Dayton Area DMAT

The Federal Government operates an agreement between agencies to use HF frequencies to communicate with each other.

The NCS Shared Resources (SHARES) High Frequency (HF) Radio Program is an interagency emergency message handling system that is used when normal communications are unavailable. Through the use of existing HF radio resources, SHARES provides an emergency backup communications capability for NCS departments and agencies in support of NS/EP requirements. Participation in SHARES is on a volunteer basis.

There are currently 46 SHARES entities in the program. These entities include Federal departments and agencies and affiliated stations including the Red Cross, AT& T, Bellcore, MITRE, and individual state organizations. Over 1,040 stations located in all 50 states and in 25 countries worldwide participate in the SHARES program. SHARES has been used several times during recent emergencies. It was used extensively to provide initial communications support during Hurricane Andrew and was also used during Hurricane Hugo and the Northridge Earthquake. (IRAC source Information)

The Dayton DMAT team has been granted permission to operate in federal frequencies during deploys and exercises.

Many SHARES systems are promoting the GTOR and CLOVER HF protocol for digital communications. GTOR can be easily obtained by using a TNC such as a KANTRONIC KAM. The KAM unit can also be used on VHF for standard packet operations. CLOVER is more difficult and is supported by HAL Electronics.