WICEN (Vic.) Inc.

The Gippsland Rally, held August 26~27th, is one of the most operator resource hungry events WICEN Vic has on its calendar. The event is staged out of Heyfield approximately 200kms east of Melbourne and hosts rally cars from the ARC Australian Rally Championships) as well as the VRC (Victorian Rally Championships). The VRC cars only run on the Saturday, making it the busiest of the two days. Over the course of the event, we logged over 700 messages, at a rate of 2~3 per minute. The rate of messaging means a lot of action and required a lot of radio operators.

The volunteer sector across all organisations has been hit hard since covid. WICEN Vic is no different, needing volunteer radio operators as events come back post the pandemic. With 20 plus operators required for the Saturday, an urgent call was placed to several AR clubs. To those clubs who acknowledged our call, we thank you. An additional eight operators made themselves available. To the WICEN Vic members who where able to attend, we also thank you for your availability and commitment.

Rallies at this level are well resourced. There is the Rally Safe system that is world class providing in car telemetry for locational tracking, excessive G Force notification and roll over notification. All this in real time with two-way messaging to the car. There is a commercial radio system made available to all officials, run out of rally HQ, not to mention mobile phone coverage, data and voice is pretty good across the entirety of the course.

So why have WICEN there? For us, the event is used as a training exercise. Operators train in conditions less than ideal and in locations not chosen for best radio propagation. They send messages that need to be short and precise and often with urgency. They learn to concentrate when it’s noisy, they’re tired and the information mostly is foreign to them. It’s like listening to your significant other when the kids are fighting, and they want to discuss your plan for next month. Operators learn what equipment is needed or not needed to take to ensure a quick deployment of their station. They also learn and participate in off road driving (in some cases) and being prepared with food, water and shelter. All this is serious business because a failure to deliver could have consequences we’d rather not face.

The other reason WICEN is there is as a backup. On several occasions over the two days WICEN was called upon as the primary communications between Rally Base and the checkpoint. Notification of the change is made in real time, when the primary communications fail and WICEN becomes the primary. Sounds a little like why WICEN exists. With this all being said, you can see the parallels between this event and the relationship between the emergency management services and WICEN Vic. While their systems are more robust than ever, continuing investment in the Victorian communications network continues to ensure WICEN is there to back fill gaps if and when needed.

What a WICEN trained operator brings to the table is far more than their AR skills. Some AR operators like to build, and others buy. Some like DX and others working satellites. WICEN trained operators would more easily be able to walk into an EOC (Emergency Operations Centre) or an ERC (Emergency Relief Centre) and form part of the communications network. They have experience working under pressure, in noisy and less than ideal environments and learn to remain calm and work the problem. WICEN needs more operators who are willing to train and give a little of their time annually in case of being called upon.

The Gippsland Rally will be running in 2024 in Heyfield and our next event is the Stockman’s Rally Sunday 29th October. If you’re interested in attending the Stockmans, or would like further information about getting involved with WICEN Vic, get in touch as we’d love to hear from you.

Another Stockman’s Rally completed for WICEN Victoria. In the afternoon of Saturday 22nd October, a small team from WICEN Victoria headed to the Big River State Forest. The team, delayed slightly by known road closures in the area due to the running of the Tarmac Rally finally made their way to the “married men’s” camp site in the Big River State Forest near Marysville. With the event scheduled for the following day the evening gave the opportunity for the team to discuss the comms plan and other event changes (events are fluid) over a hot meal graciously provided by the event organisers.

WICEN Victoria’s roles was the provision of logistical and emergency communications support for the event. Around 450 motorcycle riders rode one or both loops pre laid out throughout the Victorian high country. This non-competitive event put on by Motor Cycle Racing Club of Victoria (MCRCV) commenced just after 9am on the Sunday morning. This meant radio operators were up early to get to their assigned check points. The last of the riders ended their day around 4pm.

The weather was picture perfect for the Sunday as well as the night before despite all the heavy rain Melbourne and the rest of the state had been experiencing. A WICEN 2M repeater was deployed on Mount Duffy for the event. We also used in UHF CB as the event support crew including sweeps, medics on bikes and recovery teams carried UHF CB radios.

With WICEN located at strategic locations around the course we were able to relay messages to and from those assets back to race HQ to assist in non and urgent decision making. This included with the assisting of riders who may have not followed the course by having race officials track their whereabouts as well as medical interventions that formed at times rather heavy radio traffic. Fortunately, injuries were minor with only one rider needing transport by Melbourne Ambulance Services. WICEN team members departed their checkpoints back to race HQ for a informal debrief before making the journey back to their respective home QTH’s.

