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| The American
Red Cross was given 8 Ford Excursion by the Ford Motor Company for use in
Disaster Services in the Spring of 2000 as a result of efforts by the ARC Southeastern
Michigan Chapter in Detroit, MI. These vehicles have been designated for Disaster
Communications and will have all the leading edge technologies in communications on board. These vehicles will be placed strategically around the United States for fast response in times of need. As the Red Cross is the Congressionally mandated agency to act in times of disaster to help ease the suffering caused by disaster, these vehicles will be a great resource when normal modes of communications fail. Each vehicle is designed to support both Red Cross Disaster Relief communications, and the specialized communications of public safety agencies including fire departments, police departments, FEMA, Civil Air Patrol, search and rescue, FBI, and many others. |
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| The communication equipment on-board include: | ||||||||||||||||||
| Front console | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Operator’s console | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Roof deck | ||||||||||||||||||
| 16 assorted radio
antennas, mounted storage under roof deck for additional antennas and mast sections A 52' pneumatic mast with N-type RF runs Yaesu antenna rotator Pan-Tilt remote control camera Datron automatic deployment DSS dish AMSC satellite phone antenna Davis weather station 12 NMO mounts AVL technologies Vsat dish Mosley TA-33 Jr. Tri-band HF Yagi |
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| Left outside compartment (aka I/O Panel) | ||||||||||||||||||
| 12VDC 3 antenna connections F-type connections for external V-sat dish DSS out Broadcast TV in eight analog phone lines in (connect to PSTN) eight analog phone lines out (VoIP from Vsat) Six network connections Mast controls 2 120vac GFCI outlets SGC 1.8 - 30 MHz. 9' HF Whip
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| Under the hood
8kw AuraGen engine driven generator |
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| Future Additions | ||||||||||||||||||
| There is also
provisions for 10 wireless laptops and telephones to be installed at a later date. The radios can be programmed for operation on any public safety frequency. The JPS interconnect system enables the vehicle to operate as a "cross band" repeater between any two radio systems. This means that, for example, two independent fire districts could be dynamically linked together during an emergency situation. Several governments in the U.S. have adopted this approach to linking normally disconnected organizations - without the expense of replacing large radio systems to provide common communications frequencies. There will be three of these vehicle on the West coast - Phoenix, AZ, Sacramento, CA and Spokane, WA. Phoenix has just received their unit (CRV- 3701) for use in communication support of the Grand Canyon Chapter's operations. (Picture below) The other units will be arriving at their home chapters in the near future. |
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