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Speak Out: Emergency Radio Networks & Ham Radio:

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WA4MJF on 2005-10-20
That is what happens her most of
the time, thank goodness. We prepare
and set up for the "when all else
fails" and only when we have 500 year
floods or some other big calamity
do we have a large system failure.
Then all the training and works
pays off.

There are many, many little things
that happen more frequently. NC
Memorial Hospital's phone system
goes belly up, with all these software
controlled systems and the demise
of Ma Bell it happens more often
than when we had POTS, once in a
while and the hams man/woman their posts
and relay messages until the bug
can be fixed. Another that seems to
happen more often thatn should, what
with all the construction, is cable
to a 911 center is cut and hams are
stationed around the area to receive
reports of help and relay them to the
center. During ice storms, hams have
had to ride along with the Guard, as
all their vehicles don 't have radios.
Little things like that. They
don't make the big news like Floyd,
for example, but keep small segments busy.

I wonder if anyone can name a place where
ARES* folks wear all these radios, uniforms, vests,
metal badges, have emergency lights/sirens on their cars,
and play Public Safety officer. I know that
is an urban legend, but I've yet to see it.


RACES used to be like that, but it is/was
part of OCD and that is what you sere expected to wear. They don't do that
down here. I left VA many, many moons ago,
but think blue lights were changed from CD to
LE there. I don't know if CD has a light colour in VA anymore. There were many
branches to OCD, RACES, CD Fire, CD Police,
etc back then.

73 de Ronnie

*ARES is a registered Service Mark
of the American Radio Relay League,
Inc and is used with permission.

KC8VWM on 2005-10-20
A simple HAM license does not provide anything in the relm of public safety training or qualifications.

----

Most people involved in public safety (including myself in the past) view hams as an "extra set of helping hands" but they certainly aren't seen as some sort of incident command responders.

Hams were basically categorized the same as any other "volunteers" during an incident.

I recall a nuclear disaster scenario simulation training we conducted once.

The "hams" role was to deploy a supply of 2 way radio's to each floor in the hospital during the power outage. This was so each floor or dept. could communicate with one another "if and when" the telephone system went down and out.

Other than that, I don't recall hams doing any additional tasks or critical missions during the course of the exercise.

I mean, their help was appreciated and everything but...

W5GNB on 2005-10-19
Personally, If I had wanted to be a Public Safety officer, I would have saved myself a LOT of time studying engineering in college and simply joined the police force or Fire department.

I think we should leave the public safety operations in charge of the folks who have been trained PROPERLY for the job and just get OUT of thier way!

A simple HAM license does not provide anything in the relm of public safety training or qualifications.

Public safety should NOT be the primary focus for ham radio but I guess for some it is!

73's
Gary - W5GNB

KB7LYM on 2005-10-19
Yes I have seen those Emergency Radio Hams at work. RACES ...ARES. Everything you read from the previous replies is that many ride around in their vehicles and telling people they are in charge of Communications for Airplane crashes,Floods,Forest Fires. They boast... without us nothing can be done ! Plain Bullshit folks. Wannabees First Class.

X-WB1AUW on 2005-10-18
< Isn't emergency communication the number one reason for ham radio's existence?>

I seem to remember radio experimentation as the number one reason there are hams today. Also, I seem to remember reading we are a pool that our government can draw upon. And, we function as ambassadors of world wide good will.

< Can we lobby for this kind of funding?>

Who is we?
You can lobby if you wish to.
Somewhere on the internet you can find an outline for a funding proposal. But, chances are slim it will be looked at unless you are a nonprofit. 501C3 seems to ring a bell.

< How will the creation of such radio networks impact ham radio?>

After it has been running for a few years, you can begin to investigate its impact on ham radio. Television, newspapers, magazines, blogs, and even eHam are FULL of prognosticators. I do not recollect any review looking for accuracy of forecasts.

Bob

ICOMTECH66 on 2005-10-18
W5HTW

You sir hit it right on the head and thus get the "HERO OF THE DAY" award ...

No other hobby in the world thinks of themselves so highly as ours -- pass a simple test, get an orange vest, throw some antennas on your car and HTs on your belt -- and you are now a public service offical repsonsible for the lives of millions of people ...

Hell - Superman ain't got nothing on us....

KC8VWM on 2005-10-18

For example, would you consider a 2 billion dollar expenditure a worthwhile investment for improvements to the communication infrastructure if this would mean an increase in public safety to residents in NY?

Is 2 billion dollars enough money considering the demographics we are proposing?

Do the research, it's a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of things.

N0AH on 2005-10-17
Ok, if NY is going to have $2 billion for the proposed equipment, my guess is that pork projects get 99% of it and a Congressman looks great having this bill in the name of this project. If the $2 billion is really ligite, they get the money then re-apropriate it saying hams already have it in the bag- Hope the new park, highway, and mess hall look great! Maybe they might even put telephones in and/or around them!

K0RFD on 2005-10-17
I don't think there's much you can do about New York State. Furthermore, there's not much you SHOULD do.

The ARES motto is "When all else fails". As a citizen and taxpayer, I would like to see the perfect world where all else DOESN'T fail.

States, counties, and municipalities should try to make their communications systems as bulletproof as possible. If they succeed, great. That means everything's going great. As Hams AND citizens, that means things are good; law enforcement and first responders can handle anything that is thrown at them.

We should all strive for that. At the same time, we should all be prepared in case our governments fall short. But I would certainly not begrudge any state, county, or local government whatever it needed to get things right the first time.

KC2OOS on 2005-10-17
N0IU said, "I never said that..."

True, and my apologies. I had overreacted to your first
post, and confused you with someone else in a different
thread. There was a post in the "hobby v. service" article
that I had thought was yours touting the efficacy of
"professional communications".

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