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1-10 of 12 messages
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Emergency Communication
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by W0IPL on January 6, 2004
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I find it rather interesting how so many people can get so far away from
the base subject of this forum.
Preparedness does relate to Emergency Communication in that if we are
not prepared, we will be somewhere between less effective and totally
ineffective. Coming in looking for a fight does nothing for the forum
With that out of the way; How can we teach people to communicate
in a more concise manner? I think that every one of us has heard or
worked with someone that can talk for five to ten minutes and actually
say what could be covered in one sentence. How can we teach these
people that there is *real* need for staying on track and using the
minimum number of words to completely define a thought or subject?
Regular emphasis in our training sessions produces regular momentary
improvement. Within one or three days these same people are back to
the rag chew approach.
We are working with volunteers and are perpetually short of trained
operators. Thus we keep everyone we can get. Would it help to *gradually*
remove those operators that fail to learn effective techniques? Since
we have no cash budget we cannot provide monetary rewards for those
that do well and far too many management types are afraid to single out
good operators for fear it will drive away "less than good" operators, how
do we handle this? Yes we can use people as runners but the people that
have failed to learn good communication techniques are usually the ones
that make the most noise when they feel they are being "underutilized".
Pat Lambert
W0IPL
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RE: Emergency Communication
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by KE4SKY on January 6, 2004
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Pat,
Your point is on target. On-air training seems to have only limited short-term benefit. Some mentors, such as W4ART have a real gift in being able to gently correct poor operatring procedure and instruct on the air, but most of the time such corrective instruction is better done one-on-one and in private, as people get defensive about it.
I've found it helpful to acknowledge and praise good operating practices on the air in hope that new ops will pay attention and copy their positive example. It works most of the time. Of course, you have to get people on the air to practice. It seems like net participation is down everywhere. I send out email reminders prior to scheduled nets, but still get the same dedicated group.
Even during Isabel when the power was off for a week and there was no city water, and the whole county was on a boil water order for some time afterward, amateur participation in the EOC, shelters, etc. was mostly among the same core group of a dozen or so dedicated operators out of 70 or so ARES and RACES members, many seldom heard or unheard from.
In all fairness some, like me, were working 12-hour shifts on their regular jobs and were busy enough. Others who were off work were busy coping with the result of the storm at home. But for the most part, those I was able to hear on the radio practiced the ABC's of accuracy, brevity, clarity. The core group have all taken at least the Level 1 ARECC course and it shows. But interesting people in training or even getting them to attend club meetings discussing EmCom is tough. I wish I knew the answer, but I don't.
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RE: Emergency Communication
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by N3SKO on January 6, 2004
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Getting people to take training is a tough nut to crack. Army MARS requires completion of a Basic Training Course (no pushups required :-) within 6 months of joining. Some states are more lenient in how the requirements are met than others. But it does guarantee that the new member is capable of sending and receiving 16-line NATO standard message traffic and participating in a formal net.
The training requirement seems to be a hurdle for some amateurs. They either don't apply when they are told about it, or they try to slide through it. As a State Director, I insist on the new members completing all of the requirements. If they are making a good attempt and showing progress, maybe just missing one emergency net, I will extend them. Otherwise - out the door. Untrained operators are of no use to anyone.
I think the program that Virginia RACES has setup for their Disaster Response Team is outstanding in principle. It will be interesting to see how many amateurs step up to the challenge.
73,
john
N3SKO/AAT3BF/AAM3O/AAA3DE/AAA9AC
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RE: Emergency Communication
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by KE4SKY on January 15, 2004
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Unfortunately, very few hams seem willing step up to the challenge. We envisoned our Virginia RACES Disaster Response Team program as something to attract and motivate hams who are serious about EmCom, but almost a year into our 2-year pilot it appears that trying to set a high standard is intimidating to the average amateur. Most people want a quickie course with instant gratification.
I wonder if the ARRL course registrations have the same problem? We offer training for free, but are unable to recruit enough DRT applicants to train a full team in the northern Virginia region close to Washington, DC, rich with potential terrorist targets, over 1.5 million residents, probably 10,000 hams and 300 registered Virginia RACES members.
It appears that only a handful of amateurs are willing to make a long term committment of time and training to reach anything above a basic level. During Isabel some of our operators who would otherwise be willing had emergency response duties in their full-time jobs as government workers or contractors and were not available for deployment, and the pool of amateurs willing, available, adequately trained and equipped to work 12-hour shifts at shelters or in the EOC were very limited. Collectively between ARES, RACES, Red Cross and MARS, teaming together cooperatively, everyone got the job done and our county emergency manager was very pleased with the amateur radio effort.
