Over 15 regional volunteers participated in this weekday, large-scale communications drill organized by a California sheriff's office.  Locally, we received inputs from Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and a U.S. Navy site in the Seattle area.  This drill allowed us to practice "grid-down" or "auxilliary" communication protocols locally in parallel with 300 West Coast groups reacting to a challenging earthquake  and tsunami scenario. 

Information: https://www.beaconexercise.org/

During a complex dam damage assessment exercise involving several agencies using drones, radio volunteers inspected for downstream damage and relayed a drone picture to Portsmouth's Incident Communication Center. 

During Newport Folk Festival weekend,  Newport County radio volunteers practiced sending messages to a station at Newport Fire Station 2  which then relayed photos to a Fort Adams command post staffed by Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency. 

With the participation of Newport Fire Department, eighteen FRS, GMRS, and 'ham' radio volunteers deployed to senior care facilities across Newport County and practiced sending and receiving messages without the use of  Internet or cell phone infrastructure.