Emergency Radio Long Island

Emergency Communication Training
& General Communications

Bellmore, New York
Amateur Radio (HAM Radio)
 
About Emergency Radio Long Island's
Emergency Communication Training Network
Schedule of Ham Nets
(original and simulcast)
 
Emergency Pagers

Let's talk reality; most hams don't walk around with an HT, nor listen to their radios 24x7. And then with a myriad of choices as to frequency or digital mode or talkgroup, what are they listening to?

Pagers, while "old school" are lightweight and can be programmed to listen to a particular Rubric (talk group). In an emergency if you are in RF range of a transmitter, you'll get the page.

There is a concept called KISS, an acroynm that stands for Keep It Simple Silly and pagers are simple...

For more info about our Pager program.

 
APRS

We have setup a APRS iGate, Digipeater and Weather Station with the callsign KC2NJV-10.

A iGate takes APRS packets heard via RF and transmits them via the internet to the APRS-IS (APRS Internet System). A Digipeater essentially does the opposite, takes packets heard either on the radio or the internet and forward them via RF.

The Weather Station re-transmits the METARs (Meteorological Aerodrome Report) from Farmingdale Airport (KFRG), which is approximately 9 miles from the location of KC2NJV.   KJFK (JFK Airport) is 13 miles and has significantly different weather patterns.

APRS Text Net

APRS is not just position reporting, it can be an important tool in the emergency communication toolbox, along with POCSAG and other Ham modalities. The concept is that this and other Bot lists can be used to notify users of an emergency.

The system has Store and Forward capabilities. Just like your Cell Text Messaging, if your APRS client is not on, messages will be stored until you turn it on. There after, all message that have not been acknowledged by your client will be resent.

Due to a design flaw in APRS itself, APRS-IS only clients (typically for cell phones) don't always get their beacons populated, i.e., your radio will never hear it. As such, we will send every 6 hours all eligible messages to all clients with stored messages.

Caveats: a) we only keep 1 day of messages and b) we will only try a message 4 times, c) You can turn on and off this feature For more information

Saturday's at 0800ET is the start of the APRS NET. For more information.

We have created an APRS bot (click here for more info here), that will take messages and re-transmit them to individuals who sign up for the APRS net. One message will go to all who have subscribed. Note: This Net does not reset daily. The concept is an emergency notification system, as such, if you wish to unsubscribe (see commands below), you must send a text message.

A BIG Thanks to Ben Jackson, N1WBV for encouraging the rework of the APRSPH.Net bot published on GitHub.

We may send out multiple Bulletins, Beacons and system updates daily. This DOES NOT MEAN YOU ARE SUBSCRIBED. You must specifically do that yourself.

 
Dashboards
ALLSTAR/Supermon
DVSwitch TGIF DVSwitch YSF
DVSwitch P25 DVSwitch NXDN
M17 Dashboard APRS location
 
Digital and RF Network
CONNECTION TYPE NODE/ROOM/EXT. #
Note: All modes are linked to the AllStar node
AllStarNode 62499
Beta Only 63668 use 62499
Echolink KC2NJV-L
HAM Over IP ext. 15077
(*99 to Transmit,
# to Receive)
AmateurWire ext. 90006
(*99 to Transmit,
# to Receive)
HamShack Hotline
OFFLINE Permanently as of
Aug 29th, 2025 		ext. 94064
(*99 to Transmit,
# to Receive)
TGIFTG 11710
Yaesu System Fusion TG 11710
NXDN TG 11710
P25 TG 11710
M17
Contrary to reports, M17 is not dead, hurt,
not supported in MMDVM
or WSPD/Pi-Star, But working		TG M17-117 B
RF Repeaters connectedSee List
DAPNET/POCSAG (Ham Pagers) RIC 38
 
Resources
Emergency Groups
Bronx REACT CERT
Emerg Radio LI REACT Richmond County REACT
FEMA Jersey Coastal Alert
REACT International Ready.com
Red Cross Courses IARU-2 Emerg Comm Guide (2016)
CISA National Emerg Plan Nassau County ARES
Suffolk County ARES NYC ARES
 
SkyWarn Resources
SkyWarn NYC SkyWarn NJ
Skwarn NLI Website SkyWarn Net Control Training
SkyWarn Spotters Guide SkyWarn NLS Operation Guide
 
AUXCOMM Resources
Aux Emerg Comm AuxComm Student Info
Natl Emerg Comm Plan (NECP) NECP Resources
Emerg Comm Coordination  
 
Digital Resources
TestFlight & Droidstar for IOS (iPhone) Droidstar for Windows, Andriod,
Mac and Linux
DMR Hero (manual)
 
Emergency Pagers
ERLI operates two POCASG (DAPNET) transmitters.

