Tom Horne wrote:


I have to strongly agree with my brother here. (Yes its come to this.
Its come to this. And wasn't it a long way down.)

And the camera pans the stand in stunt man...... ;^)

some snippage

was then they'd very get out of brief verbal reports. I hear some
fellow Amateurs moaning that "they just want appliance operators." Cash
your reality check guys that's what they've always wanted from us. It's
only the sophistication of the appliances and the expectations for what
is possible using them that are changing.


Yeah, mostly. The issue that I see is this.

The Emcomm managers go to the school of "Just tell me what to do". Not
really a bad idea. No manager should have to know the technical details
of say an ATV repeater, although a little knowledge might be good, as in
when the conditions prevent proper operation.

What I see as a possible problem is that as the hobbyist Hams are phased
out, these technical innovations might not filter down to practice as
easily. They might not be operated by people who know what to do when
the wheels fall off. It's all transparent as long as we push the button
on that appliance and it works. But when it doesn't??

I should probably take this moment to not that I am NOT "anti Emcomm".
In fact, as my retirement comes around, I intend to volunteer as a way
to pay back to the community. I'm hoping that there will be a place for
the hobbyist and technically savvy Ham to do that.

but I do have some concerns.

- 73 de Mike N3LI -

On Wed, 5 Mar 2008 11:27:28 EST, Michael Coslo wrote:

I'm hoping that there will be a place for
the hobbyist and technically savvy Ham to do that.

C'mon to our hospital. We have several such ham volunteers (including
me) and at least two staff people that fit that very description. For
the non-technical folks, we have an operations chart which says that
if Channel A fails, go to Channel B and here's how you do it. It's up
to us techies to make sure that those channels are available where
they are needed. I look up to their medical and hospital procedural
knowledge as much as they look up to our radio knowledge. I learned
an awful lot during the several shifts that I pulled during the
December storms.
--

73 de K2ASP - Phil Kane

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

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