[Ares-races] Digital emergency communications

[JOE]

I wholeheartedly agree with Doug.  Many times, I have seen Amateur Radio 
overstated as to what we are capable of doing.  Sometimes equipment, 
sometimes manpower, sometimes propagation conditions limit our 
abilities.  I am always very clear to the served agency that "We will do 
the best we can with what we have available".  This has a lot of meanings.

I am all for using the Internet for PART of our communications 
abilities.  We must not lead the served agency to believe that we can 
always interface using email.  Our primary mode of communications is voice, 
this is what we are all capable of and do the best.  We might be able to 
supplement this with email, but not always.

We really need to be very careful as to what we commit to, or what the 
served agency THINKS that we have committed to.  Our only positive 
commitment should be voice communications.

73, Joe, k1ike

At 05:17 PM 8/15/2004 -0500, you wrote:
>Hello,
>
>         Amateur radio is what it is and only can do what it can do.  The
>trick is not to over sell the capabilities of amateur radio and amateur
>radio operators with out understating what they can do. I'm not totally
>against the inter connection of amateur radio and the internet.  For as long
>as I have been aware of amateur radio and it's ability to serve in the event
>of an emergency one of it's strong points was it's independence from other
>means of communications.