MD/DC ARRL 2017 SET Exercise

On Saturday, October 7, 2017, we joined the Montgomery County Auxiliary Communications Service (MCACS, www.mcacs.net) during the Maryland/DC 2017 ARRL Simulated Emergency Test emergency communications exercise. The radio station was deployed to the Izaak Walton League facility on Clopper Road, Gaithersburg. The exercise consisted on using Winlink (email over radio) on amateur radio frequencies on the 80-meter band. Communications were exchanged with hospitals and other local government entities in Ocean City and the surrounding area. This exercise simulated a direct hurricane hit on Ocean City, MD. A number of amateur radio stations were deployed to three locations near Ocean City. The exercise was preceded on Thursday October 5th by a "warm up" Hospital Radio Net for ARES members that made use of the Central Maryland Repeater Group's system of linked 440 MHz repeaters in Laurel, Suitland, Frederick, Baltimore and Aquasco.