[Ares-races] FW: [Emergency] Special event operations

[David French, N7FAN]

This e-mail message was received off of this reflector way back in October
of 2000. I found it really interesting and saved it.

I think that it's time to post it again.  It was orginally written by Ray
Vaughn, KD4BBM.  His contact information is at the bottom of the message.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Anderson"
To: "Aresco (E-mail) (E-mail)" ; "CoAres-d10 (E-mail 2)" ; "Ncarc (E-mail)"
Sent: Monday, October 23, 2000 9:10 AM
Subject: [ARES-RACES] FW: [Emergency] Special event operations


This is from another list But applies to Hams as well.


-----Original Message-----
From: Ray Vaughan [mailto:ray@rayvaughan.com]
Sent: Sunday, October 22, 2000 10:00 PM
To: TAPR APRS Special Interest Group; emergency@egroups.com;
SoFlaHams@egroups.com
Subject: [Emergency] Special event operations


Just a few thoughts about ham participation in events...

Take a step back and take a look at what you're REALLY doing in an event. To
do this, you'll have to be brutally honest. Are you really making a
difference? If you weren't there, would anyone really notice?

This may seem harsh, but it's for a reason. I see events with Amateur
participation going into some very different directions. Think of your major
events and see which one fits yours the best.

One is based in tradition: "We've done it this way for years and it works.
Why change it?" In this mode you'll hear the term 'shadow' a lot. "Shadow
this guy and pass his messages as traffic to the net so that this critical
information can be passed to another official who needs it" New
technologies, like APRS, aren't welcomed. No need for it. In some cases, the
people being shadowed now carry city owned or rented commercial radios and
are communicating themselves.

Does this sound familiar? You've stood on the same corner for many years. No
pre-event briefing is needed, everyone has been doing it the same way for
every year. Observe and report. Take no action, just report what you see to
net control. Maybe answer some questions, give directions. Stand in uniform,
hold your radio and look official. If you look carefully, you'll see other
people doing what you're doing. Paid police officers, fire fighters, and
others who are trained to do more than just observe. They have the training
to do something when someone passes out. You might feel a bit helpless when
something does go wrong near your post. Yes, your eyes are two more on the
route, but they're just that, eyes.

Here's where I think we SHOULD be going....

Another mode is that YOU are now the guy who used to be shadowed. You are
now the player, making decisions, taking input and acting on it. You are
using amateur radio, but it isn't your primary role. You aren't the
screwdriver, you're the engine. The feeling after the event is totally
different. It really wouldn't have been the same event without you.

We IMPROVE the event. We apply our technology to the goal of the event. We
aren't just told to show up, we've invited to the planning meetings of the
organization. Our input is welcomed to reshape the event. We actually save
the group some money by making them more efficient. This means more money
for the charity. You do this by thinking outside the box. What training can
YOU get to make yourself more useful at the event? Are you trained in first
aid? Why not? Are you active in CERT yet? You've shadowed the parade staging
guy for years... how about actually doing staging next year? We know
electronics, set up a traffic light to help the guy who paces the parade
units. If you see a better way of doing the event, suggest it. We're trained
technology experts... don't let that go to waste.

As we all know, we can't hand out ham radios to the players in the event and
let them use them. BUT, we can take one of their radios and talk to them on
it. We're trained communicators. Yes, ham radio is a tool in our tool box,
but we can also use our training to use other radios. Don't be shy to take a
trunking radio on the city's system. Make sure you know it so well you can
show others how to use it. All those beep and boobs mean something. If you
aren't already, the CP should be where the officials come to check out the
commercial radios and get the briefing on how they work. We know how to
charge and test the radios and keep records of who has what radio. And know
their language. You should be able to understand everything you hear on a
fire and police radio. Just being able to know that your information is
being dispatched correctly can make a difference.

All this comes in very handy in an emergency too. These are the people
you'll be working with after a disaster. I've heard the 'you can't beat
plain English in an emergency'. That's great if everyone else agrees to
speak in plain English. But the professionals won't be, so you have to learn
how to understand them. And they sure as hell won't understand our terms and
slang, and we have more than they do. QSL and 73 OM. Just getting to the
point is hard for many of us. If you've been transmitting more than 10
seconds during an event net, you're blocking something else that might be
more important. It's really hard to turn off the rag-chew mode. Listen to
the pros and you'll see they get their important messages through in seconds
with a minimum of repeats. I've heard the question "How many gallons of
water do you have?" get answered by at least two minutes of everything you
would want to know about water except how much was left.

Next event, tape the net frequency. A few weeks later, listen to it and look
for common themes. If you hear 'Where is the ICE truck?" 20 times then next
year, put an APRS tracker on it. If the organizers say that don't know how
many riders are on the sag wagon, come up with a way to use packet to send
the biker's numbers to net control. The driver could be equipped with a key
pad or a scanner to send a report automatically. A printer at the Command
Post gives the organizers what they need. In general, keep an open mind and
be willing to say that things should change. You have to be involved in the
event planning to get to this level. But when they see what you're offering,
you'll be invited back. If your area sufferers from politics, this sort of
change can be really painful. Sometimes the Amateur ego gets in the way of
the big picture.

When you listen to the tape, see how much of the traffic is event related
and how much is amateur radio related. If 70% of your net is about getting
the free lunch and tee shirts distributed to the hams on their post, then
something is wrong. Even asking where rovers are is a waste of time when you
have technologies like APRS available. I've watched the voice traffic drop
to next to nothing when APRS is involved. Might seem a bit boring on the
air, but the CP is constantly looking at the screen and it tells as much as
a few minutes of air time. If net control has to ask anyone where they are,
that's wasted time given today's technology. They're either on their
assigned station, or their position is on the screen at the CP.

Participating in events can be really rewarding. But from time to time, you
need to look at what can improve. As you see more and more of your ideas
being implemented, you'll know deep inside that you're making a huge
difference and you'll look forward to doing it all again next year.

Hopefully all this will get the thoughts flowing. Your input is welcome, but
if it's not on topic in the list, please use direct e-mail.

Thanks.


Ray J. Vaughan, MS, CBTE, CERT
KD4BBM PG-7-15266
http://www.rayvaughan.com/
ray@rayvaughan.com
ray@2-way.com



David French, N7FAN
Chandler, AZ