National Interoperability Field Operations Guide

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The National Interoperability Field Operations Guide (NIFOG) [1] is a technical reference for emergency communication planning and for radio technicians responsible for radios that will be used in disaster response.

The Office of Emergency Communications (OEC) [2] was established by Congress through the Fiscal Year 2007 Appropriations Act as a response to communication challenges faced during the September 11, 2001 attacks and Hurricane Katrina.

During each of these events, the lack of coordinated emergency communication solutions and protocols among the responding agencies hindered response and recovery efforts. These events raised awareness of the issue among public policymakers and highlighted the critical role emergency communications plays in incident response. [3]

The first version of the NIFOG was published in September 2007. It was developed in partnership with the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Chief Information Officer’s Spectrum Management Office [4] to assist Federal and non-Federal agencies and potential users of the mutual aid channels.

The NIFOG contains sections on:

It also includes an organized listing of the national mutual aid channels and other reference material.

The guide is a popular reference among preppers, survivalists, [5] licensed amateur radio operators and owners of radio scanners. The frequencies allow them to gather intelligence and monitor emergency services, government agencies, and emergency amateur radio frequencies during and after a disaster.

The current version is 2.01 and was issued in March of 2022. [6] It can be ordered online, downloaded as a PDF or loaded into a mobile device.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Communication during the September 11 attacks</span> Communications on September 11, 2001

Communication problems and successes played an important role during the September 11 attacks in 2001 and their aftermath. Systems were variously destroyed or overwhelmed by loads greater than they were designed to carry, or failed to operate as intended or desired.

Automatic Link Establishment, commonly known as ALE, is the worldwide de facto standard for digitally initiating and sustaining HF radio communications. ALE is a feature in an HF communications radio transceiver system that enables the radio station to make contact, or initiate a circuit, between itself and another HF radio station or network of stations. The purpose is to provide a reliable rapid method of calling and connecting during constantly changing HF ionospheric propagation, reception interference, and shared spectrum use of busy or congested HF channels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Communications System</span>

The National Communications System (NCS) was an office within the United States Department of Homeland Security charged with enabling national security and emergency preparedness communications using the national telecommunications system. The NCS was disbanded by Executive Order 13618 on July 6, 2012.

A radio net is three or more radio stations communicating with each other on a common channel or frequency. A net is essentially a moderated conference call conducted over two-way radio, typically in half-duplex operating conditions. The use of half-duplex operation requires a very particular set of operating procedures to be followed in order to avoid inefficiencies and chaos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MIL-STD-188</span> Series of U.S. military standards relating to telecommunications

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Ten-codes, officially known as ten signals, are brevity codes used to represent common phrases in voice communication, particularly by law enforcement and in Citizens Band (CB) radio transmissions. The police version of ten-codes is officially known as the APCO Project 14 Aural Brevity Code.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amateur Radio Emergency Service</span> Organization

In the United States and Canada, the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) is a corps of trained amateur radio operator volunteers organized to assist in public service and emergency communications. It is organized and sponsored by the American Radio Relay League and the Radio Amateurs of Canada.

REACT began as a CB radio Emergency Channel 9 monitoring organization across the United States and Canada in 1962. Initially, the primary role of REACT volunteers was to monitor Channel 9, the CB Emergency Channel, to help motorists. Later, duties grew to include communications after disasters, and in some places before disasters. As well, REACT safety communications for parades, runs/walks and other community events became prominent. Now, REACT Teams barely use CB primarily, a large percentage have now added amateur, FRS, GMRS, Multi-Use Radio Service (MURS), Trunked radio systems and business band radio (LMR) to their public service capabilities. Their original purpose, to monitor CB, has largely gone by the wayside.

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The National Incident Management System (NIMS) is a standardized approach to incident management developed by the United States Department of Homeland Security. The program was established in March 2004, in response to Homeland Security Presidential Directive-5, issued by President George W. Bush. It is intended to facilitate coordination between all responders. The system has been revised once, in December 2008. NIMS is the common framework that integrates a wide range of capabilities to help achieve objectives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trunked radio system</span> Class of a radio system

A trunked radio system is a two-way radio system that uses a control channel to automatically assign frequency channels to groups of user radios. In a traditional half-duplex land mobile radio system a group of users with mobile and portable two-way radios communicate over a single shared radio channel, with one user at a time talking. These systems typically have access to multiple channels, up to 40-60, so multiple groups in the same area can communicate simultaneously. In a conventional (non-trunked) system, channel selection is done manually; before use the group must decide which channel to use, and manually switch all the radios to that channel. This is an inefficient use of scarce radio channel resources because the user group must have exclusive use of their channel regardless of how much or how little they are transmitting. There is also nothing to prevent multiple groups in the same area from choosing the same channel, causing conflicts and 'cross-talk'. A trunked radio system is an advanced alternative in which the channel selection process is done automatically by a central controller (computer).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">60-meter band</span> Amateur radio frequency band

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amateur radio</span> Use of radio frequency spectra for non-commercial purposes

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Fldigi is a free and open-source program which allows an ordinary computer's sound card to be used as a simple two-way data modem. The software is mostly used by amateur radio operators who connect the microphone and headphone connections of an amateur radio SSB or FM transceiver to the computer's headphone and microphone connections, respectively.

References

  1. "Field Operations Guides | CISA". www.cisa.gov.
  2. "Emergency Communications Division | CISA". www.cisa.gov.
  3. "National Emergency Communications Plan" (PDF).
  4. National Public Safety Telecommunications Council
  5. PrepperPrep.com
  6. "NNational Interoperability Field Operations Guide Version 2.01" (PDF).