New IT for Marine Rescue Forster Tuncurry
Written by Rodney S Percival, Marine Rescue Forster Tuncurry
After joining Marine Rescue NSW in 2020 one of the things I noticed almost immediately during the covid period, is how old all the computer equipment was around the base. In 2021 the then UC asked me to become the IT officer due to my many years’ experience with computers, laptops, builds, upgrades and repairs
I then went about setting up a more accurate registry for IT hardware and software. During this time, I worked out that most IT equipment was over ten years old, most being on the lower end of the scale and not really fit for service. I was able to upgrade four laptops on separate occasions over the next 18 months
The existing training laptops were proving to be at end of life very slow and needed constant attention, even though I upgraded the software to Win10 a couple of them actually stopped working.
In 2022 I put forward a proposal to upgrade all IT equipment (approx. $54,000) unfortunately there was insufficient funds available to cover these costs at this time.
In 2023 we replaced 2 x NUC’s (mini computers) in the Radio Room. The older NUC’s were put to good use, one as a general duties machine for staff to use (downstairs). Utilising one in the Radio Room (Station 5) this was specifically setup as a Microsoft Edge Machine as we know some people prefer MS Edge as opposed to Google.
In 2024 we were asked to submit for a grant by the State Government for communication equipment to which our application was successful. With this funding we upgraded Radio Room equipment with 3 Monitors 2 X 49” curved and 1 X 43” flat as well as additional Memory for the NUC’s, The UC gave approval for my envisagement of the proposed layout in the Radio Room, and with the help of our maintenance MR members Paul Northrop and Tim Holley all items were installed successfully. we also purchased, keyboard mouse combos, new cabling (8k) and heavy-duty rotatable mounts for the new monitors.
The 43” screen is split for both open CPN and DV locate, the 2 x 49” screens can have up to six programs, normally only 3 are open they are MR email, Sea Hawk II and Macquarie Coastal Weather.
In addition to the above, we purchased five new laptops for training including all new keyboards and mouse combinations.
We now have a modernised sophisticated Radio Room and Training facility set up that will see Marine Rescue Forster Tuncurry well into the future.
