GO-32 Satellite carried digital messaging in hospital drill

On March 12 Shands hospital in Gainesville, Florida, conducted a simulated emergency communications drill.

Students and faculty with the Gator Amateur Radio Club at the University of Florida participated.

The University of Florida Dental School club station, W4DFU, used their satellite ground station to distribute an e-mail test message though the GO-32 amateur radio satellite. This provided proof of concept in a disaster scenario to augment Amateur Radio voice communication if phone and internet services were down.

Keeping patient privacy laws in mind (HIPAA restrictions) they could not transmit sensitive personal or health related data via this mode.

However, in support of the larger disaster scenario the satellite e-mail concept could be useful for getting list of supplies, reporting hazardous situations, and status reports.

A copy of the test message, sent entirely via GO-32, is included below as an example of the capability revealed by the Gator Amateur Radio Club:

From: W4DFU
To: ALL
Subject: test March 12th, your input
Keywords:
----------------------------------------
To : ALL
From: W4DFU
Time: 124227UTC
Date: 12 Mar 2008
-----------------
Hello All,

W4DFU, the club station of the University of Florida http://www.gatorradio.org, is located at the University's Health Center which is part of the UF Shands Hospital complex (http://www.shands.org/hospitals/uf/).

Our club is involved today in a test of emergency communi- cation at the hospital and we are sending this message as part of that effort.

Please respond to our message and tell us where you are located and if you think GO32 and its group of users have emergency potential for relaying information in times of disaster where the Internet may not be available locally... and in which ways this could be of benefit where emergency voice communication could not...

Yours in public service through Amateur Radio

Dr. Jay Garlitz, AA4FL faculty advisor and trustee Jeff Capehart, W4UFL, club station and repeater manager Seth McNeill, N6WPV, club

secretary mcnese@ufl.edu

Thanks to Dr. Jay Garlitz, AA4FL and the Gator Amateur Radio Club at the University of Florida for the above information

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