High Frequency (HF) radio has been a mainstay of emergency and disaster communications for over a century due to its unique characteristic: it makes possible long-range communications independent of vulnerable infrastructure. HF undergoes continual improvement as state-of-the-art technologies are incorporated into HF systems.

This presentation will discuss the basics of HF communications and highlight the advances attributable to digital signal processing (DSP), software defined radios (SDR), and distributed network management over TCP/IP. Topics include:
• Automatic Link Establishment (ALE)
• Backhaul for LMR systems
• Digital Voice and Encryption
• Interoperability
• Remote Control
• Remote Maintenance and Management
• Situational Awareness

Takeaway

HF continues to work when traditional communications are inoperative or overwhelmed.
High quality digital voice carries hundreds or thousands of miles with no infrastructure, at no cost.
Email, text chat, file transfers, and situational awareness data, with or without encryption, are common uses for HF.