IT IS NOT THEMOUNTAIN WE CONQUER, BUT OURSELVES

This the 2nd running of the Baw Baw Extreme https://bawbawextreme.com.au was held 15th ~ 16th October 2022. WICEN Victoria was there again to assist the event organisers with emergency and logistic communications in the high country.

The information below is part of a post action report from a debrief held via Zoom as circulated by the Event Commander, Chris VK3CJK. This gives you a small insight into all the vast amount of pre-event planning as well as the capturing of “what worked and what did not work” to make future training events safer and more efficient to the operators.

Operators:
Fifteen radio operators assisted with competitor tracking, logistics and safety.

OH&S:
CP11A was at 1500 metres and very cold. The radio operator needed to go for a short hike a few times to warm up. (our operator was John VK3JSN as well equipped and experienced Alpine S&R and Ski Patrol member. Experienced outdoorsman at a checkpoint only someone like John could be deployed too.)

Preparation:
The event Comms Manual all checked out well.
Despite a few holes in the manual, radio ops were kept informed of what info was expected late in the piece. ‘Just in Time’ info comes to mind…
Pre-event info was all good.

Camping / Accommodation:
CP1 – used swag adjacent to road.
Accommodation provided in Erica township was good.
Accommodation in Baw Baw Village was generally satisfactory.

Radio Comms:
Checkpoint 0 (CP0) could not establish comms via the main event repeater (RWP – even using a beam at height) so resorted to the secondary channel VK3RLV which worked well.
CP1 used 2 element beam at 8 m – worked satisfactorily.
CP9 observed occasional fading on RWP (could have been the link to AWI).
CP10 – flowerpot at 8 m worked very well.
The X-band link was sometimes difficult to hear (it experienced occasional fading, and the audio quality was suboptimal). Small beams at each end would have helped.
CP11A used reverse into RWP in order to trigger the link.
Radio modelling has shown that using a VHF link from AWI to Moe South and a UHF link to RWP @ CP11 should give significantly better results for the X-band link.

Interaction with Organisers / Competitors:
Not all check points had officials, so radio operators were had to take each competitor’s bib number. Very useful having a pair of operators. Almost all operators reported that the competitors were very grateful for having radio comms from the various checkpoints; it made them feel safer on the course. Competitors were very friendly.

A pair of unwell competitors notified the Chief Safety Officer of their predicament. One of the radio operators kindly offered to transport them to Baw Baw Village, which saved them a wait of 2 – 3 hours. Thanks to Dan VK3NDG one of our newest members offering to do this. Not expected but a gracious offer appreciated by the competitors and the event organisers.

CP11 used a competitor tracking sheet that ticked off each competitor known to depart the previous checkpoint once they arrived at CP11. Knowing the competitor bib numbering scheme made life easier this time.

Other:
It was helpful having a roving operator (which he did once he’d finished his own checkpoint). Apart from being able to look over other checkpoints, it allowed one operator to leave a little earlier than would otherwise have occurred.

CP10 noted that there was good Optus and Vodafone coverage, but no Telstra.

GPS black spots and/or trackers not placed optimally resulted in false positions shown on the tracking software. However, the software also displayed how long it was since the last tracking update.

AWI noted the efficiency resulting from stations calling in with competitor numbers announcing as much on their initial call. Some on-air training occurred in this matter.

AWI had the benefit of an 80″ touch display showing competitor positions around the course. This was an unexpected bonus (not something we usually have at events).

Thank you again to everyone who volunteered and helped make it a successful event – the organisers were very happy with WICEN’s contribution.

The Gippsland Rally 2022 http://www.gippslandrally.com.au known this year as the “Middle of Everywhere Gippsland Rally” made its return to Heyfield in late August. WICEN Victoria was there yet again to support the VRC and ARC rally cars in what turned out to be a hugely successful event, not only for WICEN Vic but also for the rally organisers. Day two stage 13—the speed stage—was also televised live on channel 7.
John VK3ZRX was the WICEN Event Commander and was supported by many WICEN Vic members as well as many non-members, who put their hand up to the call for operators. Many of the events WICEN Vic support such as the car rallies require more operators than usual and the support we receive from amateur radio clubs and individuals is paramount to getting the job done.

This year we used a 2m repeater as well a 2m simplex for communications. Operators were located at stop and start locations of each stage as well as the various SOS points. At rally control we had AWI which is the call identifier for WICEN HQ. A local repeater 3RLV was also used occasionally for communications while in transit to the event.

