Katrina Request - NOLA, Metarie, LNG, FEMA

[RF-Intel]

Katrina Request - for an Expedition to NOLA

Greetings Lousianians and others,

My good friends are organizing an expedition to, as you may have already guessed, the NOLA area. They hope to personally evacuate some close friends and family and, if possible, others. They have the equipment, technical and safety requirements of the trip mostly organized, but have asked me to provide communications including a well programmed reciever.

I hope that you can help me, and perhaps others who may venture into the area. I need post-Katrina-valid information if possible. I can check the database, but have no idea as to the current status of the systems. Your personally verified or well-educated guess is great. I thank you for your time in helping!

The main points I need to hit are:

Jefferson Parish (specifically Metarie, River Ridge and Harahan) - Is the Metarie site still on the air? What are they using?
NOLA - I can't send a provoice radio with him as he can't charge it. I imagine they are on backup comms anyhow. What are they using?
State Police - Specific sites to use, troops, etc.
National Guard
FEMA
Any information on the incoming emergency comm systems.
Any local simplex channels, or known usage of system channels in non-trunked mode
All important local mutual aid channels.
Any other suggestions you have.

I will be loading all national standard M/A channels (FERN, NLEEC, 800 I-TACs, etc)

Many, many thanks,
-Mark

 

[pfish]

Well, first off your not going to be able to get into the NOLA area. It is all closed off and sealed like a military base. The only way traffic can go is out.

Second, I'm quite a ways away from new orleans so all I have to listen to is the state trs. It is very active. The main things to listen to on it are Troop B F1, National Guard talkgroups (all of them have been active), and department of health and hospital talkgroups. Nothing else has been active. I know for sure I have heard them say they are using I-TAC frequencies, and the national guard is using their own system along with satcom. I've also heard them talk about using regular walkie-talkie radios from like walmart/radioshack.

 

[RF-Intel]

Well, first off your not going to be able to get into the NOLA area. It is all closed off and sealed like a military base. The only way traffic can go is out.

I have been assured that this has been taken into account.

...Troop B F1, National Guard talkgroups...I-TAC frequencies, and the national guard is using their own system along with satcom. I've also heard them talk about using regular walkie-talkie radios from like walmart/radioshack.

Are you hearing the NG units working in Jefferson parish on the State NG talkgroups? I almost forgot the Itinerant channels and FRS. I shall stick ISR channels in for good measure as well.

Thanks!
-Mark

 

[pfish]

As far as I know, the state trs tower in Jefferson parish was destroyed in the hurricane. I can not confirm this 100%, but on the first day the national guard said that a radio tower was knocked down in jefferson parish.

Most of the NG activitiy is at the superdome and around it.

Oh also, LSP and the coast guard are using 123.0AM for coordinating rescue ops in helicopters.

 

[blantonl]

From what I know:

The NOLA EDACS System is down and not operational. I believe that some officers used their LPE-200's in conventional / simplex mode, until their batteries ran out. Recent video shows that NOPD officers are no longer carrying their radios.

I don't know the status of the JPSO Smartzone system - however I can almost promise you that the Grand Isle site is probably gone.

The LSP system is severly compromised in SE LA - most of the sites there are down. Remember, Smartzone systems not only provide comms to the local area, but must interface back to the master controller, which means dependency on microwave/land lines -- not to mention power.

I don't know the status of the entergy smartzone system, however it very similiar to deployment like the LSP system - so expect outages in the same manner as the state system.

Thinking about what will be available for comms:

NPSPAC is going to be used agencies that lost their comm infrastructures, albiet simplex. Also will most likely be used by visiting agencies. Also check 853.4875 which is a common simplex freq for business and public safety, so you might catch the utilities using this freq in simplex mode.

Personally, I think Motorola and MACOM needs to spin up some systems, chargers, generators, and infrasturucture, and get the freak out there. Hell, break out some windows on the Shell building and point some antennas and generator exhaust fans out the windows and get some temporary systems up! We haven't heard a WORD from any of the vendors on their support. Hello? Nextel?

you know, I grew up and lived many years in New Orleans and Baton Rouge. It is hard to comprehend what is happening in the city. Anyone needing assistance from the area, please contact me. I can help arrange accomidations here in San Antonio, TX.

 

[EricCottrell]

Hello,

I would put in every Federal frequency you can find esp. the interop ones. Also the VTAC and UTAC channels.
http://www.radioreference.com/wiki/index.php/Federal/Non-Federal_Interoperability
http://www.radioreference.com/wiki/index.php/Federal_Itinerant
http://www.radioreference.com/wiki/index.php/Common_Public_Safety

There seems to be some constants when disaster strikes. It takes days to weeks for aid to arrive. Cell Phones go down followed closely by Telephones. Power is sometimes not an option. Hams are used for communications in emergencies. I was listening to the Hurricane Net on 20 Meters after the hurricane past through and it was used by the National Hurricane Center to contact the NWS Slidell office since Slidell did not have any Comms. Likely all the Ham Repeaters are gone although some hams have that "let's put an antenna, duplexers, two radios, and a generator on the top of a building and communicate" drive. I would at least put in the 2 Meter simplex frequencies of 146.40, 146.43, 146.46, 146.49, 146.52, 146.55 and 146.58.

