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Fire and Rescue Honors 'Hams':
from
fredericksburg.com
on
August 27, 2008
Website:
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2008/082008/08262008/404861
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Fire and Rescue Honors 'Hams':
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Fire and Rescue Honors 'Hams':
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by AI2IA on August 27, 2008
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A nice, concise, and accurate article about deserving hams and ham emcomm in general.
We have not seen much from the emcomm bashers in many months. Either they are on vacation, or busy taking the ARRL emcomm course. It will be interesting to see if any "contribute" to this thread, so that we may know that they are still out there somewhere.
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RE: Fire and Rescue Honors 'Hams':
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by TANAKASAN on August 27, 2008
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Takes deep breath.....................
I'm not sure if you would class me as an emcomm basher but I do have serious doubts about the amateur emergency services. The main one, I want to know why they are required in the first place.
The US military is the most powerful organization in the world, they have almost limitless resources and, given justification, can blacken the skies of any nation with troops at a moments notice. To back this up they have numerous satellites, worldwide transmission systems and radio systems that can handle anything from a sandstorm to a nuclear strike.
If the military are not available you have other services who should be willing to step up to the plate if an emergency arises. I am quite sure that the comms budget of the fire, police, ambulance and coastguard services together comes to millions of dollars. This is before I even consider the billions the USA have spent since 9/11 on the famous Department of Homeland Security. Why then if an emergency occurs are AMATEUR radio operators asked to step in and take the load? A good example of this is the story on the front page of a hospital who found that the telephones were out of action and service would not be restored anytime soon.
What happened to the hospital emergency plan, do they even have one?
Why were the telephone company unable to respond to this emergency situation?
Why could none of the government emergency services assist?
This happens all over the world, not just in the USA, and I strongly suspect that the main reason is money. There's no reason for the emergency services to work on a unified comms system or to make sure that the fire trucks can always talk to dispatch because they know the radio hams will always get their ass out of the fire. I am quite sure that most if not all of the hams who work on emcomm duty do a fine job, but each time they respond they are providing a crutch for organizations who should be able to handle the job themselves.
Tanakasan
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RE: Fire and Rescue Honors 'Hams':
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by KG4RUL on August 27, 2008
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Yet another EMCOMM bashing post from an anonymous, who knows if they are even licensed, poster. No call = no credibility in my book.
And, I am an ARES/RACES member, a CERT Instructor and am in ARMY MARS. I DO, not just kvetch!
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Well, one stepped up to the plate.
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by AI2IA on August 27, 2008
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"I'm not sure if you would class me as an emcomm basher but I do have serious doubts about the amateur emergency services. The main one, I want to know why they are required in the first place."
It is unlikely that this one has a call sign for two reasons:
1) Anyone with a call sign, even an emcomm basher would not question why ham emcomms are needed. They would prefer to criticise on basis of procedures, or authority status, or ridicule with remarks about emcomm attire.
2) If he had a call sign, he would realize that he would get more respect if he used it.
Surely there have been enough articles on eHam.net to demonstrate the record of accomplishment of amateur radio emergency communications volunteers! He should look at the archives.
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RE: Well, one stepped up to the plate.
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by KL7IPV on August 27, 2008
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A great article! I have been trained and taken the courses for EnComm 1, 2 & 3 as well as the ICS courses among other things. I am ready to do what I can if needed but I would prefer never to be needed. I don't do it for any recognition. I do it because I KNOW that the feds, state, county/city and/or hospitals resources can fail. Just because they have sunk a lot of money into something is no guarantee it will always work. SO we try to fill the gap until it does. Maybe that isn't what the anonymous poster knows or cares about, but fortunately many hams do. In fact, a LOT of hams do!
Frank
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RE: Fire and Rescue Honors 'Hams':
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by TANAKASAN on August 28, 2008
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Guys, read again what I posted.
I am not questioning WHAT the emcomm amateurs do, they provide a great service. I am questioning WHY they should be needed in the first place.
An example of this is the incident a number of years ago at Lockerbie in Scotland where an aircraft was brought down by a terrorist. RAYNET (the UK organization that handles ham emergency services) handled the emergency communications and each search party was sent out with a radio ham who communicated any findings back to base.
Why were radio hams needed? The local police found that their radios did not work well in the mountains and that they had poor battery life. So, ask yourself why a local police force were issued with radios that were not fit for purpose?
To repeat myself. Radio amateur emergency services do a fine job and I cannot fault what they do. I do however need to know why they are constantly asked to haul someone's ass out of the fire because of lack of forward planning.
Tanakasan
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The government can never replace the volunteer!
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by AI2IA on August 28, 2008
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Why are ham emcomms needed? Why are state militias and The National Guard needed? Why is the Red Cross and the Salvation Army needed?
Why? Because big government and socialist control of everything is always corrupt and always fails. What is RESPONSIBILITY? Isn't the very idea of responsibility tied up with the individual? Can an organization as a whole ever be held responsible for anything? Do great ideas spring from organizations or individuals? INDIVIDUALS who volunteer built this great nation from the Colonial Minutemen to, yes, the amateur radio emcomm volunteers. Each individual is prepared and DEDICATED to do his individual best!