POCSAG (Post Office Code Standardisation Advisory Group) is a one-way digital paging protocol used to transmit data to pagers. It's an asynchronous protocol that allows for the transmission of tone, numeric, and alphanumeric messages. POCSAG was developed in the 1980s and is still used in some areas, particularly for critical messaging systems like emergency services.

The DAPNET (Decentralized Amateur Paging Network) is a network operated by amateur radio enthusiasts. It links all the Ham Radio pager transmitters together (think AllStar for paging). Ham operators can get their own paging number, similar to a DMR ID.

Pages are limited to 80 characters! Thus certain alerts may be truncated or sent in two different page messages.

Please Note: Unlike text messages, pages are not stored and forwarded. Thus once a page hits the transmitter, it is broadcast. If you are out of range, you won't receive the page. Some alerts are re-broadcasted due to the time limits we've setup.

There is a transmitter in Queens and in Plainview. These transmitters are tuned to 439.9875 MHz.

While anyone can listen (decode) Ham radio transmissions, only licensed Hams can send pages.

We broadcast alerts on rubric ("talk group") 1038. NOAA weather alerts are on rubric 1081. You need to program your pager.

You need to when they have been classified as "major" or "severe", as well as some that are informational throughout the day. Some may never be sent, i.e. Terrorism Advisory, others are daily.

In an emergency, we can broadcast unlimited number of pages.

Reading a METAR

METAR or SPECI: Indicates whether it's a standard METAR or a special (SPECI) report, which is issued when significant weather changes occur.

Airport Identifier: The ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) code for the airport or weather station.

Date and Time: The first two digits indicate the day of the month, and the last four digits indicate the time in Zulu time (UTC), always in the format HHMMZ.

Wind:

  1. Direction: Three-digit code indicating the direction the wind is blowing from, measured in degrees (000-360).
  2. Speed: Two-digit code indicating the wind speed in knots (KT).
  3. Gusts: "G" followed by the maximum gust speed in knots, if gusts are present.
  4. Variable Wind: "V" followed by the range of wind direction variation (degrees) if the wind is variable.
Visibility: Indicates the minimum visibility in statute miles (SM).

Present Weather: Abbreviated codes indicating precipitation, obscurations, and other weather phenomena.

Sky Condition: Indicates the amount and type of cloud cover using abbreviations like FEW, SCT, BKN, OVC. Multiple number by 100 to give altitude,
i.e. 075=7,500; 250 = 25,000.

Temperature and Dew Point: Indicates the current temperature and dew point in degrees Celsius.

Altimeter: Indicates the barometric pressure at the airport in inches of mercury.

Remarks (RMK): Additional information, such as wind shear, runway conditions, or other relevant data.

Example

METAR for: KJFK (New York/JF Kennedy Intl, NY, US)
Text: KJFK 261351Z 01009KT 10SM FEW075 FEW250 19/08 A3022 RMK AO2 SLP232 T01940078 $

Conditions at: 1351 UTC 26 Mon May 2025
Temperature: 19.4°C (67°F)
Dewpoint: 7.8°C (46°F) (RH = 47%)
Pressure (altimeter): 30.22 inHg (1023.5 hPa) (sea level pressure 1023.2 hPa)
Winds: from the N (10°) at 9 kt (4.6 m/s, 10.4 mph)
Visibility: 10+ mi (16+ km)
Clouds: few clouds at 7,500 ft, few clouds at 25,000 ft
Flight Category: VFR
QC flag: SOME DATA ABOVE MAY BE INACCURATE!!! Note: this is the "$" symbol

For More Info:

How to read METARs: PilotMall.com

Decoder: AviationWeather.gov

Decoder: E6BX.com

 
APRS Text Net Info
 

Our rolling 7 day log can be found HERE. Our Registered User List is Here.

