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<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">HFIE-2014 Guidelines for US Amateur and
Government Stations Communicating with ALE on 5MHz<BR><BR>About HFIE<BR>High
Frequency Interoperability Exercise (HFIE) is a readiness exercise event to test
radio stations and radio operator practice for HF interoperability
communications using Automatic Link Establishment (ALE). The exercise prepares
radio operators to more efficiently handle essential Emergency Communications
(EMCOMM) and respond to the needs of disaster relief. Participating radio
operators use this exercise to gain more experience in setting up and operating
stations, and to achieve technical proficiency in communicating via HF radio
using ALE. HFIE is a free and open semi-annual exercise, coordinated by the
HFLINK organization and the Global ALE High Frequency Network (HFN). More
information is available
at:<BR>http://hflink.com<BR>http://hflink.net<BR><BR>HFIE-2014
Timeframe<BR>HFIE-2014 Starts 2014 March 27 at 00:01 UTC and ends 2014 April 07
at 23:59 UTC.<BR><BR>Print or download pdf of these
Guidelines:<BR>http://hflink.net/hfie2014/HFIE_2014_Guidelines_for_US_Amateur_and_Government_Stations_v10.pdf<BR><BR>HFIE-2014
for US Amateur Radio Service and Federal Government Stations<BR>At the request
of FEMA, the FCC and NTIA have granted Special Temporary Authority (STA) for US
Amateur Radio Operators and US Federal Government stations to communicate with
each other for participation in the 12 days of HFIE-2014. Informal guidelines
are presented here for technical operations of HF radio stations for
participating US Amateur Radio Service and Government
entities.<BR><BR>Objectives<BR>A primary objective of the HFIE-2014 is to test
HF two-way communication to meet essential communication needs and to facilitate
relief actions. Another objective of HFIE-2014 is to test the interoperability
between software-based ALE controllers using computer-interfaced HF radios (as
commonly implemented in the Amateur Radio community) with various types of
embedded-hardware ALE HF radios (commonly used by government and other
services). The exercise encourages and promotes a common denominator of standard
ALE techniques for maximum compatibility.<BR><BR>Interoperability
Standards<BR>Interoperability for communications in HFIE-2014 is facilitated by
the use of 2nd Generation Automatic Link Establishment (2G ALE) as proscribed in
the Federal Standard FED-1045a or MIL STD 188-141b/c family of protocols and
equipment standards. At a minimum, ALE radio equipment used in the exercise
should be capable of sending and receiving ALE Individual Calls, ALE Sounding,
and ALE Text messaging (AMD) using the normal 2G ALE methods. The equipment may
be normally set up for automatic channel scanning, or manual operation may be
selected for fixed channel frequencies. Two shared channel frequencies will be
used for HFIE-2014 out of the five channels approved for use by both Amateur and
Federal Government stations during the timeframe of this exercise. Channel
information is provided in Table 1.<BR><BR>Table 1. HFIE-2014 - HF
Interoperability Channels<BR>HFIE-2014 ALE HF Interoperability Channels for US
Amateur Radio and Federal Stations<BR><BR>Channel Designation: HFIE Primary
<BR>Channel Frequency: 5357.0 kHz USB VOICE or AMD Texting<BR>Communication
Type: Call using ALE and communicate on this channel.<BR>Sounding Gov:
Automatic<BR>Sounding Ham: Manual or Non-Auto NALE<BR><BR>Channel Designation:
HFIE Secondary<BR>Channel Frequency: 5371.5 kHz USB VOICE or AMD
Texting<BR>Communication Type: Call using ALE and communicate on this channel if
the other channel is busy, or to Sounding Gov: Automatic<BR>Sounding Ham: Manual
or Non-Auto NALE<BR><BR>Notes:<BR>1. Channel Frequency is the carrier reference
frequency for Upper Sideband suppressed carrier, commonly displayed on the front
panel of the radio.<BR>2. Emission type for ALE modem signal is 2K80J2D (or
2K00J2D).<BR>3. The center-of-channel frequencies are 5358.5 and 5373 kHz. The
USB offset is -1.5 kHz.<BR><BR>ALE Radio Programming Information<BR>Program your
controller to automatically allow and add any new ALE address it receives.
