On Sat, 17 Mar 2007 14:37:57 CST, "Dee Flint"
wrote:

Another thing to keep in mind that as our infrastructure becomes stronger,
hams will only really be needed in the absolutely worst disasters.

There will always be a need because no matter how strong the
infrastructure is, situations will arise that exceed that capability.
Design of public safety communication systems is the specialty of my
engineering firm and I'm all too painfully aware of the real-world
limitations

Example: One of our med center nets is an inter-hospital net that
carries traffic on bed availability, staff availability, and medical
supply status and need to and from the Metro Regional Hospital
dispatch, the "czar" of inter-hospital operation, which directs
ambulances and supply resources to the available facilities. It is
currently staffed by personnel located in another neighboring med
center. The VHF simplex and repeater ham portion (ham stations
located in the Emergency Departments of all the local hospitals) backs
up a system which is a user group on the City of Portland's 800 MHz
trunked system. When things get tight, the trunked system will be
overloaded with police and fire operations, assuming that the system
survives at all. That's where the hams come in.
--

73 de K2ASP - Phil Kane

From a Clearing in the Silicon Forest
Beaverton (Washington County) Oregon

e-mail: k2asp [at] arrl [dot] net