"TOM" wrote in message
...
I thought I might share a couple of observations I've made regarding the
Amateur Service; the situation in other locations may differ.

Based upon my adventures last year in Florida when we got pounded by three
hurricanes I was interested in finding out the utility of my Ham two meter
transceiver by taking advantage of Field Day (simulated emergency test) in
June. I raised a collinear with an advertised gain of 7 dB to thirty feet
and powered my transceiver with a deep cycle battery. Operating on the
'National Simplex Calling Frequency' 146.52 MHz with 75 watts output power
I

ok, so you don't know about the modern field day. today field day is not
about emergency communications, its a time to get out in the woods, drink
some beers, tell war stories, and maybe make some contacts... since vhf
isn't a place to make lots of contacts most field day operations are on hf.


As the FCC
recently granted amateurs five channels in the HF (60 meter) band: 5332,
5348, 5368, 5373, and 5405 kHz
every time I check them, remain unused.

ok, so you aren't checking them at the right time. they are used, though
lightly since many radios need modifications, lots of people don't have
antennas for them, and the channelized requirements are rather odd so lots
of people aren't really interested in them... especially since there are no
operating events, contests, awards, or other reason to be there if you
aren't interested in propagation exploration.

A citation from the ARRL's Petition for Rule Making to the FCC
concluded, in part, "An Amateur Allocation in this band (60 meters) would
improve the Amateur Service's already exemplary record of providing
emergency

yeah, yeah, what else did you expect them to say? thats probably
boilerplate they put on every memo they send to washington or gettysburg.

Additionally, its odd about the amateur service that proclaims itself to
be
devoted to emergency service but dropped its distress frequencies. Until

this might be nice to have, but then again there are so many frequencies
claimed by so many different nets and organizations that finding some place
to do this would be a real pain. then it would end up being a constant
battle between those who want to keep it clear and those who want to use any
clear frequency they can find. emergency frequencies are easily proclaimed
for short periods by the fcc and as seen in recent hurricane operations they
are relatively well respected world wide and very well utilized.

out why the ARRL dropped them. Its beyon my comprehension that a
communications service, world wide in extent, that doesn't assign
frequencies,

the arrl is not a communications service. they are a membership body, if
the members aren't interested it won't get done. world wide allocation of
frequencies would have to be done via the iaru and then would only have the
force of a recommendation on each of the member countries since each one has
its own regulatory body like the fcc who may or maynot add the force of law
to such recommendations.

transceiver so I could access the, FCC authorized, 5167.5 kHz amateur
service Alaskan Emergency Frequency. It was only through the force of my

i thought you were in florida? anyway, mods for most radios can be found
easily on-line these days. and for radios like the ft-1000mp its just a
matter of pressing a few secret button combinations and you can transmit
anywhere, right out of the box you could receive anywhere anyway so you
could monitor those frequencies.

Although the amateur service has
played a significant role in handling emergency communications in the
past,
the changing face of technology has relegated the amateur service to
a position of little consequence---possibility, with better leadership,
the amateur service can regain its former stature.

then why are they now recruiting for relief operators to go in to the
katrina and rita areas to continue operating with fema and other agencies?
if we were of so little use why do they still want our help? and apparently
will want it for a while yet in just that area??



I sincerely think, that with the devastation of Charley, Frances and
Jeanne
last year, and Katrina this year, the ARRL really needs to get off their
ass
and come up with a serious emergency communications plan.

have you talked to your section emergency coordinator recently, that is the
starting place? he/she should be able to provide you with the local plans
and links to training courses and all the other stuff you want to know.