When I toured NWS in Tauton I got to tour one of the FEMA vans. It contains radios for multiple bands plus satellite for telephone and data links. Each region has one. With a disaster of this scale they may move multiple vans in from other regions.
http://www.uscg.mil/d13/m/Equipment/FEMA_MRV/MRV_diagrams.pdf
The problem may be where to put them and how to get them there.

Yes, if Miller Brewing can donate water then Motorola and MA/COM can donate radios.
http://www.walb.com/Global/story.asp?S=3790128&nav=5kZQdz0y

I hear some states have a portable smartzone site in a truck that could be used in an emergency or at an incident. It sounds like if New Orleans had one or several mobile command post(s) with a repeater and capability to recharge portables then the situation might be better. Given the possibility for flooding I would think that at least one site should be in a strong 200 MPH building without windows that would contained the radio equipment, generator, and fuel for a month. Everything is high enough off the ground that flooding would not damage anything and rate everything to withstand 200 MPH.

73 Eric

 

[Kirk]

One of the reasons that the USFS and CDF (California Dept of Forestry) always liked the Bendix-King portables is that clamshell packs are available for them that hold AA batteries. As a ham, I have AA packs available for all of my ham HTs.

When I worked as a radio tech for a fire department, I tried like heck to find AA cases for their Sabers. No such animal.

I don't know why departments don't plan for stuff like this. It was like pulling teeth just to get talkaround channels programmed in radios.

 

[jim202]

Your not going to be allowed to get into the city unles you are part of a search & rescue team or part of some government agency. The state police have all roads into the city shut down with roadblocks.

The I-10 5 mile bridge between Slidell and New Orleans is in shambles. It has many bridge spans missing on both the east and west bound directions.

The Causeway bridge in Mandeville is shut to all except emergency traffic. I have been told that there are some spans on that bridge that were shifted by the storm.

The only way into the city is by the I-10 from the west out of Laplace where it meets with I-55. The state police have that blocked.

Airline highway (Hwy 61) is blocked and part of it underwater.

The New Oleans EDACS trunking system is out. The portable radios are all out due to the batteries not being able to be charged. Seems the upper management never thought that you may need to charge the portable batteries when the power goes out. They must have some magic the rest of us have not heard about.

All the different agencies that have come into the area have brought their own radios. Kind of a smorgas board of who's who and pick a radio channel. Problem is there is no commonality between them.

Homeland Security has been spouting the magic word "INTEROPERABILITY" for how long now? Problem is they don't have many devices available. Seems like there is no money in the budget to obtain any more units. This would be a good time to have them to tie all the different groups together.

There is even a unit made today that uses an IP connection to allow remote computers to control and dispatch the radios connected to the unit. These remote computers can even be in a different state. You can have multiple computer connected to control different networks within the system. A very flexible device. Just plug in a radio adapter cable and communicate through it.

Mary Landrieu is on the news tonight talking about just this problem of not being able to communicate. Since when does the cost of a unit like this fall into a crack with "there is no money in the budget to pay for these units". They have probably burned up the cost already just in aviation fuel trying to rescue people in New Orleans by helicopters.

Anyway, good luck on your attempt to get into the city.


J

 

[wa8pyr]

When I worked as a radio tech for a fire department, I tried like heck to find AA cases for their Sabers. No such animal.

I built my own. Old battery case, a few wires and a battery holder with AA cells in it. Powers my MT1000 just fine!

I don't know why departments don't plan for stuff like this. It was like pulling teeth just to get talkaround channels programmed in radios.

One word: FUNDING.

Many if not most departments *do* plan for stuff like this only to find their caefully laid plans stymied by a serious shortage of funding and an intransigent populace that won't pass a levy no matter how dire the need. I've been there and it's no picnic!

Tom WA8PYR

 

[james32746]

This was part of a press release released today from Motorola:

To date, Motorola has:

Shipped more than 2,500 pieces of emergency communication equipment (portable radios, fully-charged batteries, chargers) to impacted areas.

Provided more than a thousand Motorola rugged i325 IS iDEN handsets and accessories.

Supported both Motorola and non-Motorola customers with additional mission-critical communication equipment to aid in disaster recovery efforts.

Deployed three emergency communication trailers to support disaster assistance and humanitarian relief efforts.

A trailer delivered to the Louisiana State Police is being deployed as an additional 700 MHz emergency communication radio system that delivers seven additional channels and 300 additional radios.

A second trailer has been delivered to the Baton Rouge area and will provide first responders with an additional 900 MHz emergency network.

A third trailer will be used by the Louisiana National Guard.