<BR>If possible, program the two channel frequencies in a separate ALE channel
group, or as part of your existing HFL NET group of channels.<BR>You may program
the ALLCALL channel of this group to 5357.0 kHz USB, and you may set it to allow
sending ALLCALLS and receiving ALLCALLS.<BR>Recommended sounding interval is 60
minutes.<BR>The recommended scan rate is 2 channels per second.<BR>Recommended
ALE call duration is 12 seconds minimum and 20 seconds maximum.<BR>Use POLITE or
LBT (Listen Before Transmit) channel occupancy detection.<BR>Linking protection
(LP) should not be used for HFIE-related communications. Use AL0
setting.<BR><BR>NET = HFL<BR>If you program an additional ALE NET into your
radio, the NET name is HFL. If you already have the HFL NET programmed into your
radio, you should add the 2 channels in Table 1, to your existing HFL NET. There
is a total of 10 “members” of the HFL NET, and your ALE Self Address should be
programmed in the first slot. Other net member ALE Addresses should be
programmed in the other 9 slots: <BR>KQ6XA, N2CKH, KB3JAJ, KJ4AYT, KE6IYC,
W6HIQ, WB6MZS, WB4AKK, KG6VBX.<BR><BR>Basic Operating Procedures<BR>The
following procedures are suggested guidelines for establishing links and
exchanging communications between US Amateur Radio Service stations and US
Federal Government stations operating in the exercise. Operators should operate
within the approved guidelines and rules applicable to their own agency or
organization, and radio service.<BR><BR>• For the purpose of this exercise,
please send and respond only to communications which are initiated by an ALE
call or an ALE text message.<BR><BR>• Transmit ALE Soundings on the channels to
actively encourage communication with your station. See Table 1 for details on
sounding methods.<BR><BR>• When responding to an ALE Call, you may reply either
by voice or by texting AMD message. If responding by voice:<BR>1. Respond to the
ALE ADDRESS (call sign) for a US station. <BR>2. Identify and announce the ALE
call sign of the station you are responding to.<BR>3. Announce your own station
call sign identification (or your ALE self address). <BR>4. Exchange a message
by voice. See example messages below. Use phonetics if necessary.<BR><BR>• If
responding to or initiating an ALE link to call a station, you may transmit a
message containing the following information:<BR>1. The letters “HFIE” (this
helps others identify your messages as part of HFIE).<BR>2. Your call sign (call
sign, designator, or ALE self address).<BR>3. Your operator name (or an operator
designator you are using for this event). <BR>4. The abbreviation of your
organization or affiliation (Amateur default: HFLINK).<BR>5. The abbreviation of
the state your station is located in. <BR>6. Any other information you wish to
convey, such as a sequential message number, or other comments.<BR>7. Here are
four examples of typical format AMD text messages:<BR>HFIE WGY9999 MARK NV FEMA
ACTIVE NEXT 2 HOURS<BR>HFIE WX3XYZ MIKE DC HFLINK CONTACT 123 CONFIRMED <BR>HFIE
WB8XZZ JOE OH HFLINK MESSAGE RECEIVED OK<BR>HFIE KQ6XA BONNIE CA HFLINK<BR><BR>•
When your communication exchange with a station is complete, terminate the link
using the CLEAR LINK command or END command of your ALE.<BR><BR>How To Determine
Which Authorized US Stations May Communicate With Each Other <BR>For HFIE-2014,
NTIA and FCC approved Special Temporary Authority (STA) allowing US Amateur
Radio stations and US Federal Government stations to communicate with each other
using ALE, on the authorized channel center frequencies: 5332, 5348, 5358.5,
5373, 5405 kHz. But, this exercise will focus activity mainly upon only 2 of
these available channels, as indicated in Table 1 of this document. <BR><BR>US
Government stations can recognize call signs of US Amateur Radio stations by
identifying the characters of the call sign (ALE Address). For Amateur Radio,
the call sign is usually the same as the ALE address. US call signs generally
begin with one of the following characters: K, N, W, or AA through AL. A single
numeral is either in the 2nd or 3rd position. <BR><BR>US Amateur Radio operators
can recognize US Government call signs and ALE addresses by the following
guidelines. Government stations, for their ALE address, may use their call sign
or an agency-issued identifier. Non-military Government call signs may be 3 or 4
letters followed by 1 to 5 digits. MARS (Military Auxiliary Radio System) call
signs are 3 letters followed by one digit followed by 1 to 3 letters. US Coast
Guard Auxiliary call signs may be “NF” or “NM” followed by 3 digits followed by
2 letters. Maritime shore stations are 3 letters. Ship stations are 4 letters.
Some US Government stations use an ALE address with the segments of their call
sign reversed – WGY900 could be 900WGY. Some government stations use a
three-character agency identifier followed by additional letters or digits –
e.g. WGY900 might use FEM900 (FEM indicating FEMA).<BR><BR>Reporting Format and
Methods<BR>Reports may be submitted in one of the following ways:<BR>1. Posting
of a communication exchange text via the ALE Comm Center chat room of the Global
ALE High Frequency Network at http://hflink.net<BR>o You may register at
HFLINK.NET with your call sign to show on the HF network map. Also please
include your Grid Square when registering. The map does not show or utilize
exact coordinates, the Grid Square is approximate.<BR>2. An email report with a
simple text log of communication exchanges and description of your station may
be sent to hfie2014@hflink.net<BR>o Please include a description of your ALE
hardware (manufacturer, model, and ALE firmware version) or ALE software product
name and version number. <BR>o Indicate what (if any) ALE incompatibility or
problem was experienced with which stations.<BR>3. Automatic logging to
hflink.net via PCALE ALE controller and ALE^stat software.<BR>4. Please use the
following format in UTC time to report a communication exchange:<BR>YOUR
CALLSIGN<BR>[OTHER CALLSIGN][03/27/2014][14:32][5.3 MHz][HFIE MESSAGE OR
COMMENTS]<BR><BR>Evaluation Criteria<BR>After the end of the HFIE-2014, a
database will be compiled containing reports and comments from various stations
and operators participating in the exercise. HFLINK will facilitate an ongoing
discussion via internet forum to examine any issues or problems encountered, and
to recommend any necessary technical or operational improvements. A survey of
participants will be launched by HFLINK to evaluate the exercise based upon
factors recommended in the forum.</FONT><BR></P></DIV>
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