Once again the KB9VBR J-Pole Antennas played an important role in the Marathon County ARES/RACES Simulated Emergency Test. This year we decided to set up a fully functioning incident command post and operate five net control stations during the SET. At the same time as the drill, we greeted passers by at the village of Kronenwetter’s fall festival who where interested in what we where doing. The entire exercise was an experiment in controlled chaos. The sheriffs department lent us their command trailer to set up in and we deployed the local amateur radio club’s pneumatic mast and beam antenna to contact the more distant stations.
The J-Pole antennas where used for local communications. Since the local ARES repeater was not very far away, a J-Pole antenna planted in the ground was more than adequate for the drill. In fact we used two J-Poles; one for the voice net and another for the Winlink node. Everything worked flawlessly. Our only problem was getting enough manpower on the scene to get everything ready in time for the drill to begin and the other problem was the noise level in the trailer. A good pair of headphones would solve the second issue.
The J-Poles served us well and are an integral part of our ARES/RACES group’s emergency communications kit.
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