National
SATERN will run a nationwide net on 3.920 MHZ or near that frequency depending on other radio network activity on 12/31/99, in the full alert mode in anticipation of the Y2K phenomenon. The net will begin at 2300 Zulu time and last at least until 0600 Zulu time (6:00 PM to 12:00 AM CST). Schedule

Local SATERN networks across the nation will be on standby in support of local Salvation Army disaster teams response due to Y2K. In a number of areas, SATERN personnel will provide communications between local, county and state Emergency Management personnel and The Salvation Army.

National Net Schedule

Following are the Net Control Operators for the 31st of
December, New Year's Eve:

        Time     NCS         Time     NCS

        2300Z    KE1LJ       0300Z    WB9RRL

        0000Z    N3DV        0400Z    AB5SG

        0100Z    N3BHN       0500Z    WA0LSB

        0200Z    KB8LJP      0600Z    N5OKQ

The net will run through 0600Z and stay up as long as
needed. NCO's please announce the net as the SATERN Y2K Net
and collect information from SATERN stations specific to
their locale. Our intention is to monitor emergency
operations and stay alert to potential problems. A number of
you have volunteered to fill in as needed and I appreciate
the service you give. We will use all sources of information
and communication to increase our intelligence regarding the
disposition of this potential phenomena. A number of SATERN
personnel across the country will be working locally on
standby with The Salvation Army, local Emergency Management,
local civil authority and will make an effort to check in on
the SATERN National Y2K Net.

Again the net will run on 3920 MHZ give or take QRM. It will
be important to identify often. Thank you for your
commitment and service in this task.

God bless our endeavor.

Patrick E. McPherson WW9E
Major
NATIONAL DIRECTOR
SATERN

SATERN personnel will also take advantage of their established internet operation to maintain backup communications to SATERN administrators and ancilliary personnel in addition to monitoring world wide Y2K activity.

Fort Smith, Arkansas
Fort Smith Arkansas SATERN will be on VHF 145.190 starting at 23:00PM 31/12/99.

Pope County, Arkansas
Pope County OEM, the Red Cross, and the Salvation Army are among the agencies that would respond to any Y2K-related problems. All of these agencies work closely with amateur radio operators.

In order to be able to supply information needed by these agencies, all hams are asked to monitor the 146.82 repeater whenever possible during the December 31 - January 1 period.

The "Y2K net" will begin at 11:00 p.m. local time on the evening of December 31. The net will be on the 146.82 repeater. If no problems occur, the net will operate informally as we welcome in the new year. Stations checking in will be encouraged to monitor information sources shown above and let the NCS know of any problems.

The NCS will compile reports of problems or unusual occurrences and pass them on to the next NCS. The source and time of each occurrence should be recorded, and each should be given a number starting with 1. Also, the NEBO packet node on 145.01 will be available, and messages can be left on the K5PXP-1 (Pope County OEM) and N5URB-1 (Salvation Army) mailboxes. If problems occur, a running list of known occurrences will be posted to the packet mailboxes and regularly updated. A summary of known problems should be broadcast to the net by the NCS at regular intervals.

N5URB will be available to handle traffic going out of the local area and can send traffic on NTS, MARS, and FEMA nets via voice, CW, and PACTOR.

If the 146.82 repeater goes off the air, the net will move to the 145.39 W5VUB repeater. If that repeater is not available, we will use 146.52 simplex. Several stations will monitor 52.525 simplex on 6 meters and 3.987.5 Khz and 7.285 Khz on HF. The 80 meter frequency would normally be used at night and the 40 meter frequency during the day. Use 3.592 for CW activity.

At 9:00 AM local on January 1, there will be a statewide ARES/RACES net on 3987.5 Khz. The goal is to hear from all counties, so if you do not hear a representative from your county check in, please do so yourself if possible.

DEC 26, 1999, 8:00AM CST.
TO: ALL YELL/POPE COUNTY EMERGENCY SERVICE PERSONNEL
FROM: N5URB - SALVATION ARMY ECOMM CENTER - RUSSELLVILLE AR
SUBJECT: ECOMM ALERTING

MESSAGE FOLLOWS
 
AT 261300Z DEC 99, THE SHARES PORTION OF THE NATIONAL
COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM UPGRADED TO OPERATIONAL LEVEL 2 -
(EMERGENCY POTENTIAL EXISTS.) TESTS AND EXERCISES ON THE
SCN ARE SUSPENDED. MONITORING IS INCREASED. CHECK-IN
WINDOWS ARE ESTABLISHED ON NATIONAL AND REGIONAL NETS.
 
