Leo wrote in message . ..
On Wed, 03 Mar 2004 16:16:28 -0700, JJ
wrote:

Len Over 21 wrote:



The answer is painfully obvious...except for mobile installations
and shacks in the deep woods, there is very little emergency
preparedness by radio amateurs...in everything from equipment
to individual training.

Lennyboy you are so far off base it isn't even funny.

How so, JJ? I'd say that Len was quite correct on this one.

Nope. Not even close. Please read my post as validation as to
why.

Lennie makes yet again more assinine assertions that are
disproven by evidence from thir party sources.

With few exceptions, all of the hams that I know are ragchewers,
contesters or experimenters. There are only a couple who actively
participate in the local ARES group, and they are the only ones with
the rudimentary training to handle an emergency situation without
hindering or interfering with it.

In fact, this appears to be the norm in the hobby, from my perspective
anyway - only a small percentage are actively involved in this area -
the rest, like me, are just in it for the hobby. Why not?

Why not, indeed, and that's fine. Most emergency preparedness
plans DON'T need legions of persons to carry out the plan...Just a few
dedicated persons willing to apply themselves to the task at hand.
Most IC's DON'T want any more people there than what's necessary since
they become a burden on already limited resources.

Again, it has been PROVEN that ARES, REACT, RACES, etc, have
filled these niches well.

Of course, in an emergency situation, any of us would be willing to
pitch in and do whatever we could to help - but the vast majority of
us lack the organization, equipment and training that the professional
services have. For example, if an earthquake hit your area right now,
what would you do? Who would you contact, and on what frequency? Who
are the alternates, if he / she is not reachable? Who coordinates what
with the various professional agencies? Do you have a preassigned role
and duties that you have been trained and have rehearsed for? How
about radio equipment - do you have sufficient spare batteries to keep
operating during a prolonged power outage (and are they charged and
fully tested?), or a generator to keep a base station on the air? Do
you have back-up radio equipment in the event that yours fails? If
not, how much could you be counted on to be there if needed throughout
the entire emergency?

The "training" needed to effectively carry out most emergency
plans (for Amateur Radio's role, that is...) does not require military
precision nor 24/7 commitment. There's more than enough time to
ragchew, DX, "tinker", etc, in between events.

73

Steve, K4YZ

Alun wrote in message . ..
(William) wrote in
om:

Alun wrote in message
. ..


And your point is...?

I'm not really sure what you're getting at, but my point was that it
is reasonable to assume that everyone has a TV and a phone, for
example, but we're not yet at that point with cellphones. Close, but
not there yet. Of course, I would say that, as I don't have one.

The level of use of ham radio is not particularly relevant to the
discussion, except in that there are clearly enough of us to help out
in an emergency.

OK, Alun, lets look at it another way.

We agree that cellular phones can be useful in an emergency.

We agree that not everyone has a cellular phone, maybe only 1/3 of the
US population.

We know that there are very, very, very few amateur radio operators
per capita in the US population.

We can conclude that most people have better access to cellular phones
in an emergency than they have access to amateur radio.


Possibly true, so long as the cell towers are still standing.

Question: Are there more cell towers in America than there are
Amateur Radio Licensees?

Alun wrote in message . ..

In one way he does have a point. What I am alluding to is that prcisely
because it is a hobby we all have thousands of bucks worth of radios lying
around, and we can use them without wires and cell phone towers.

The "point" Lennie it trying to make us believe, Alun, is that
Amateur Radio is ONLY a hobby, with no intrinsic value to anyone
for any reason OTHER than recreation...That's not true.

His ulterior motive is to discredit Amateur Radio's countless
contributions, not only to the "history" of radio, but to the
"service" of the Nation as a resource to be called upon in any number
of disasters or emergencies.

He's unable to do that, either, but he obviously believes that if
he keeps repeating it often enough perhaps he and he alone can
re-write 90 years of history.

73

Steve, K4YZ

Alun wrote in message . ..
(William) wrote in
om:

Question: Are there more cell towers in America than there are
Amateur Radio Licensees?


Don't know, but if we fall over in an eartquake we just get back up...

Hah, funny one. I've seen amateur towers fall over. It can be months
or years if they're ever replaced at all.