If you need me, I'll be there. That's the way it was thirty years ago, and that's still the way I feel about it. However, now it's not good enough.

I got involved with Ham Radio in 1964 while I was in high school. It was a hobby that provided an opportunity to fool around with electronics and talk (via CW) to interesting people around the world. It did not occur to me that the hobby was also providing an education in many subjects, probably because I was still an adolescent and in the “anti school” phase of my life.

In 1964, I helped out with the Alaskan earthquake disaster by handling some health and welfare traffic destined for Milwaukee. We didn't think too much of our participation. It just seemed the natural thing to do.

Something has changed over the most recent ten years regarding Ham Radio's participation in emergency situations. Now, the fact that I am willing to help when needed is not good enough. Unless I can substantiate certain training, it is assumed that I am no longer capable of conducting myself in the proper fashion. If I am not able to provide digital text-based communications to requesting agencies, my services as a veteran communicator are not required.

How did we get to this point? About thirty years ago, I was part of an exercise designed to demonstrate good communications skills and protocol to municipal government agencies that were having trouble talking to each other when they needed to. The exercise was conducted by ARES at the request of the governmental agencies. The result of the day's activities was a laundry list of what they were doing wrong and what they needed to do if they were to be successful in communicating during a panic situation.

Obviously, local governments have spent a lot of time and money improving their communications systems over the past several decades. They are continuing to spend millions of tax dollars on state of the art equipment and training. Now, nearly every police car in this part of the country has a laptop computer which allows the patrol officer access to incredible information, all over the radio. It's secure by being encrypted, it's private and it's more accurate than spoken word dispatching.

Local governments and our national Department of Homeland Security have come to expect that the every day communication tools available to them should also be available in times of disaster. ARES has picked up this thread and passed it on to the Ham Radio population at large. No longer is it good enough to drop what you are doing, grab a radio and assist where needed. If you can't bring a portable Packet Radio station, or a mobile WinLink 2000 setup, you are not doing enough. We have been told that there is a “requirement” to establish networks of digital communications so that we are prepared to handle emergency traffic in case a tornado touches down nearby. We are made to feel guilty if we don't attend weather spotter classes and become part of Citizens' Corps and taken first aid classes. If we haven't completed certain courses, we will not be “allowed” to participate, should there be a real disaster.

Where has this “requirement” come from? As far as I am concerned, it's an irrational and unreasonable expectation coming from some academics who want to treat every panic situation according to a written plan in a textbook. Disasters just don't happen according to a plan. Recent history proves my point, and I won't bother to elaborate. Government agencies and the agencies that support them in times of trouble have come to expect that they can have secure, text-based communications available as a routine. There is paranoia about passing the name of some disaster victim on an “open” channel. There is the expectation of absolutely accurate transmission of traffic in the midst of chaos. And, there is the terrible fear the systems they have spent so much time and money putting together will fall apart when needed most.

Ham Radio has a mandate to assist the government when asked to do so. However, there's nothing in Part 97, or anywhere else, that prescribes what kind of communication is required, nor is there anything that requires a certain level of training to help out. Review 97.1 and 97.4 to verify this. The FCC rules are very vague concerning emergency communications.

When the chips are down, or as the ARRL likes to say, “When all else fails”, Ham Radio can help. We have always been there and probably always will be. However, our best showings in emergencies are by means of the simplest technology available. These days, it is probably a voice network of helpful operators using FM mobile radios or hand-held portable rigs. Ham Radio is only really useful on a very temporary basis in a real disaster. Local utilities and communications are not permanently out of commission in these situations, but will be recovered as one of the highest priorities. When the local infrastructure becomes operational again, all of the secure, private and accurate communications facilities will be back in business and Ham Radio should be able to pack up and go home.

How can I possibly come out and say that we should not be providing all of the “requirements” that have been put upon us? Very simply, governmental agencies have spent untold fortunes putting their communications systems together. Ham Radio Operators don't have fortunes to spend being a backup for government systems. The real value of Ham Radio is that it is widely dispersed and cheap. Each and every operator provides his or her own equipment. Clubs, or organized groups of Hams provide repeater facilities, and none of the money to make this wonderful system available has come from taxpayer pockets. No government agency is going to provide me the funds to put a portable digital station together, and I refuse to pay for it myself. Furthermore, I would trust in the reliability of my mobile transceiver or my trusty HT much more than the relatively more complex equipment needed to provide WinLink2000 or something like it. There are simply more component parts and interfaces that can fail. Digital networks supported by internet links are just silly when the infrastructure has failed.

Many Hams have become disenchanted with the recent evolution of ARES. Taken to its extreme, the ARES group that enforces all of the “requirements” becomes paramilitary. One group here in Wisconsin wanted their members to take training in traffic control so that they could help local police in managing automobile traffic at disaster scenes. The leadership of these groups does more to drive away willing volunteers by layering on more and more requirements for training and participation in drills and exercises than they do to attract new members. They want to increase their active members by making the rest of us feel guilty if we are not certified storm spotters or available to provide communications for profit-making commercial events.

While I have met a few newer Hams who got licensed so that they could be part of the Public Service activities, many more have simply gotten involved in a worthwhile hobby. It is still a hobby. It should still be fun. It should not consume my entire waking life, nor cause me to go into debt.

If you need me, I will be there. I may not be trained up to your standards, but I'm still able to pass message traffic and handle net control, if necessary. I have a lot of equipment and it's ready to roll should the call come. Don't forget about me. There are a lot more of us than there are of you.

73,

W9EH

Bob