Run over two days and based in Heyfield, competitors and spectators went through the townships of Cowwarr, Glenmaggie, Newry, Tinamba, Maffra and Briagolong. This year was the first time the event ran as part of the Australian Rally Championships and the first time for the ARC in this area. The Saturday kept many operators busy with several rally cars ending up on their rooftops. The rally safe technology, which is compulsory in each car, gives rally HQ live telemetry data on cars’ location, speed, g-forces of an accident and allows drivers to respond with predetermined replies, such as we’re OK, as an example.

All this technology doesn’t negate the need for human intervention, with officials needing to stop stages to check on the driver and navigator, and send in medical intervention teams and recovery vehicles each time an accident occurs. This has to be done until officials on scene advise otherwise. For WICEN operators this means a higher than usual amount of traffic being passed. Many of our non-members did outstanding work, having experienced first-hand some of the wrongs when rally drivers don’t get it right, especially at high speed.

WICEN Vic hold pre and post event briefings that are conducted virtually to assist operators before going into the field. This is especially important to new operators who will read the event manual written specifically for each event, allowing them to put forward any questions or concerns before deployment.

A huge thankyou to all operators who volunteered their time in support WICEN Vic and the rally racing community. Also thanks to John VK3ZRX and Chris VK3CJK for all the work that went into the pre planning and radio modelling stages.

WICEN Victoria’s 3rd event for 2021 was the Kenda Rally https://www.admcc.com.au/kenda-rally . After the 2020 event was cancelled due to Covid, this year’s event was a sell out for the Alexandra & District Motorcycle Club, with well over 440 motorcycle riders coming out on Sunday 2nd May. The event is held in the Eildon area of the Victorian High Country.

Many of the WICEN operators who had early opening check points on Sunday morning spent Saturday night bush camping. The weather was kind to us this year, with warm days and mild overnight temperatures. Scattered throughout the Eildon area, WICEN operators began to come up online and check in to AWI (WICEN HQ located at Kendall’s campground) before the race got underway at 9am.

For this event WICEN operated TRAK®, WICEN Victoria’s packet radio program. It was configured to track riders through the course as they arrived at each official check point. Voice communications were also established with AWI from each checkpoint on 2 metres. Some of the checkpoints were located on 2 dissecting loops, with riders having a choice to do one loop before having lunch and calling it quits for the day. Or after a bite to eat, they could take on the second loop, for those with a little more riding stamina.

With dry conditions the pace was fast, with several riders falling. Two needed transport to hospital by Ambulance Victoria with minor injuries. WICEN worked alongside SES and medics who provided the initial response to any injured riders. A big thanks goes to Peter Weeks, VK3YZP and Alan Stratford, VK3AGS for their efforts as event Commanders organising WICEN’s involvement. Also, to Paul Elvey, VK3YYF for getting TRAK organised. Finally, to all the other WICEN operators who gave their time to deploy and support the Kenda Rally 2021.

Recently WICEN Victoria supported the Baw Baw Extreme, a 2-day extreme multiple discipline athletic event where competitors made their way over 80kms of Victorian high-country. The event allowed competitors to be a team (relay style), duo (two people) or solo where competitors ran, biked and kayaked their way from the township of Walhalla to the village at Mt Baw Baw. Some chose to do the trek in one go (within a day) while others split the trek and stayed overnight at the township of Erica. www.bawbawextreme.com.au

For a competitor to even attempt and contemplate completing such an event they train for many months and years in all sorts of conditions. Their preparation is time consuming, and their equipment is well maintained (bikes & kayaks). They also have a support team throughout the event. A parallel can be drawn with a WICEN Event Commander, who could also be said to spend hundreds of hours preparing for events.

In no particular order, and of course every event is unique so the list varies, here are some of the things an may do:

• Client management – becoming embedded with the client (the event) planning as early as possible. This is crucial for a successful outcome. The EC (Event Commander) needs to fully understand the needs of the client, the event and what is being expected of WICEN. A lot of time is dedicated attending meetings and corresponding with our contact for the event.
• Comms planning – depending upon the event’s RF needs (voice and or data) and the topography. Many hours are spent doing computer RF modelling as well as real world tests by visiting the various checkpoints to verify and validate the computer modelling. The EC also needs to coordinate resources such as access to fixed repeaters and other field requirements such as deployment of WICEN mobile repeaters.
• Call for operators – the EC is responsible for sourcing operators for the event. Based on the RF requirements and locations, the EC matches those needs with suitable WICEN members. Selection criteria may lend itself to a 4WD required to get to the checkpoint, availability as some events run 2 or even 3 days, and the RF requirement, as the operator may have to operate packet as well as voice on a variety of bands.
• Documentation – the EC prepares the “comms manual” as well as the HSE documents. The comms manual tells you why we are doing it, what to do, where to go, how to do it and when do it. The HSE operations guide provides information relating to how to go about your deployment safely. It’s a good reminder of all the things you might need to be self-sufficient for what could be a multiple day deployment. They are mission critical to a successful outcome.
• Pre and post event briefings – the EC organises and hosts these briefings, providing an opportunity for the team to share and discuss the event, and exchange learnings. This is a two-way process whereby the EC and the operators share and gain knowledge specific to the event. The post event de-briefing is a way for the EC to learn what worked and what didn’t work, gain information to feedback to the client, and formally thank everyone for their participation.

