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Palo Alto staff outline mobile amateur-radio emergency network at Fire Station 8; commissioners ask for bird, visual and CEQA details
Summary
City staff presented a proposal to station a mobile Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network (ARDIN) node — including a repurposed ambulance and a trailer-mounted tower — at Fire Station 8 in the Foothills. Commissioners supported redundancy but requested visual mock-ups, bird-safety measures and clarification of environmental review and permitting.
City staff presented a proposal to place a mobile Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network (ARDIN) node — including a repurposed ambulance outfitted with servers and a 60-foot trailer-mounted communications tower — adjacent to Fire Station 8 in the Foothills as a redundancy for communications during large-scale emergencies.
The ARDIN node would use unencrypted amateur radio frequencies (around 5.8 GHz) and be operated by licensed amateur-radio operators; staff said the system is intended as a contingency if other communications fail in an earthquake, wildfire or other disaster. "The emergency radio, data network is a redundancy for communications in the event that there is an earthquake or some kind of large scale event," said Andres Orazoco, Emergency Services coordinator, describing the proposal and its planned location near the Foothills Nature Preserve entrance.
Commissioners and staff emphasized the benefit of…
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