Link to press release:

http://www.motorola.com/mediacenter/news/detail/0,,5920_5882_23,00.html


MA/COM has not said about what they are doing in the relief efforts to date.

 

[EricCottrell]

Hello,

I wonder if the 900 MHz system is iDEN for the i325s?

The press release highlights that one of your radios should be used for searching. You do not know if the government has dropped a trunked system in on the 162 MHz, 380 MHz or 406 MHz bands. They are likely using 700 MHz because no radio system in the area is allocated there. A BCD396T is required to trunktrack 700 MHz.

It may be possible to pick up some of the new frequencies by looking at the FCC STAs. I am not very good at searching for STAs.

During the party political conventions in 2004 they setup a Passport system on 217 MHz just for the event. They used the 217 to 217.5 MHz part of the band as it was empty spectrum in both Boston and NYC.

I am going to Lafayette, LA in early to mid October so it looks like the plan of using New Orleans as a waypoint is gone. I may get a chance to pick up my first 700 MHz P25 system as I get the impression that the system will be operational for months.

73 Eric

 

[blantonl]

Here is the latest from sources:

The NOPD EDACS Systems (Main and Airport) are currently in failsoft, but operating. As indicated in previous posts, charged batteries are the main problem.

St Tammany LSP sites are underwater.

Harrison County EDACS is damaged but on the air.

MA/COM is mobilizing and will be responding with resources shortly.

It's good to hear that Motorola and MA/COM are getting going ASAP....communications are in dire need in SE LA, MS.

-Lb

 

[blantonl]

Ok, listening to the live feed, it sounds like at least the Bridge City LSP site is up at this time - which would at least provide some coverage into the west sections of the city.

 

[EricCottrell]

Hello,

National Interagency Fire Center cache radios are being used.
http://www.fcw.com/article90514-08-29-05-Web

New Orleans Police dispatch center flooded and Radio Techs prevented from entering New Orleans.
http://www.fcw.com/article90541-08-31-05-Web

It appears from the last article that the Harrison County, MS Public Safety system is operational.

73 Eric

 

[jim202]

St Tammany 800 EDAC PRO system down

I talked with one of the fire chiefs in St Tammany this morning. The parish 800 trunked EDAC PRO system is down. They are back to using the old VHF radios. I think he said that they are using the old Covington police repeater channel. Don't have any details as to what brought the system down other than there is no power anywhere.

J

 

[RF-Intel]

pfish, Lindsay, Eric, Jim, and all...

Thank you!

-The final setup was heavy on the LSP system due to state command usage.
-A large amount of Federal including FEMA (UHF USAR, VHF Command etc,) FPS, NIFC, NTIA interop, commons, etc.
-Published state/local Interop.
-Several search ranges for CC only mode
-FRS, ISR, Itinerant, GMRS
-CAP and MRA/SAR VHF
-Possible airlifted UHF systems the incoming Mil folks might be bringing

Since they really need the overall picture rather than squadron-level comms I will be arranging it so the high-level stuff is always on. The biggest challenge (aside from getting good information) was how to set it up so a tech-savvy but non-radio oriented person could use it in less than ideal conditions... we'll see how I did upon their return

Anyhow, I figured I would fill you all in since you were kind enough to invest time in helping someone from Colorado help people in New Orleans.

Thanks,
-Mark

 

[BaLa]

it seems to be they shoud have some kind of generator at one of the PDs

to at very minimum charge batteries for their portables.

 

[DSYCUTTER]

alot of times the generators ran out of fuel OR were flooded out OR were damaged some other way in the storm. But they should have had contingency plans in order to address that

 

[MASTRTECH]

The St Tammany EDACS System is fully operational.It has not failed. Taking quite a few Queue's.
Jim 202, There are no Fire Dist's on our system. The edacs system is the only system up in the entire area as far as Law enforcement is concerned. Troop L is down as well as Slidell PD. Go EDACS! 1500+ Radios on 8 channels. NOPD and Harrison County Are Back up on at least One Site At this time.....Rick STPSO

 

[jim202]

I don't think I said that there were fire departments on the St. Tammany Parish system. I was talking about the state system. This seems only to be in the lower part of the state going towards Grand Isle.

Jefferson Parish was the one that lost the tower. It was on the west bank at the jail. With this tower down, the only other site they had in the big city was the Galleria at the intersection of I-10 and Causeway. Jefferson Parish is currently using the 800 MHz ITAC1 for the east bank and ITAC3 for the west bank.

I didn't pay much attention the last few days on the status of the state towers. I do think the troop L tower is back up and running with the strong signals in the areas I have been going through.

J

The St Tammany EDACS System is fully operational.It has not failed. Taking quite a few Queue's.
Jim 202, There are no Fire Dist's on our system. The edacs system is the only system up in the entire area as far as Law enforcement is concerned. Troop L is down as well as Slidell PD. Go EDACS! 1500+ Radios on 8 channels. NOPD and Harrison County Are Back up on at least One Site At this time.....Rick STPSO