If you send a text message via APRS to ERLI (example), the following commands apply:

Note: I've eliminated the need to add ERLI to all commands EXCEPT "CQ"
  1. CQ ERLI [message] <-- This will subscribe you to the List and everyone will receive your message(s). Note: You must have a message, "Hi" works.
  2. NETMSG OR MSG [message] <-- To send a message to all users.
  3. NETUSERS <-- To see users of the net.
  4. NETCHECKOUT <-- to leave or unsubscribe from this list.
  5. SF-ON or SF-Off <-- Turn On (by default) or Off the Store and Forward capabilites
  6. Ping <-- Response should be Pong.
  7. ?APRST or ?Ping? <-- The response should be something like "KC2NJV-4>APRS,TCPIP:".
  8. version <-- The responsse is something like "3.11.6 (main, Sep 12 2023, 13:12:45) [GCC 11.4.0]".
  9. time <-- The response should be like "Localtime is 2025-07-01 14:37:00 UTCEDT".
  10. help <-- The response should be "Valid commands: ping, version, time, help".

    NOTE:

  11. Unknown command <-- "I'm a bot. Send 'help' for command list".

Abusive behavior will cause your callsign to be blacklisted

Install your own Bot

We've updated and added features to the orginal ioreth bot, and the one used by APRSPH. You can download the bot here: https://github.com/wspivak/aprsbot

APRS Announcements, Bulletins and Beacons
We may send out multiple Announcements, Beacons and Bulletins per hour. Plus some Bulletins on holidays.

Only subscribed HRO will receive Announcements.

Announcements are sent several times a day, because APRS has no "store and forward" capability (as do cell phones. Think about when you take a flight. When you land you immediately turn your phone back on and get a flood of text messages. That's Store and Forward. With APRS, once a message is released, and you miss it, you've missed it!)

Because you receive the Bulletins and/or Beacons DOES NOT MEAN you are subscribed to the ERLI APRS NET!

Bulletins and Beacons are part of APRS and are a normal occurrence. Odds are your APRS unit is sending a Beacon.

Bulletins


BLN1 = [ERLI] Welcome to the ERLI network
BLN2 = [ERLI] APRS Net every Saturday 0800 Eastern
BLN3 = [ERLI] Join ERLI APRS NET Send CQ ERLI Hi
BLN4 = [ERLI] Send CQ [space] msg to ERLI to checkin to net.
BLN5 =[ERLI] ERLI APRS Net every Saturday 0800 Eastern
BLN6=[ERLI] More info http://sbanetweb.com:8080#info2
BLN7 =[ERLI] Join Hams interested in Emergency Radio on APRS
BLN8 =[ERLI] This ARPS Net is open 24x7
BLN9 =[ERLI] This ARPS Net does not restart daily. You need to NETCHECKOUT
BLN0NET = [ERLI] Send CQ [space] msg to ERLI to checkin to net.
BLN1NET =[ERLI] ERLI APRS Net every Saturday 0800 Eastern
BLN2NET =[ERLI] More info http://sbanetweb.com:8080#info2
BLN3NET =[ERLI] Join Hams interested in Emergency Radio on APRS
BLN4NET =[ERLI] This ARPS Net is open 24x7
BLN5NET =[ERLI] This ARPS Net does not restart daily. You need to NETCHECKOUT

Beacons This is an example of the BOT check:

KC2NJV-4>PYBOT1,WIDE1-1,WIDE2-2:>At 2025-07-05 10:55:39 UTCEDT: Uptime 04h56m36s, Inet:Ok DNS:Ok

And these go out at different intervals (you'll see the info in the quotes):

CBEACON sendto=0 EVERY=15:00 DELAY=1 via=WIDE1-1,WIDE2-1 info="!4039.39N/07331.38W#Send a MSG to ERLI, CQ ERLI for APRS Net!"
CBEACON sendto=IG EVERY=20:00 DELAY=1 info="!4039.39N/07331.38W#Send a MSG to ERLI, CQ ERLI for APRS Net!"

The Ham NET using the APRS Bot
As mentioned, the APRS NET is Saturday's at 0800ET. Send a message to ERLI, remember to use the pro-word MSG at the beginning, and in about 63 characters say what you want.

If you'd like, you can answer someone either directly (use their call sign) or reply to the group (remember, pro-word MSG must be the first word).

Have fun!



System maintained by Wayne, KC2NJV