WCARES members are encouraged fire up Winlink and take part in the FEMA RECCWG Region 4 &
Region 6 May 31-June 1 Communications Outage Exercise.

For any WCARES members who take part, please CC WB5WAJ on your submitted exercise Winlink message.

The linked PDF provides detailed step-by-step instructions. Some points to note from the PDF:

• DATE and TIME of Exercise: Tuesday evening, May 31st, from 6:00 PM EDT (5:00 PM CDT) until 4:00 PM EDT (3:00 PM CDT) Wednesday afternoon, June 1st.
• Please, no telnet from areas where communications outage problems are shown to exist (Charlotte, Dallas, Miami, Little Rock – see attached map).
• Message to send: Winlink standard Template, Field Situation Report
• Please avoid requesting acknowledgement requests, either manually or automatically.

Exercise map showing cities affected by the exercise “communications outage”.

Click here for the PDF with detailed step-by-step instructions.

In a “real life situation,” you would always want to use Telnet if it is available in order to leave the precious RF spectrum for those in affected areas who have no other choice. However, for this exercise, do what you wish since this is for practicing your ability to use Winlink in an emergency condition.