On Wednesday, November 15, 2017, South Carolina will be conducting its annual Full Scale Exercise (FSE) in conjunction with a national GridX drill. South Carolina will be the first state to participate in GridX which represents an attack on the national power grid from unknown actors. Wide scale and long duration power outages will disrupt normal communication systems. In this type of an event, Amateur Radio will play a significant role in providing communication continuity.
From 0730 until 1730 the SCHEART network will be configured to support this exercise. All Amateur Radio Operators are encouraged to monitor the SCHEART network along with their local ARES Tactical frequencies for opportunities to check in and provide reports. Operators may be asked about power status, battery or generator status or possible support status to operational locations. You may find additional information about emergency communications plans in the latest edition of the South Carolina ARES/RACES Tactical Communication Guide on the ARES website http://ares-sc.org/
EXERCISE DETAILS ————————————————————
ARES / County EOC Participation
SCEMD would like each ARES Emergency Coordinator to contact their respective County Emergency Manager and request access the County Amateur Radio equipment on November 15th. SCEMD will coordinate with their field Regional Emergency Managers who, in turn, will contact County Emergency Managers to ensure they are aware of this official request. The following information should be collected and relayed to Net Control during the GridX exercise:
1. County reporting
2. Amateur Radio Equipment status- (connected, missing, broke, etc.)
3. Transceiver make and model number
4. Type of antenna in use (base, mobile, magnetic mount, etc.)
5. Does the county have functioning HF equipment
6. Call sign of individual making the report
This information maybe relayed to the SEOC anytime between 0800 AM and 0500 PM on Wednesday, November 15th.
If the county doesn’t have Amateur Radio equipment or the equipment is non functional, the EC or their designated person should contact the SEOC and provide status via their personal radio. If a county elects not to allow access, pass that information to the SEOC during the day.
Approximately 24 counties will be participating in some fashion for this exercise. Some counties are doing special communications exercises in conjunction with this event. Only the following counties have elected to active their County EOC:
Pickens
Anderson
Spartanburg
Lancaster
Orangeburg
Barnwell
ARES and general amateur radio participation
All radio operators can participate in one of the scheduled statewide nets
SCHEART Analog nets are scheduled for 0930 and 1430 on VHF/ UHF repeaters and HF.
SCHEART Digital nets are scheduled for 1130 and 1600 on DMR
Operators report by their county with the following information:
1) County
2) Power status
3) How long can they operate on emergency power if the electric grid is lost.
4) Call sign of reporting station
.
The SCHEART system will be linked and in emergency operations mode during the day. Non ARES members are welcome to participate in the exercise. SCHEART would like to thank everyone in advance for their cooperation and support for this exercise.
