[ARRL-OK] FCC changes declaration process

[Lloyd Colston]

http://tinyurl.com/62o44

Important changes here:

1)  Requests must come from Emergency Manager or someone who has
designated by the Emergency Manager

2)  No longer will you see a declaration for any High Frequency
radio channels (except 60 meters).  Requests will be for VHF or
UHF channels only and those five frequencies in the 60 meter
band.

3)  The request must come AFTER a communications disaster has
occured.

What does this mean?

1)  Emergency Management Radio Officers will need to know how to
file and to whom to file the requests.  Before, the requests
have generally been handled by the American Radio Relay League
official in the Section impacted by the event.  Now there
appears to be a specific format.

2)  Amateur Radio operators need to beef up their 60 meter
capabilities.  While the fine print says we can use other
frequencies "under the provisions of Section 97.101(c)", I would
find it illogical to grant a 3.900 mHz request when there are
five channels in the 60 meter band capable of being used.

3)  Gone are the days when the declaration was issued before the
hurricane struck.  Now you know why the declaration for FL for
Hurricanes Bonnie and Charlie were not done before hand.

This may mean you will see fewer HF nets established, you may
see a greater use of the 60 meter band for Emergency
Communications, and an even more meaningful use of amateur radio
operators by emergency managers.

This may mean you will see fewer declarations, period.  Since
the EM should have a good working relationship with the ham
radio operators in his community, it could be that the local
hams would just voluntarily help with the disaster and, as
gentlemen will, keep the repeater free for disaster
communication.  There's no need to declare if the job's getting
done.

I think Ed Harris has it right along the right coast.  The 60
meter ECOM net (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/60Meters_EmCom/)
meets twice per month for drills.  They are 30 minutes long. 
He's getting folks on board, even before this change happened.

You may see other sections follow suit.  If they don't, IMO, the
role of civilian ECOM may, by default, fall to Military
Affiliate Radio System operators with their modified radios and
channelized HF operations.



Lloyd Colston    Mayes County Emergency Management
Pryor, OK  USA    http://www.geocities.com/mccem
   
We don't have to do it all
when all do something

Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail communication and any
attachments may contain confidential and privileged information
for the use of the designated recipients named above. If you are
not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you
have received this communication in error and that any review,
disclosure, dissemination, distribution or copying of it or its
contents is prohibited. If you have received this communication
in error, please notify me immediately by replying to this
message and deleting it from your computer.