State and County Coordination Nets

State and county coordination nets are used by county EOCs within the West Central Florida region to exchange information amongst themselves and with the State of Florida EOC.

During an activation event, each EOC within the West Central Florida Region will monitor the Statewide Amateur Radio Network (SARnet) and the Florida Statewide HF Emergency net. Voice traffic exchanged between Pinellas County, and the State of Florida EOC will utilize SARnet whenever it is available and fall back to the Florida Statewide HF emergency net when SARnet is inoperative.

When internet-based communications are inoperative within Pinellas County, priority and emergency traffic with be exchanged with WCF EOCs using SARnet whenever it is available and fall back to the NI4CE repeater system when SARnet is inoperative. If SARnet and the NI4CE system are both inoperative, the Florida Statewide HF emergency net will be used to exchange voice traffic.

 Statewide Amateur Radio Net

The Statewide Amateur Radio Network (SARnet) is a network of linked UHF voice repeaters that serves the State of Florida. Statewide connectivity is achieved without the use of any commercial telecommunications services. SARnet does not use the internet, cellular telephones, or land lines.

During a statewide or regional emergency, the State of Florida EOC may utilize SARnet to establish a statewide coordination net and limit its use to priority traffic. SARnet is the primary system used within WCF for county-to-county coordination when internet-based communications systems are inoperative.

West Central Florida Regional County Coordination Net

The WCF Regional County Coordination Net will be established on the NI4CE repeater system when internet-based communications and SARnet are inoperative and WCF county EOCs need to exchange priority and emergency traffic during a statewide or regional emergency. Refer to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for additional information about this net.

Florida Statewide HF Emergency Net

The Florida Statewide HF Emergency Net will be activated by the Florida Division of Emergency Management during declared states of emergency and used to exchange priority and emergency traffic between Florida County EOCs and between Florida County EOCs and the State of Florida EOC.