So, the approach I'm taking, and I welcome any commment, is to have our educational materials out there for anyone to read and use, and to encourage hams to seek out anything of interest, among the topics from the "menu" available.
In the past Virginia RACES training sessions have been open only to our members. As state training officer I've recommended to our new State Emergency Radio Officer NB3O that this policy be changed to enable ARES, Red Cross or any interested amateurs to attend subject to space available, to audit, review and critique the materials.
The idea is that any exposure to training is good for the amateur community at large, and that perhaps participants sitting on the fence might like what they see and look for more. Whether they join our organization or another really doesn't matter as long as they are active and involved. Any comments we receive will be used to enhance our training. I'd also welcome guest instructors from other organizations having specific expertise, such as Red Cross or local hospitals.
During the coming year I wish to attend more local club meetings and present talks on EmCom topics, using the presentations we use in our live sessions. Not to conduct training, per se, but to show as an example of what is available. We can lead them to the well, but we can't make them drink. But maybe we might interest a few. Pat, others, any comments?
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RE: Emergency Communication
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by W0IPL on January 18, 2004
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Mr. Harris - sir, I think we need to address what you speak of but shouldn't it be handled in a separate thread? My intent was to address one item in communications training and I believe you are expanding it out to the full training subject.
PLEASE understand, your comments *are* valid and I agree that the subject needs to be pursued, I just would like to break down the subject into more "byte" sized pieces. ;-)
What think you?
Pat
P.S. What about starting a new Forum just to handle ECom training issues? The subject is significant enough to make something like that worth while and I believe that it would make it easier to stay on subject - without going into go-bag contents, antenna recommendations, batteries, what radio, etc. etc.
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RE: Emergency Communication
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by KE4SKY on January 20, 2004
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Pat,
I'd certainly favor a new thread on training issues. But I do think we'd be mostly preaching to the choir and the ones who would need to benefit most from it wouldn't necessarily be the ones interested! You might want to kick it off posting the link to your excellent Colorado ARES Training site. 73
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RE: Emergency Communication
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by WA4MJF on January 21, 2004
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Every supported agency is different,
different SOPs, different forms,
different missions, etc.
I would think that only very generalized
training could be given and then specialize
in the agency supported.
I work with NCDEM and know how they
work, but probably would be lost with
ARC, SA, Baptist Men, NWS, etc.
73 de Ronnie
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RE: Emergency Communication
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by KC8YVE on January 31, 2004
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Well guys!
In some ways you have hit the nail on the head here.
I am a new ham, I am also a FEMA radilogical first responder.
Shortly after reciving my FEMA cert in 2002 I was told by my local EOC that if I earned my Ham ticket I would get a R.A.C.E.S. Card.
Later I found out this is not true, and I need more Training.
It is hard to take time off work to take training to be a volunteer, for an emergency my supervisor thinks will never happin.
Has anyone considered providing the training on line like FEMA does, I am interisted, but dont know how to get there.
Best to all.
Tracy.
thealbert@earthlink.net
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RE: Emergency Communication
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by KC8VWM on February 16, 2004
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>>>almost a year into our 2-year pilot it appears that trying to set a high standard is intimidating to the average amateur. Most people want a quickie course with instant gratification. <<<
Good point. I think the higher standards are needed and well recieved by some. It is the "instant gratification" courses that too often lead Amateurs in the wrong direction.
My observations are (and I am sure many others would agree) that VA RACES are the best trained, best qualified, highly skilled, and most adequately prepared disaster response agency to handle real time emergencies.
If the standards are anything less, or liquified into a quickie course - then it isn't in my opinion considered "disaster preparedness"
73
KC8VWM
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RE: Emergency Communication
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by KI4EKJ on March 17, 2004
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I am also a new ham and interested in RACES, but I'm not quite sure where to start. I was thinking of attending the upcoming training session in Charlottesville until I looked at the VA RACES registration page that states:
"Live Training is open to Regular Members (Non-Member amateur registrations do not qualify except from out of state or border state registrations), paid emergency management officials, and employees of agencies Virginia RACES has a MOU/SOU with. You must be registered in the Virginia RACES database to be accepted to a live training session."
Now it also goes on to say:
"A limited number of “Audit” seats will be available for nonmembers. Audit seats will not receive a certificate nor session credit and may only audit the Session. Please write the SERO to request an Audit Seat."
Which makes it sound like I could show up if I wanted to (and got approval), but I'm not exactly welcome. So, do you want new hams to get this training or not?
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