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Steve Bonine · March 14th 07, 05:20 PM posted to rec.radio.amateur.moderated

wrote:
On Mar 12, 8:30 pm, Steve Bonine wrote:

I don't know when you came into amateur radio, Steve, but when I
entered it, there was very little in the way of radio amateurs
providing communications for a parade. I've never thought it a valid
use for ham radio. Our local ARES group has participated in things
like Independence Day parades and Christmas parades. The ARES group
in the county to the north of us provides communications for a number
of running marathons. I do not participate in these activities.

As you say, different strokes for different folks.

There are good reasons for participating in these kinds of events. For
an ARES group, these kinds of events provide an opportunity to actually
do something besides checking into a weekly net. Training is key for
ARES groups. Actually getting into the field and using radios to do
real communications is the best kind of training. Short of an actual
disaster, public service events provide the best opportunity to do that.

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.

I think that is probably a good thing. I'm part of ARES because of
what the letter "E" stands for.

Problem is, how many "E"s do you have? What does the group do between
the "E"s? How do they build and maintain their expertise?

Many of the same kinds of tactical-communications and organizational
skills that are valuable in an emergency situation are used in public
service events.

ARRL needs to step up to the plate and actually _do something_ about a
national plan for ham radio in a large-scale disaster.

I'm not sure just how detailed a national plan for amateur radio
disasters can be.
What works for a group on flat terrain or in an urban or suburban area
may not work well at all in a swamp or in mountainous terrain with
poor roads.

The main thing is to get people deployed. For Katrina, the Red Cross
went to ARRL a couple of days into the event and asked for help. ARRL
had to start from scratch in terms of finding people who were able and
willing to help. They put a notice on the web site asking interested
volunteers to send mail to and went from there. It was
a great effort, and it worked, but it would have been so much more
effective if there had existed some sort of national database containing
information on hams who were able to help. This was the recommendation
of the committee put together after Katrina, and I expect that such a
facility will eventually be built, but it sure would be nice if it were
put in place before this year's hurricane season.

As for a national plan, I think that the training provided by ARRL in
emergency communications is valuable. Sure, different techniques will
need to be used depending on the type of disaster, the terrain, and so
on. But there are certain basic things that will always be true, and
teaching people the basics is extremely valuable when you have to build
a team quickly using people from many different geographic areas. Just
teaching vocabulary so that everyone is speaking the same language is a
huge asset.

If the American Red Cross wants to do a background check on me, based
upon whatever information it can readily find, that'd suit me. If it
expects me to submit financial information, that isn't happening.

Basically the information that the Red Cross is asking you to provide is
your Social Security Number so that they can be sure that the
information they're obtaining is really about you. A lot of people have
a problem even with that. In today's environment of identity theft, I
can understand that.

If it finds itself short of volunteers, it'll likely wake up.

"Waking up", in the sense of not requiring the background check, isn't
an option. The background check has been mandated by all the publicity
related to fraud during previous operations. Red Cross volunteers will
have to submit to the background check. Some will refuse. Volunteers
will be lost. It's a fact of life in today's society.

There's another issue, though. When is an ARES member considered a Red
Cross volunteer? This has been a sticky issue, and no doubt will
continue to be one. ARRL still has not updated the information on their
web site to reflect recent changes in this policy.

Our local
ARES group is supported by Marshall County, West Virginia. The county
provides us with a place to meet, space for an operations center. It
provides us with money for equipment upgrades and maintenance and even
provides tower space for an ARES repeater. We work closely with the
Marshall County Office of Emergency Services. The Red Cross isn't a
factor.

On the local level, I understand. But if there is a large national
disaster, Red Cross will be a factor. In fact, they're likely to be
calling the shots in many of the areas in which amateur radio is involved.

I suspect that a reduced public service role won't play a large part
in our ability to erect antennas.

I think that the fact that amateur radio serves a public interest is key
to the survival of the hobby, not just in the sense of erecting
antennas, but in terms of maintaining our frequency allocations and
recruiting new hams. How many teenagers, clutching their cell phone in
one hand, are going to be wooed into ham radio by the allure of talking
to someone in the next state or even a country on the other side of the
world? But show them a news story about how ham radio is key to
providing communications in an emergency, and a few of them might be
interested.

How many voters care that we can sit in our shacks and chew the fat with
our peers, or chase wallpaper? But sell them on the fact that ham radio
provides a valuable service if there's a flood or tornado or blizzard,
and they might be willing to tolerate an antenna.

Ham radio is a unique hobby in the sense that it requires support from
governmental agencies in order to exist. Public service has always been
an important aspect of justifying and obtaining that support.

73, Steve KB9X