So, to Chris Morley VK3CJK, the Event Commander for the Baw Baw Extreme, along with John Morrisey VK3ZRX and many others who helped with the preplanning of this inaugural event, we acknowledge the many hours and expense given by you and the team to ensure the event ran well. Without all our WICEN Vic EC’s and their teams, WICEN would not be able to get involved with our clients (events).

WICEN Vic could not have completed its duties without the many volunteers who gave their time to operate in all sorts of conditions at the Baw Baw Extreme. Some of the photos show WICEN checkpoints, many of which operated for up to 18 hours. One that John Sunderland, VK3JSN, setup was a 5km hike from Baw Baw village. Many of the competitors commented how good they felt knowing there was someone close to the finish to greet them and be there for them if needed after making the trek up the mountain from the Erica car park. Often a message I’ve heard in many an event.

It was the first event in 14 months for WICEN Vic. Duncan’s Run 2021 (March 20-21) was an opportunity to get away and forget 2020. For many WICEN operators it was an opportunity to dust off and check that equipment which had not been used in some time. Duncan’s run has been an annual event for WICEN Vic for many years and in 2020 due to Covid-19 it had been cancelled. However, in 2021 the event came back stronger than ever with some 450 runners competing in the 6km, 21km, 50km and 100km Ultra Marathon races. http://www.duncansrun.com.au

The event is held near Balook on and around the trials of Gippsland Tarra Bulga. The event honours the life of Duncan Orr, who’s life was taken too early. Duncan was a local and passionate runner, and one way his mates remember him is by holding this event annually. This year’s winner ran the 100kms in just over 12 hours commencing at 6am on a dark and cold Saturday morning. WICEN Vic had a team of around sixteen operators who had travelled from all over the state to support the event, providing runner tracking, logistics and emergency communications. Much of the area has little to no mobile phone coverage.

On the Friday afternoon a small army ascended on the Balook visitor centre to turn it into a mini city of tents. One of those was the race control and our communications bunker known as VK3AWI. Many operators came for the roast that John VK3ZRX had organised and many thanks to John’s wife for making the drive up from Traralgon South to deliver the fresh beans and home-made desert. It wasn’t long before it was dark, and it was time to find a home for the night. Several of us headed for a cleared logging area to set up tents and swags. With a 5am alarm set after a long day we didn’t spend too much time chatting after setting camp.

WICEN operators are spread across the course, with many having more than one check point throughout the day. Some locations required a change of operator, as the check point is on the air for most of the event. VK3AWI—our event HQ station—was on the air before 6am and remained on air until the last runner was in, close to twenty hours later. The Friday night, Balook experienced strong winds and Chris VK3CJK found the race control tent had blown over. Chris and a small team went to work getting it fixed, which explained why at 5.30am Chris and John looked a little flustered. The good news was the erected antenna mast was untouched.

A variety of communications in our tool kit were used. 2M packet and voice with 6M voice being used for the first time with success. We used one of our portable repeaters as well as a strategically placed digi repeater. Our packet system TRAK followed all runners in the 21, 50 and 100km races throughout the race. We had a few early problems to challenge the team, however the problems were resolved, and those operators got on with the job at hand. Some of the operators joining us for the first time witnessed some of the issues field operators face—if you’re a SOTA operator you probably know what I mean. Laptops that won’t boot, antennas that worked the day before having issues and propagation paths that shouldn’t give a concern but do and then magically open up with no rhyme nor reason.

However, all tracked runners were accounted for, many messages were passed for the organises to assist with logistics and everyone went home safe. For this event I was able to get around and visit most of the stations and see a variety of setups. Not to mention meet many members I’d only seen virtually the past twelve months and non-members joining us for the first time. You could argue this event could run without WICEN Vic, using patchy mobile phone comms, but the risks to the runners and event officials would be expediential especially as night. This being my 4th year at Duncan’s Run, I’ve got to say the event organisers and WICEN Vic keep getting better and better at it. But one thing that hasn’t changed is the appreciation from the event organisers and the runners appreciating all those volunteering their time so they can run.

