Can You Hear Me Now

Abstract

Boone County Amateur Radio Emergency Services (BCARES) conducted their 2016 Simulated Emergency Test (SET) as the “Can You Hear Me Now?-SET, 5 November 2016. In an unprecedented collaboration with the Boone County Office of Emergency Management the SET exercise was designed to access BCARES radio coverage across the 650 square mile county. The OEM, in cooperation with the County Public Works, identified 28 locations where radio coverage could be problematic, or significant in support of emergency operations of these agencies. The challenge would be, how well and by what means could BCARES members with their normal response VHF/UHF radios communicate. Some challenges were obvious with several of these locations in the Missouri River bottoms, and along the Katy Trail.