FEDERAL RESPONSE PLAN SUPPORT AGENCIES MAY LIAISON
BETWEEN FEMA, AND OTHER FEDERAL AGENCIES, THROUGH THE
RUSSELLVILLE SALVATION ARMY ECOMM CENTER. IF A
COMMUNICATIONS OUTAGE OCCURS, THE CENTER MAY BE
REACHED BY FOLLOWING THE CURRENT, JOINT Y2K COMM PLAN.
MEANTIME, THE SALVATION ARMY MAILBOX (N5URB-1) IS NOW
OPERATING AND WILL REMAIN ON 145.01 AROUND THE CLOCK
UNTIL THE Y2K THREAT HAS TERMINATED. 
 
END OF MESSAGE
 
NNNN

Sierra Del Mar, California
Sierra Del Mar will have SATERN volunteers on standby for Y2K and there will be Salvation Army officers on duty as well.

145.320 MHz will be monitored for the first 10 minutes of each hour for most of the evening and overnight.

In the Riverside/San Bernardino area they will monitor monitor 144.300 simplex and the Upland repeater 147.300 + PL 123.0 for any SATERN emergency announcements.

Chicago Metro
The Salvation Army Metropolitan Division in Chicago will be on Standby DELTA VI, which is a full standby alert on 12/31/99 into the new Millenium as needed for possible Y2K problems, civil disorder and/or possible terrorist activity.

SATERN personnel will monitor the CFMC repeater (146.76 w/ 107.2 PL). If for some reason, the repeater goes down, then the simplex frequency used will be 146.76. There will be no formal net on this frequency barring callout of Salvation Army disaster response. It will be used as a means of contact and backup communication as needed.

SA EDS personnel and Metro EDS leadership will initially rely on the UHF commercial repeater/cell phone and alpha numeric paging. SATERN personnel will standby to backup those systems and help should a major response be required.

SATERN liaison officers will automatically respond with any call out. SATERN personnel with hf capability are asked to monitor and support the National SATERN Y2K network which will be on 3920 MHZ and run from 000Z to 0600Z (6 pm to 12 am CST) or as long as needed.

Rockford, IL
Rockford will be holding their Y2K net on 147.255. We will also be on 3.920 MHz. If the 147.255 machine goes down, we will go to 146.445 simplex. Net will start at 5:00 PM, as our regular "Night Patrol" net, then continue as an informal net if nothing is going on. The Net will end when the need is no longer existent.

Kentucky
The Kentucky Emergency Net will activate at 2300 Eastern Time Dec. 31 and run through at least 7 am EST Jan.1, 2000 on 3.960 MHz. Boone Center, our state emergency operations center will be on frequency as well as Area EM offices from our state and several local gov't agencies.

Massachusetts
On December 31, 1999 from 8pm local time to January 1, 2000 4am local time (Unless there is an ongoing operation, then the time will be extended) The Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Services Department and Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network will have an Emergency Operations Center Setup and operating, monitoring any potential emergencies around the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Direct communications with Federal, State and local authorities, as well as communications with other SATERN operations and Nets will take place.

Preparations are being finalized for the raising of three new Antenna's at Divisional Headquarters will give access to 180m-10m, 6m FM, 2m, 220, 440 and Packet.

Minnesota
On December 31, 1999 at 1700 Hrs (Local) through 0500 Hrs (Local) on January 1, 2000, the state of Minnesota will use Amateur Radio on both HF and VHF/UHF as a backup to their primary communications circuits for Minnesota Division of Emergency Management.

The state's communications plan calls for five Regional Informtion Centers (RIC's) to gather information from the counties in their respective regions and then send that information in periodic regional reports to the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC). These RIC's are located at Wilmar, Olmstad, Grand Rapids, Marshall and the Ramsey County EOC.

In the event of a communiations emergency, the RIC at Ramsey County will communicate directly with the SEOC, located in downtown St. Paul, via Amateur Radio on VHF/UHF. The four out-state RIC's will communicate with a metro area Amateur Radio station on 75 meters which will then relay traffic to the SEOC via Amateur Radio VHF/UHF.

Originally, the metro area Amateur Radio station designated for this task was to be located at the Robbinsdale Amateur Radio Club station at Robbinsdale Public Safety. However, due to technical difficulties (horrendous local QRN), that station will now be located at The Salvation Army Metro Emergency Disaster Services Center in St. Paul. During a communications exercise on Saturday, the Amateur Radio station at the Metro EDS Center worked well in this capacity.

