Indiana Interoperable Communication Day - "10-4" Day
"Operation Snoopy"
Welcome to the 3rd Annual Indiana Interoperable Communication Day, also known as 10-4 Day. For the last three years IPSC has coordinated a day for public safety and amateur radio operators across the state to test and evaluate their various forms of communication equipment. Each year this event is held on October 4th (10-4) as a salute to the popular 10-code acknowledging that the message sent has been received. Join us this year on Saturday October 4th for a fun filled table top/game exercise combined with two amateur radio nets with the IDHS AUXComm Team and special events for amateur radio operators.
Overall Goal: To examine and improve the ability of public safety personnel and auxiliary communicators to maintain effective communication across diverse technologies during and after significant disaster events occurring at geographically separated locations. There are no “right” answers to “check the box.” The goal of this day is to find multiple ways of working together through various interoperable communication methods across key public safety communications categories. Participants can incorporate traditional Land Mobile Radio (LMR), Broadband/LTE, Wi-Fi and Data as well as emergency notification systems, social media and traditional media to meet challenges.
Set up: Communication Teams of 5-7 participants. Players may register as a team, or individual participants may register to a location and will be assigned to a team by the Site Controller (SC). Optimally players in each group will be from a different first responder discipline (fire, police, EMA, EMS, 911, AuxComm), and possibly from different response jurisdictions.
NEW FOR THIS YEAR - 911 CENTERS CAN "PLAY IN PLACE"
We know how challenging 911 staffing can be and since this years exercise is designed as a tabletop/game, 911 centers can "play in place." Register your 911 center below (using a single email that can be reached on Saturday 10/4) and on 10/4 you will be emailed the challenges at the same times site participants are receiving them. Play as your are able amid your challenging daily real world scenarios - all participants will self report their results. As a reminder: We will continue the 10-4 Day tradition of an Indiana State Police "Extend Test" - where your Regional Dispatch Center will contact each county PSAP by radio on local Regional Mutual Aid 1.
OBJECTIVE
Scenario: There's a strong chance of widespread severe thunderstorms with potential for straight-line winds, tornadoes and localized flooding across multiple Indiana counties. The National Weather Service has issued numerous Tornado and Flash Flood watches including your location.
Task: Your team has been tasked by the county Emergency Manager to develop a communication plan outline and PACE plan for this specific event. This plan should address:
- ¨ Key communication objectives during the severe weather event. (e.g., what radio systems, talkgroups are available and who needs to talk to who.
- ¨ Identification of primary stakeholders for information dissemination (e.g., first responders, public, media).
- ¨ Methods of communication for internal operations (e.g., between dispatch centers, EOC, field units).
- How will you communicate within your team? (Basic task 1)
- Can you communicate back to your home base? (Basic task 5)
- ¨ Methods for public warning and information (e.g., EAS, social media, outdoor sirens).
- ¨ How you would activate mutual aid communications if overwhelmed.
- Can you communicate with another team at another location (Basic task 2)
- Can you communicate with the State EOC (Basic task 4)
- Can you communicate with Regional COML (Basic task3)
Locations
Registration
Or Click this link: https://forms.office.com/g/C0trqjYtdd
Amanda's AUXComm All-Call
If you are an amateur radio operator participating in 10-4 Day, Amanda Smith [KB9SDA], has planned some additional amateur activities.
The Indiana 10-4 Day Special Event is an on-air operating activity for amateur radio operators, running in conjunction with Indiana’s 10-4 Day Public Safety Interoperability drill. The purpose of this event is to acknowledge amateur radio’s long history of supporting public safety communications while celebrating Indiana’s 10-4 Day.
IDHS AUXComm Team
Hosting 2 nets:
- HF net on 40 meters 7.250 +/- between 10am-11am
- WinLink messages between 10-am-12am. Send messages to W9SEM@Winlink.org. Include an ICS217A listing your communications capability at the time of the message.
Official 10-4 Day Stations
Objective is to log as many contacts as possible, including other official stations.
- K9A - Lake Co
- K9B - Elkhart Co
- K9C - Whitley Co
- K9H - Johnson Co
- K9N - Orange Co
- K9K - Jackson Co
- K9L - Jefferson Co
⚠️ Important: Operators using a 1x1 call sign are required by the FCC to broadcast your actual call sign once an hour.
👉 Example: “This is KB9SDA operating as K9L.”
🏹Hunters
Objective: to contact official Indiana sites.
📜Available Certificates
- 🎖 Participation Certificate – Awarded to any operator who makes at least one contact with an official 10-4 Day site.
- 🎖 Worked All Stations (100 watts or less) – Awarded to operators who contact all six Indiana sites plus the designated bonus stations.
- 🎖 Worked All Stations (101 watts or more) – Awarded to operators who contact all six Indiana sites plus the designated bonus stations.
🏆Site-Specific Awards
- 🌀 Most HF (Official Location) – Awarded to the official site with the most unique HF contacts.
- 📡 Most VHF/UHF Simplex Contacts (Official Location) – Awarded to the official site with the most unique VHF/UHF contacts.
- 📻 Most Net Check-Ins (Local Net, Linked Repeaters) – Awarded to the site hosting a net on two or more linked repeaters with the most logged check-ins (≤1 hour).
- 📻 Most Net Check-Ins (Local Net, Standalone Repeater) – Awarded to the site hosting a net on a standalone repeater with the most logged check-ins (≤1 hour).
- 💌 Most WinLink Messages Exchanged (Official Location) – Awarded to the site with the most two-way messages exchanged with official locations.
📝 Certificate Submissions
Deadline: October 15th
🏫 Site Submission Form: https://forms.gle/MKG9GWwJTMysCZn27
👤 Participant Submission Form:https://forms.gle/ZkegdfjGyJfJr4si6
📶 Bands & Modes
- 📡 HF – All non-WARC HF bands may be used. Most activity will be on SSB voice. FT8 is not part of 10-4 Day and does not count.
- 🔊 VHF/UHF – 2m and 70cm simplex contacts encouraged. Frequencies coordinated locally.
- 🛰 Local Repeater Net – Each site may host one net via repeater (≤1 hour).
Suggested Net Script: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qKD9TIDHNJ8ZtYSTorQ2D_xOFVYWHzbhL2U0gaIWXSY/edit?usp=sharing - 📧 WinLink – Use Tactical Address including the 1x1 call sign. Example: IND-K9L
🎙 Calling Procedure
“CQ 10-4 Day Special Event, this is [1x1 CALL SIGN] calling CQ for 10-4 Day."
📝 Exchange & Logging
- Callsign, signal report, country if DX / state or province / county if Indiana.
- Band and mode are logged for each contact.
- Logs are self-reported and honor-system based. Hunters and sites should keep logs to support certificate requests.
🌎Spotting
Operators are encouraged to self-spot or spot others on DX Summit. Include frequency, mode, 1x1 call sign, and note this is a 10-4 Day Station.
🔑 Notes
- This special event runs alongside 10-4 Day Public Safety Scenarios statewide.
- Any and all licensed amateurs outside Indiana are encouraged to participate.
- All participation is honor-system based. Logs will not be checked for accuracy. Dishonest reporting only diminishes your own achievement.