Project Target

Community Engagement Communications Support

The CECS work stream is designed to create residual impact by building upon successful events, thus expanding our group and capabilities.   We have experienced this firsthand through references or other event leaders reaching out to us for support as they have witnessed our value.  The long-term impact of these efforts will be validated by increased reliance by community leaders, along with the ongoing development of amateur radio skills among the operators. 

The major components in our plan include the following:

  • Deployable Repeater with supporting infrastructure

  • Deployable HF Go-Boxes with supporting infrastructure

  • Portable VHF/UHF Go-Boxes with supporting infrastructure

  • Deployable Digitally Equipped HT Radios

Since 2021, YCARS has provided amateur radio communications to over twelve events ranging from an annual 10k race, basketball tournament, parades, festivals, severe weather and a call to assist our local police department with auxiliary communications during disruption to their radio tower and critical communication infrastructure. 

Although we have been successful in our support of community events, we have identified a few limitations. One of them is the limited range of radio operations on simplex. York County is 696 square miles wide. While we have some repeater coverage on the eastern side of the county, we have very little coverage on the western side of the county.

A deployable repeater greatly enhances our communication abilities in the western half of our county by expanding our reach beyond that of simplex operations. We forecast that the deployable repeater will allow us to work with other underserved agencies in the state for their large events that lack adequate communication support to ensure a safe and successful activity. 

Our intent is to reach out to other amateur clubs and offer volunteers and communication support through the deployable repeater, portable VHF / UHF Go Boxes and cache of handheld radios.

Our goal is to remove the topographical barriers of radio communications by having a deployable repeater that we can strategically place for events. The portability of the repeater would expand our reach into surrounding counties.  This investment will allow YCARS to support more events with sustainable high quality radio equipment, thus increasing our value to the community.

To achieve more coverage and value in our community, we plan to create three (3) portable VHF / UHF boxes to support a wider range of community activities.  We have proven this concept using personal equipment and have found this method works very well for our group. The Go-Boxes will be comprised of good quality transceivers that are both rugged and user friendly.  Logistically, we establish a centralized net control station which then operates a disciplined Net Control operation for the event. 

We chose the Anytone D578 transceiver for its small form factors and DMR capabilities. The DMR function will integrate with the DMR function on the Kenwood HT radios and the repeater infrastructure.

Having the capability to maintain and deploy a set of portable VHF/UHF HT Radios has significant impact to the sustainability and effectiveness of our community support outreach. We selected the Kenwood NX-1300 Digital HT.

One of the barriers to entry into amateur radio is the cost of purchasing equipment to operate.  We have found that one of the hardest things for new hams to overcome is programming their radio and have it be effective on the day of the event.  These radios can all be batch programmed and easily transported and operated.

DMR is currently the digital standard for our county EOC’s and South Carolina State EOC. We have the SC Heart repeater system in South Carolina, which has a DMR component. DMR was selected due to its spectral efficiency. Using UHF for point-to-point communication during activities and events demonstrates meaningful utilization of the 440 frequencies and allows us to increasingly display excellent stewardship of the radio spectrum we use.  These radios can also be programmed for non-amateur use.

The HF GO-Boxes will visibly demonstrate to people how portable amateur radio can be used.  We plan to engage youth with during POTA activations, including teaching them how to set up antennas and operate the radio while making contacts around the world.  

We envision using these radios to support Summer / Winter Field day which we use as outreach events to the public and licensed operators. The portability of these boxes will allow us to take them to schools for in person demonstrations.

In addition to community outreach and engaging youth, we can use this equipment to support our local community during unplanned outages, natural disasters, severe weather and other unforeseen circumstances. One of the things that YCARS prides itself on its’ adaptability and versatility.  Having a portable generator, deployable repeater, VHF / UHF Go Boxes, a cache of radios for people to utilize, and HF communication capabilities in case of an emergency, is a tremendous asset.

STEM and Youth Outreach

We recognize the opportunity to serve a large population with significant diversity and economic conditions.  Our objective is to complete a successful outreach to at least one-third of these middle & high schools in our area over the next three (3) years.  This outreach includes foundations of amateur radio, paired with demonstrations and experiments to support the primary STEM curriculum as coordinated with the teachers.   We will also provide electronic kits for students to build an FM radio or oscillator, which they will keep. This interaction is supplemented with discussions and examples about careers launching from STEM education.

We plan to install a Yaesu DR2 Repeater that will be maintained on the Rock Hill Police Department Tower free of charge and will be connected to backup power support. The repeater will be open to the general amateur radio public and can also be utilized to support back-up emergency communication needs. The goal would be for the newly licensed student operators to participate in their own “York County Youth Net”. Further, this repeater will also have the capability to be linked to the SC Fleet Talk network which could be used as a future platform to expand access to other school amateur radio clubs in the state.

We plan to build five (5) portable VHF / UHF self-contained transceivers in boxes for deployment on a loaned basis to schools starting Amateur Radio Clubs.  We will support FCC licensing support to interested students.

Another focus is to accelerate the knowledge transfer from the amateur radio community to teachers and students. To that goal, we plan to sponsor a three day Teachers Academy for 10 educators molded after the ARRL Teachers Institute methodology.  The approach is cost effective as the teachers would be local and the travel costs isolated to the instructors.  This approach will more rapidly deploy the concepts of amateur radio to the classroom as it supports STEM.

Remote HF Operations

Understanding that amateur radio is a journey, we plan to provide remote access to HF Transceivers in order to expand the learning and experience of other bands and modes.  This initiative operates in tandem with our goal of providing remote access to amateur radio operators who live in assisted living facilities, HOA’s, and/or other locations that have barriers to operating an effective station directly from home.  

We plan to leverage the existing antenna infrastructure and existing Flex Radio 6400 at the YCARS clubhouse.  We currently have 2 towers and 5 antennas at our facility.  We will add a second Flex Radio 6400 and a switching network that will allow for remote users to access any of the current and future antennas and provide rotator control of the tower rotators at our facility. 

Leveraging our three multiband antennas, two mono-band antennas and two rotators, for use by the two Flex Radios and the two other non- remoted radios in our clubhouse; we need to provide filtering and front-end protection to all of the radios to prevent damage. 

We will employ a matrix switching network composed of remotely controlled antenna switches, USB controlled lockouts, USB controllers for the switches, and high-performance band-pass filters.   To remotely control the station and required hardware we will utilize IP based relays, USB hubs, raspberry Pi microcomputers, and controlled power outlets. 

The physical assembly of the components will be completed at our clubhouse facility. The matrix switching network will be assembled on plywood panels and ten attached below the radio room desk at the feedline access panel. Patch and control cables will be assembled in our Lab.   The USB controllers, lockouts, UBS hubs, IP based power relays will be housed in a network rack in our radio room.

A successful project will be determined by hosting two remote transmitters, that can utilize any of our five antennas and allow the use of the non-remote capable radios housed at our clubhouse.  It will also be the successful granting of operating access to our school clubs, scouting programs, local assisted living facility residents and our club members that live in restructure communities.