73’s

Mark
VK3MDH

PS: Many thanks to those first time operators joining us and the Victorian AR Clubs assisting WICEN Vic in many different ways.

For several years, WICEN (Vic) and the EMCOM group have cooperated to provide a robust, highly reliable digital messaging system over HF radio.
EMCOM grew out of the former RECOM, the communications arm of the Red Cross. RECOM was established in 1997 with a small group of engineers, scientists, and technicians, all of whom were radio amateurs, to develop a highly reliable, secure HF digital radio system – something almost unknown in amateur circles at the time and still rare today. The group developed radio systems and software to achieve this goal. Over the next 15 or so years, RECOM were activated over 140 times to provide communications at emergencies all over Australia.

With change of legislation and shifting Red Cross priorities, RECOM services were no longer required by Red Cross, so EMCOM was formed to deploy the people, technology and equipment used so successfully in the service of Red Cross.
Subsequently EMCOM and WICEN have cooperated to offer a similar service within Victoria and beyond, through the WICEN Special Communications Unit (SCU), a small group of specialist operators who can respond quickly when needed.
More recently EMCOM have expanded into the Pacific, equipping and training operators – Antoine 3D2AG in Fiji, and Tili T2AT in Tuvalu.

An important part of the EMCOM system is the automatic Network Stations which operate 24/7. Network stations are a form of gateway, between the long-range high frequency (HF) digital radio system and the Internet. All information passed over this radio system is highly encrypted. Network stations scan a range of frequencies from 160m to 15m. Network station facilities include outgoing email, message posting to a secure web site using GPS location pins, and other services.

The 3D2AG/P DxPedition to Rotuma Island
Antoine de Ramon N’Yeurt, 3D2AG, is a well-known amateur Dx station operator operating from his home in Suva, Fiji, as well as various Dxpeditions to various Pacific islands.

Antoine travelled to Rotuma Island during December 2019. The Rotuma group is the northernmost section of Fiji, and has a total population of about 1600 with very little external communications.
Antoine is also an EMCOM operator and, fortunately, took his EMCOM equipment with him. While on Rotuma he had no access to email and extremely limited phone communications.

Call for AssistanceOn 26 December 2019, Antoine issued a call for assistance over the EMCOM system, via a post (with GPS location) to the EMCOM secure website.
The request related to a developing tropical storm NW of Rotuma, which was causing some concern. Antoine requested EMCOM forward up-to-date weather information for use by himself and the other people on Rotuma, as this information was not readily available.
Antoine was also able to pass information about what was happening to the outside world, by email through the EMCOM system: https://dxnews.com/3d2ag-p_rotuma-island/

The Response

In response to the request, EMCOM supplied Antoine and the people of Rotuma with weather forecast information updated several times daily, enabling them to track the development and movement of the tropical storm.
This tropical storm soon evolved into Tropical Cyclone Sarai, a Category 2 cyclone which then tracked in a southerly to SE direction past Rotuma. This activity continued as TC Sarai tracked towards Viti Levu, the main island of Fiji where Suva is located, and until Sarai had passed to the south of Suva.

To facilitate this activity, EMCOM activated an additional radio Network station near Melbourne to support Rotuma, in addition to the permanent automatic Network stations which operate 24/7/365 and which also serviced the activation.
Weather information for marine areas, Rotuma and Suva was downloaded from the Fiji Meteorological Service web site several times daily and loaded onto the Network Station, for later download by Antoine when convenient. This information was updated about 30 times over the course of the next few days.
During this time Antoine had only limited access to power; his DxPedition was mostly solar powered with a small diesel generator (with limited fuel supply) as backup. Of course during much of this period, there was minimal solar power available due to cloud cover.

Email service

As well as providing the Wx information, EMCOM also provided an email service to and from Rotuma over this period and up until 14 January 2020.
This proved especially useful during the early days of the DxPedition, when Antoine suffered some problems with some equipment. He was able to obtain assistance and advice from the USA via the email service.

Tragedy

Tragically, Antoine’s son drowned on 9 January while the family was on Rotuma Island, not long after the cyclone had passed. Antoine used the EMCOM system to pass the sad news on to the outside world and announce he was ceasing Dx activity, with a notice to a prominent Dx site here: https://www.dx-world.net/3d2ag-p-rotuma/
We extend our condolences to Antoine and all of his family.

73 de John VK3ATQ, John VK3ZRX and the combined EMCOM / WICEN SCU team