army MARS inaugurated a new cross-country HF network at 0800 EDT (1200Z) Monday to back up emergency communications within Hurricane Sandy’s landfall zone.

Taking advantage of HF radio’s efficiency over longer range, members in five FEMA regions outside the threatened Northeast were activated to relay emergency traffic for the relief services that MARS supports within the coastal Regions 1,2 and 3, from Virginia to Maine.

The National Operations Net (“opnet”) was designed in response to lessons learned during Hurricane Katrina, when emergency communication was hindered by the lack of planning and coordination of resources. Army MARS published its new architecture of well over 100 available HF channels in August. These were placed on emergency status during the past weekend.

The opnet is actually a highly-flexible web of state and region networks with a central trunk linked directly to Army MARS HQ at Ft Huachuca. Ariz. and the Pentagon beyond. Each segment is directed by net controllers working shifts. Record traffic is mostly transmitted digitally, but voice and phone-patch resources are available.

“Stations monitoring from the central and western portions of the continental U.S. could be extremely valuable depending upon propagation conditions in the Northeast depending upon propagation conditions in the Northeast,” said Bob Mims, the opnet manager outside Boston. “As someone who wanted to assist during Hurricane Katrina but ended up doing nothing because I could not find a way to help, it is great to see the national involvement in Hurricane Sandy.”

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