Signal Briefing

KQ4LWP, Alyssa, Madison County

Good Evening to Everyone on the Net.

I’ve been checking into this net for a couple of years now, and I appreciate the focus this net has on EmComm – we all want to be prepared to help our family, friends, and community during an emergency. In order to help us get better prepared, we are starting an EmComm Briefing that will be held each week during the net, taking about 5 minutes. The Briefing will provide an introduction to EmComm topics, with further resources about that topic added to the R3EmComm website for those who would like further information on the topic.

I’m happy that R3EmComm has expanded beyond the voice net with the addition of a digital net, which was started last July. We’ve had 12 digital nets so far with the following 9 counties represented: Culpeper, Page, Albemarle, Orange, Fairfax, Prince William, Clarke, Madison, Fauquiree, and 2 states – NC and PA. There are operators that want to get up and running on digital modes, but they need assistance; we have volunteers available to provide technical assistance. We would like to continue to attract new participants from counties in our region so we can develop a network of operators that are trained & ready to help provide situational awareness & pass traffic when there is an emergency.

Digital modes have a steep learning curve; we’d like to help operators by providing regular times to practice, with the net, in addition to ad-hoc opportunities for testing equipment. To help with this training component, we are adding an opportunity for operators to connect in real-time with the Signal Messaging App. An R3EmComm Signal Group has been created. It will be used for net announcements/reports, troubleshooting, technical advice, tips, arranging for ad hoc testing, etc. This can all be done with real-time group chatting.

I hope you will consider joining the R3EmComm Signal Group. Even if you are not involved with a particular thread, perhaps there are 2 operators messaging back-and-forth as they test and troubleshoot; you may be able to learn something as you read their conversation. You can mute the group and read the messages at your own leisure. I’ve been on Signal for almost 3 years now, and I like the privacy and security that it offers with the end-to-end encryption feature and minimal data collection.

Signal is available on Android devices, iPhones or iPads, Linux, Mac, or Windows. I have it on my desktop, my tablet, and my phone. For more information about screen security, backup features, privacy settings, etc., go to signal.org and read the blog.

If you would like to be added to the R3EmComm Signal Group, go to signal.org and install Signal, create a Signal account, then go to r3emcomm.org, go to the Groups tab, and fill out the request form to be added to the Signal group.

Each week, a document will be posted to the R3EmComm website, under EmComm Briefings, that will expand on the topic that was presented during the R3EmComm Voice Net. The R3EmComm website is R3Emcomm.org.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to present the EmComm Briefing tonight. As we enter into the 73 round for the rag chew portion of this net, you are welcome to share any comments that you have about the topic presented in tonight's briefing. Also, feel free to offer requests for topics that you’d like to hear addressed during a future EmComm Briefing, or perhaps you are passionate about a specific EmComm topic and you’d like to volunteer to present it to the net.