SATERN operators are needed to staff the HF and VHF/UHF stations at the Metro Emergency Disaster Services Center from 1700 Hrs (local) on Friday, December 31, 1999 through 0500 Hrs (local) on Saturday, January 1, 2000. Any SATERN operators available prior to 1700 Hrs (local) would be appreciated so some pre-net tests could be run.

In addition, operators are also needed at the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) for these same hours of operation. This call comes by request of Minnesota Division of Emergency Management at the last Association of Emergency Radio Organizations (AERO) meeting on December 16.

New York City
NYC's EOC is located on the 23rd floor of the World Trade Center which is in lower Manhattan (Manhattan is one of NYC's five counties, but best known for it's high rise buildings). The EOC has taller buildings around it so 23 floors isn't actually great for height. The Asst. Director of EDS will man the EOC through the 31st into the first, and other EDS volunteers will relieve him after the first. The EOC is almost the West side of NYC's five counties.

TSA's Division Hq. is a 14 story building, and the tentative plan is that the Colonel will be there through the prime time.

EDS uses NexTEL (900 mHz cel/trunk) which has its quirks on good days.

NYC SATERN standby plans are as follows:

The A.R.L.O will be at his home location monitoring 6m, 2m, and 70cm frequencies, as well as NYC FD, PD, OEM & REACT. His location is 100' ASL. He has six generators and fuel for standby operation in excess of 72 hours. His home is at the East side of NYC's five counties (NYC Nassau County line almost).

Plans are to have a SATERN member available to respond with any canteen (NYC has 3 canteens).

It is also planned to have a SATERN member available to go to Div Hq if the Colonel wishes. Another possibility is to supply a HT for the Colonel to use should the phones and NexTel go down.

Tests will be conducted, trying out simplex communications between the EOC, Div Hq, my home, and the normal canteen locations this week.

NYC RACES personell will be manning the RACES station at the EOC (one of the people manning the station is also a SATERN & EDS member). My understanding is that RACES will be activated if there is a need.

Plans are still up in the air to some extent. One problem that still exists is the understanding that Amateur Radio Communications can and usually will work even if the power, phones, or NexTEL fail.

Cincinatti, OH Area

Cincinnati (SWONEKY) Division will be operating:

Boone County (KY) EOC, with a canteen stationed across the river there.

Circulating another canteen on the north side of the river, ready to respond.

The EDS Operations Center will be on HF and in radio contact with local county/city ops. I hope to have the internet also up and running most of the time. There will be a crew there handling the phones as needed.

There will also be operations on 3920, depending on the availability of an antenna system. It may be possible to put up a permanent antenna system later, especially if this 'demo' proves useful.

The EDS OC will be monitoring the SHARES, FEMA, KY ARES, SATERN and probably other nets from 0000z or so until close, which will depend on fire departments, EMAs and so on.

Oklahoma City
The Salvation Army ham stations have been asked to monitor the Division emergency frequency (3.941) from 11:00 pm Dec.31st until 1:00am on the 1st. If nothing happens we shut down the Okla. City portion of the watch.

We will also try to monitor the 3.920 SATERN frequency. Locally, we will monitor the 146.82 VHF repeater. If for some reason it goes down, we will go to 146.52 simplex. The EARS club in Edmond, OK, just north of OKC will cover their hospital and the local agencies. There is an antenna installed at the Mercy Hospital in NW OKC and there will be an operator assigned to this location.

Allegheny County
SATERN will be on full activation from 20:00 till 02:00 local time if incident free, obviously longer(or shorter) if the world comes to an end.

Both SATERN and EDS Response teams will be at SATERN H.Q. as well as having a SATERN operator at the Allegheny County E.O.C.

Frequencies to be used are 146.610/444.950/223.980/29.64/52.64(all linked together) for SATERN which has a Y2K compliant controller and emergency power. The H.Q. will also have building generators ready and running by 23:55 local time as well as the mobile SATERN communications trailer and all canteens outside, running and ready to roll.

Alegheny County SATERN will be on the National SATERN H.F. emergency net monitoring as W3SAT as well, with capabilities of working all bands and packet, from anywhere in the region within moments of any incident that may occur.

Greenville, Texas
The Greenville Texas, Hunt County RACES will operate in full activation mode, scheduled to begin at 10:00 PM CST and be operational for the duration. There will also be an NTS liason working on both 2M and HF along with a state liason that will be on 3.873 mHz (night) 7.285 mHz (day) for the duration.