Reading the recent thread on antenna restrictions has me musing about
public-service aspects of ham radio. This has always been an important
aspect of the hobby for me; somehow I never got hooked on things like
chasing DX, collecting wallpaper, or winning contests.

Bill makes good points about how ham radio's contribution to military
readiness and science education has changed over the past decade or so.
I'm beginning to wonder if, in another decade or so, ham radio will be
in the same public-service category as stamp collecting. (Nothing
against stamp collecting, but as far as I know the hobby isn't known for
its public-service aspects.)

When I examine the potential for public service from the hobby, I
separate them into the two areas of disaster and non-disaster.

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.

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.

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

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.

Hams need to work more effectively with non-hams. For example, if
FRS/GRS radios make sense, they should be a part of the plan. Local
events can provide good recruiting opportunities to get people
interested in the hobby.

ARRL needs to step up to the plate and actually _do something_ about a
national plan for ham radio in a large-scale disaster. It has been 18
months since Katrina demonstrated the need for such planning, and while
there is progress, it is slow. ARES organization is great in some areas
and nonexistent in others, so the training level of people who show up
on the scene varies from excellent to zero.

I feel that ARRL has been unnecessarily antagonistic to the Red Cross.
The first news release that came out regarding background checks was
downright derogatory, although each one since has been progressively
less confrontational. While I applaud ARRL's attempts to protect the
interests of their members, some of the language has been unnecessarily
harsh. In a large national disaster, Red Cross is running the show in
most of the areas where hams can contribute, and it's to everyones'
benefit to improve the relationship between the two organizations. It
strikes me as ironic that the hobby is essentially communications, yet
we continue to demonstrate that communications is not our strong point
when it comes to inter-organization politics.

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.

73, Steve KB9X