On Mar 14, 5:20 pm, Steve Bonine wrote:
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.

It is quite simple. I participate in emergency communications. In
the past, the ARRL had both AREC, the Amateur Radio Emergency Corps
and ARPSC, the Amateur Radio Public Service Corps. Interest in
participation in both wasn't necessary. I don't object if others
choose to participate in parades. I trust that they won't object if I
choose not to do so.

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.

That's a good point. Participation in a parade can be seen as a
training exercise. Parking cars, on the the other hand, isn't
training.

Training is key for
ARES groups. Actually getting into the field and using radios to do
real communications is the best kind of training.

You're quite right.

Short of an actual
disaster, public service events provide the best opportunity to do that.

Well, they provide one way to do so, but not the only way.

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?

I don't think anyone would like to see to many. We have had more than
enough actual events to keep us active.

What does the group do between
the "E"s? How do they build and maintain their expertise?

We're fairly unique in this area. The old state prison at Moundsville
is now used by national law enforcement for training. There are mock
prison riots a couple of times per year in which Marshall County ARES
is a participant. There was also a mock plague drill in which all
agencies participated throughout the area. Radio amateurs manned
positions at various EOC's, local hospitals and at the epicenter of
the event. The ARES group also participates in Field Day each year.
We've all received training in operating county radio equipment so
that we can serve as auxiliary ops in the event that there is a
shortage of professional ops.

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

Well, a number of them are used. A guy sitting in his car with a
mobile dual-bander or a fellow with an HT on a street corner for a
couple of hours doesn't use all of the skills involved in a severe
weather event which might last for days and require loads of spare
batteries and other backup equipment. Passing accurate messages via
digital modes may not come into play

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.

I think that is a very good idea. Having a pool of trained ops who
can leave for a major disaster site on short notice would be extremely
helpful. I'd think that not many of us would be in a position to drop
everything and rush to a different region, especially for what might
become a prolonged absence.

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.

You have a valid point though I don't think vocabulary should be a
problem. We're hams passing traffic via amateur radio. Whatever
official jargon the supported agency uses will be passed in its
message traffic. All radio amateur need do is relay that information
accurately.

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.

I seem to recall the word "financial", coupled with the words
"background check".
Am I mistaken?

A lot of people have
a problem even with that.

I think I'd have a problem with that. The FCC has issued me an
amateur radio license. The FCC knows who I am and where I live. I
have other forms of identification. That should be good enough for
the American Red Cross.
I'm not hiring on with that agency. I'd simply be volunteering my
time.

In today's environment of identity theft, I
can understand that.

Lots of folks can identify with such things. A group of older women
used to go to a local nursing home to read to the residents. The
state suddenly and arbitrarily mandated that they be fingerprinted and
have a background investigation done on them. Now there is a shortage
of readers.

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.

It certainly is an option. Whether the Red Cross thinks that everyone
will bow to the idea is an unknown. Who is hurt if the Red Cross has
a shortage of volunteer radio operators spending their own money?

The background check has been mandated by all the publicity
related to fraud during previous operations.

Were there any reports of radio amateurs being involved with fraud?

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.

That was my point. Each member of our county ARES group is issued an
ID card. None of us submitted to a background investigation by
anyone.

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.

As far as I'm concerned, I'm a radio amateur operating under the
auspices of the ARRL's AREC through my county organization. I'm
assigned to serve whichever agency I'm assigned to work under. I'm
never in a position where I'm working for that agency.

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.

The Red Cross is not the only factor though. One can work with local,
county or state police, with the Salvation Army with any number of
other non-governmental organizations. I used to belong to the
Northern Kentucky Amateur Radio Association. It did respond to the
Red Cross. My local ARES group here does not.

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.

We have the HF amateur bands through international treaty. We don't
risk losing them through lack of public service participation. The
percentage of radio amateurs who regularly participate in ARES or
public service operations have always been traditionally small.

As discussed elsewhere in this group, antennas are quite a different
matter.
The real threat to the erection of antennas is real estate covenants,
not lack of participation in public service work. I don't and won't
live in some subdivision with such restrictions. Others may find it a
near necessity to buy in such developments.

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?

I honestly don't know, Steve. I suppose that some of them who realize
that their cellular phones are actually tiny, low-powered radio
transceivers, linked somewhere to telephone lines in order to fuction,
might get it.

I've run into a number of folks who are fascinated that I can drive my
car down the highway while chatting with a friend in Finland--maybe
even using Morse code--and that I'm not paying so much money per
minute. Some find it very interesting that I've checked into the West
Virginia Phone Net and am simultaneous contact with radio amateurs all
over this state.

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.

They certainly might be interested. What interested you in becoming a
radio amateur? Were you a kid when it happened? I was interested at
12 and licensed at 14. My interest was in talking with people all
over the world without telephone wires--and aside from the modest cost
of my equipment, it was for free! Well, the cost of my equipment and
antennas is no longer modest, but a kid can still get on the air for a
couple or three hundred bucks and a few pieces of wire. Radio for its
own sake, that's what it was about for me.

How many voters care that we can sit in our shacks and chew the fat with
our peers, or chase wallpaper?

I'm a voter and I care. :-)

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.

We should sell them on that idea, but I didn't buy my land for them, I
bought it for me. If I can "tolerate" a pink plastic flamingo on my
neighbor's lawn in front of his parked RV beside his pink brick home,
he can "tolerate" my antenna. [all hypothetical, of course]

Ham radio is a unique hobby in the sense that it requires support from
governmental agencies in order to exist.

It is recognized by the Federal government and licensed by an agency
of the government. Did you know that the FCC never mentions the word
"hobby" in Part 97?

Public service has always been
an important aspect of justifying and obtaining that support.

It is part of the reason that we exist and are licensed by our
government.

A great number of radio amateurs in other parts of the world pay a
yearly license fee. In some countries, radio amateurs are forbidden
to participate in public service work. I don't know how it is in the
U.K. now (maybe Ivor can fill us in), but it used to be forbidden to
use a phone patch in the U.K.

We American radio amateurs have free licenses and a great deal of
freedom to participate in numerous ways in amateur radio. It behooves
us to become skilled ops, using as many different modes as possible.
Public service work plays a role, but it isn't the ne plus ultra of
amateur radio.

Dave K8MN


73, Steve KB9X