#165 - Portable Emergency Email System

I am setting up an emergency email system that will allow me to set up a portable station at an emergency shelter, park, or other area after a disaster or other emergency and offer affected citizens the opportunity to send an email to their loved ones outside of the affected area to let them know they are ok.

The system utilized a Raspberry Pi mini computer to set up a temporary wifi to allow people to use their own smart phones, tablets, or laptops to access a web address that I supply to them like the photo below.

This page will allow them to generate their own email which is then sent to my radio to be forwarded through the Winlink radio email system. I can either have a VHF radio set up on site to pass the email messages through Packet Radio, or alternatively I can have an HF radio set up on site with my Pactor modem, so I have plenty of options to work with.

Because this is an Emergency Communications situation, the email address that the messages will be sent out from follows EmComms standards so it will not allow reply emails to be sent back which could clog up and slow down the message transfer in a disaster area.

On my laptop I will have access to an interface to configure and manage the system from which is shown below. Whoever designed the interface theme has definitely watched way too much Star Trek as this theme is copied from the show.

The emails forwarded from the emergency email system will be placed in the outgoing box of my Winlink radio email system which I access on my laptop or tablet. I then use my radio to connect to an HF Winlink Gateway station and forward the emails on to their recipients.

Sending the email is a free service that is provided to the affected public to relieve some of the stress they may be feeling after the experience as well as relieving the stress of their loved ones who may be wondering about their welfare.

The Raspberry Pi has been installed in a 3-D printed case to protect it and make it easier to carry to the deployment site. It requires 5 volts DC which will be supplied by the battery box that I made a few weeks ago.

I have several projects that I am in the middle of right now, but I should have this system up and running in a week or two, long before the next hurricane season.

This system is just one of the many Emergency Communications improvements I will be making over the next few months, and I will bring you all along for the ride as I video demonstrations of how the systems work.

Until Next Time,

Aloha & 73

---