Calvert County RACES
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Serve the community when needed. Support emergency communications with CARA. A non-profit organization that voluntarily provides equipment, personnel, and training, for the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) in Calvert County, Maryland. RACES is supported by CARA's Auxiliary Communications team known as AUXCOMM. For more information on AUXCOMM click on the link below.
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Designed, Installed and Maintained by Amateur Radio Operators
With the support of the Calvert County Emergency Management, Members of the Calvert County Amateur Radio Association (CARA) designed, Installed, and Maintains the RACES Radio infrastructure for Calvert County. The system consist of two repeater sites, and two Emergency Operations Center (EOC) sites.
The Repeater System
The linked repeater system, known as K3CAL includes a two meter repeater in Sunderland Maryland, and a seventy centimeter repeater located in Lusby Maryland. There is also a full time Echolink node K3CAL-R which supports connectivity to the repeater system from outside the area with VoIP. In normal operating mode the repeaters are linked together with a UHF RF link, providing solid amateur radio communications from Solomon's Island at the South end of the county to Owings in the North end. If need be, the system can be unlinked and function as two independent repeaters.
Emergency Operation Center Communications
The Emergency Operation Center sites use seven Kenwood V71a, dual band VHF/UHF radios. Seven dual band antennas installed in three different locations. Two radios with two roof top mounted antennas, are installed at the primary EOC. Two more radios, connected to their own roof top mounted antennas are installed at the alternate EOC. The last three radios are installed at the Tower site located in Barstow, Maryland. There are three antennas on the Barstow Tower. One faces Northeast at three hundred and fifty feet. The second faces Southeast at 250 feet. Connected to their own radios, these high mounted antennas are used remotely from either one of the EOC's. Access to the radios at the tower site is accomplished with Calvert County Intranet over Ethernet connections, through Remote Rig Control interface boxes. The third antenna is installed at a lower height with it's own onsite radio. It serves as a cross band repeater. The entire system design offers Calvert County Emergency Management a simplex amateur radio coverage area of one hundred miles, offering the most flexibility and redundancy.
The Repeater System
The linked repeater system, known as K3CAL includes a two meter repeater in Sunderland Maryland, and a seventy centimeter repeater located in Lusby Maryland. There is also a full time Echolink node K3CAL-R which supports connectivity to the repeater system from outside the area with VoIP. In normal operating mode the repeaters are linked together with a UHF RF link, providing solid amateur radio communications from Solomon's Island at the South end of the county to Owings in the North end. If need be, the system can be unlinked and function as two independent repeaters.
Emergency Operation Center Communications
The Emergency Operation Center sites use seven Kenwood V71a, dual band VHF/UHF radios. Seven dual band antennas installed in three different locations. Two radios with two roof top mounted antennas, are installed at the primary EOC. Two more radios, connected to their own roof top mounted antennas are installed at the alternate EOC. The last three radios are installed at the Tower site located in Barstow, Maryland. There are three antennas on the Barstow Tower. One faces Northeast at three hundred and fifty feet. The second faces Southeast at 250 feet. Connected to their own radios, these high mounted antennas are used remotely from either one of the EOC's. Access to the radios at the tower site is accomplished with Calvert County Intranet over Ethernet connections, through Remote Rig Control interface boxes. The third antenna is installed at a lower height with it's own onsite radio. It serves as a cross band repeater. The entire system design offers Calvert County Emergency Management a simplex amateur radio coverage area of one hundred miles, offering the most flexibility and redundancy.
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EOC SIMPLEX COVERAGE MAP
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SIMPLEX TEST CHECK INS JUNE 18TH 2024
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Emergency Communications from Anywhere
Flexibility is key to the RACES Radio Infrastructure. Emergency communication operation can easily be established from remote locations. The over the air remote controlled radio installed at the Barstow tower site. Allows operators to remotely configure a simplex or duplex cross band repeat system, from any location with in the local coverage area. A simple battery operated mobile radio, connected to a directional antenna mounted on a tripod provides UHF communications to the cross band radio at the Barstow tower site. These local UHF transmissions are repeated by the cross band radio on to a VHF frequency with a much larger coverage area.
Flexibility is key to the RACES Radio Infrastructure. Emergency communication operation can easily be established from remote locations. The over the air remote controlled radio installed at the Barstow tower site. Allows operators to remotely configure a simplex or duplex cross band repeat system, from any location with in the local coverage area. A simple battery operated mobile radio, connected to a directional antenna mounted on a tripod provides UHF communications to the cross band radio at the Barstow tower site. These local UHF transmissions are repeated by the cross band radio on to a VHF frequency with a much larger coverage area.
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REMOTE CROSS BAND SIMPLEX COVERAGE MAP
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CROSS BAND SIMPLEX TEST CHECK INS AUGUST 6TH 2024
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