Steve Bonine wrote:



Non-disaster includes providing communications for local events like
parades. Time was that ham radio operators were really key in this
regard, then along came cell phones. Ham radio still provides a pool of
people who can pitch in and help, but it's not the only pool now. I'm
sure there are shining examples of ham groups that continue to provide
stellar service to this kind of event, but my personal experience
suggests that the hobby is becoming less and less involved with helping
out in non-emergency situations.

Hi Steve. Your's was a thoughtful post. I would like to bring in some
observations of my own on the topic of Emergency communications and
public service.


We still do some help with events. We even had a group come back to us
after trying to go with cell phones. Turns out that at a few critical
times, the critical person was not in range of a tower. And the biggest
problem turned out to be getting a message to everyone at once. One call
on the repeater can do what ten cell phone calls could do, plus repeats
for those out of range.


Then there's the disaster aspect, the "when all else fails, ham radio
works" event. I was a part of the Katrina effort; I saw ham radio
working when the communications infrastructure had failed. But I saw
other things, too. I saw vanishingly little health-and-welfare traffic
on NTS. I see organizations like the Red Cross pumping lots of money
into satellite-based communications systems that can be quickly deployed
for the next Katrina-like event.

Whatever is come up with, it will probably be another infrastructure
laden system that will fail with the first major disaster. And if it
isn't, then it should be a welcome addition. My money is on heavy
infrastructure. (for what will be built, not how it will work)


How can we maximize the potential for ham radio to contribute to public
service in the future?

Maximizing might be a tall order. Not all Hams are interested in public
service. I think that PS will always be a subset, just like DX'ing or
Building equipment.

I am interested in Public service, but I have a number of concerns.

One thing that I think we need to realize is that hams are a pool of
people who can help, but we no longer have a monopoly on communications,
especially for non-disaster events. We need to pitch in and get the job
done, not fixate on providing communications. If the organizer needs
someone to direct traffic, and you refuse to do that because your job is
communications, the organizer is going to find someone with a cell phone
who is willing to direct traffic and also can handle communications.

That is a double edged sword though. I've read and listened to a lot of
EC Hams telling me just that. That if I'm needed to mop the floors or
unload trucks at HQ, then that's what I have to do.

While I'm always happy to do a little extra, I can say with certainty
that If I volunteer for comms, and then spend most of my time with these
other tasks, I doubt that I'll take off personal time in the future to
do that.

I guess the metric would be that I expect to be treated in as
professional manner as everyone else on the job.


It has been 18
months since Katrina demonstrated the need for such planning, and while
there is progress, it is slow.

All things considered, Amateur radio is probably a fair way down on the
list of things that need fixed.


I feel that ARRL has been unnecessarily antagonistic to the Red Cross.


If background checks are required, it is a fact that we will lose
people. I was involved with a youth organization that required
background checks. A lot of people simply won't get involved. Either
they have a philosophical reason, or have some kind of minor offense in
the past. Even though we assure them we aren't looking for people who
may have been throwing eggs at the principles house in high school-
we're looking for people who shouldn't be around children - most say
something like "I won't take that chance, and the possible
embarrassment and damage to my reputation is not worth it". And mistakes
do happen.



I hope we're able to maintain a public-service aspect to the amateur
radio hobby. Without it, little details like frequency allocations and
the ability to erect antennas will suffer.

If I were to make some suggestions for the Emergency Comm Hams, this
might be it:


1. We need to ease up. Emergency comm Hams have a lot of statements
that start out with "Amateur radio must....., or Amateur Radio has
to..... All referring to some sort of shortcoming of Amateur Radio.

2. What am I doing here? I've seen a lot of articles telling us we have
to be ready to do whatever we're assigned to do. While this may in fact
be true, the approach can be improved.

An example of a bad approach, very similar to what I have read in an
article, and in the general tone of a lot of ARS emergency
communications criticism:

"Hams have to get rid of the idea that they are just there to operate
radios. They may need to unload trucks, mop floors, or bring the EC
employees coffee".

Perhaps this is better:


"Operations during disasters can be chaotic at times, and we may find
ourselves helping in many different ways. Communications, errands, and
sometimes even helping to keep the EC in order may be part of our job."


I even read an article about switching over to new forms that are
consistent with other Emergency ops. Great idea, but they spent too much
time attacking the old forms, when all they had to say was that it would
improve consistency.


3. What do Amateurs have to tell the "pros"?


4. These people are volunteers. I've run organizations of volunteers,
and you can't run them like you can paid staff. I can order a paid
person to change their ways or else, and almost always they will. Give a
volunteer that same order, and they will probably find a better way to
spend their time.

- 73 de Mike KB3EIA -