Do you want to destroy any worthwhile community cause? Be a socialist and throw government money at it. Can the "government" grow wheat? Can the "government" schools teach better than the private schools? Why do all the public school teachers send their own little darlings to private schools? How about the children of the politicians?
Don't you get it by now? We the people, by the Grace of God, free and INDEPENDENT. We get the job done, not the bureaucrats. Wake up!
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RE: The government can never replace the volunteer
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by K1CJS on August 30, 2008
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It seems to me that Tanakasan just doesn't realize that emcomms are pushed and maintained and are in place to handle that 'one in a million' occurence where there absolutely isn't any other means of getting messages and information to the places it needs to get to.
Sure, there usually are other means of getting the information where it needs to go. The homeland security push for public service two way radio 'systems' that can intercommunicate is one way the government is trying to do so, but the not so obvious hidden deficiencies in those systems requires other means to be patched, and one of those means--the most handy and available--is by ham radio and emcomms.
To do that, emcomms have to practice and exercise to know where deficiencies exist IN THEIR OWN SETUPS AND SYSTEMS, so those deficiencies can be corrected--just as the deficiencies are hopefully found and corrected in the other public service radio systems. The real rub is that you just can't find and correct them all, you can just keep looking and trying to fix those you do find.
That is why the emcomms are used in 'minor' emergencies--and is also why hams have their nets, their on the air meetings, field days, and also the exercises with the state and federal agencies during mock emergencies.
The ham radio emcomm people practice with their equipment and their drills, just like firemen practice firefighting at times--to exercise their skills, to make sure they know what to do, and how to do what is needed. They're refining their methods of attack and working to cut the time needed to do what must be done.
If there were no emcomm drills and actual uses in events that don't really require them to be be there and available, they would NOT be ready to help when the time comes that they are really needed.
That is why they are doing what they're doing. That is what the emcomm bashers just don't understand--or what they steadfastly refuse to acknowledge.
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Fire and Rescue Honors 'Hams':
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by KC9NIY on August 30, 2008
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I’d like to comment from the other side of the coin. I’m not an E-Comm expert but I spent 15 years in emergency services and have virtually every certification there is in the area of Incident Command except for some of the newer make work ones. I’ve worked incidents you can walk around and communicate with a raised voice and I’ve worked incidents that you’d need a copter just to see part of the area.
To me the situation is this. Is Amateur Radio the first line of communication? No. Nor the second line or in some cases even the third. But when all the best plans of mice and men go South; the generators have run out of gas, the radio and cell towers are down and the phone lines are ripped into a thousand pieces, you’d best have something flexible, scalable, portable and capable to fall back on and that defines Amateur Radio.
Incident commanders and those reporting to them depend on information flow and when push comes to shove a smart person will take jungle drums, smoke signals, pony express or Hams when they prove to be reliable and accurate. On the other hand, having a group of revved up volunteers showing up when you don’t need them is like Custer asking for more Indians.
It isn’t a secret to those involved that the key is all those boring and long exercises proving that the system works and how to integrate it within the larger picture. Amateur Radio may have found itself relegated to the last line of defense, but it’s the line that everyone may find themselves depending on; so you have to be ready.
Tanakasan does make one valid observation in that too few organizations pay enough attention to emergency planning, but at the same time he shows the same lack of understanding in his own misplaced reliance on the military, satellites, and government agencies. He assumes those resources will be available and functional, not focused elsewhere and that is exactly the same thinking that gets people into trouble.
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Fire and Rescue Honors 'Hams':
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by N7IBC on August 31, 2008
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Okay, I can now comment after re-reading the initial article and then the comment from the guy with no callsign.I usually just read and not comment, but once in a while, I need to rant, so here goes.
I also have been involved in emergency communications, both with the U.S. military as well as civilian govt.
About 30 yrs now.I was a line grunt for a long while and then a few years ago did some service as a county EC here in Idaho.I will not name the county.
I am still on active duty in emergency services and will continue for a few years.
I have been involved in some real large, nasty incidents, from terrorism to natural disasters.
The feds, contrary to the beliefs of some, are not all powerful.For all their resources, and all their equipment and abilities,they do have short comings.
On local incidents, they can't talk to the locals, they do not operate on the same frequencies, and usually do not understand the local radio procedures.They have to rely on those that know.
When the local systems go south,repeaters are without power, towers get blown down, power lines and commo transmission lines are trashed, most dispatch centers are without ears. It goes to handhelds and vehicle radios on simplex to get through.
The emergency services are usually handling all immediate life safety traffic.They do not have the time for the basic stuff,such as shelter traffic, eyes and ears on the ground, and logistical traffic, including; equipment orders, manpower orders, food and water orders,and health and welfare traffic.
Without the amateurs, this would not happen,as they are trained to do that.They do get in harms way, I have seen it,and they do not hesitate.
To those that diss on the amateurs who are involved in Emcomm,and why are they needed, go away.
Either get involved,and join those that care, or just be silent.
Without them,and their expertise in some wild ideas regarding communications, my job and others in my profession would have a much harder job.
Oh,one more thing. To those administrators who are in positions to use the amateur radio operators and their abilities, and do not, get off the bench and ask for help. You can't do it all by yourselves.
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