[Elecraft] Reaching Across the Chronological Divide

[Joseph Street]

I believe this is a very important point.  The modern civilization, at least in the developed world has become so dependent on the infrastructure.  I'm pretty sure the younger generation has no appreciation for the extent of that and also how far reaching the impact of a breakdown of that infrastructure can be. Many of the not so young as well, I'm pretty sure. Back in '98 right after Christmas when a massive ice storm hit the north eastern US and Canada, my folks were without power for 14 days in January.  Many unforseen dominoes fell.  Large dairy farms had massive piles of dead cows they couldn't milk without electricity.  Didn't see that one coming.  They couldn't pump gas until the hand pumps came out and then they couldn't keep a ledger till the notebooks came out.  Grocery stores lost a lot of food and kitchens too.  No restaurants to turn to.   All of this was denial until days went by and people began to realize they had to do certain things old school until the power came back.  Hospitals have emergency generators but there were many small and not so small ways we fell on our faces.  The cell phones had some power but the towers ran out of backup power in short order and didn't get re-fueled too quickly given the breakdown of everything else. No internet. The field day setups came out and traffic was passed.  Of course there are many stories where amateur radio helped out but unless folks have some direct experience with this type of thing it is too easy to live in blissful ignorance of just how big the problem can be when critical infrastructure fails.  I don't like to dwell in doom and gloom but I do think that more can be done to impress the importance of alternative technology for communication on the general public and to help people realize how much their lives can change and to what degree when the infrastructure fails.  This can be an important point for keeping public perception of amateur radio as something current and important rather than just an antiquated relic of yesterday's generation.


Joe ve3vxo


________________________________
From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net <elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net> on behalf of Jim Campbell <jim at w4bqp.net>
Sent: December 23, 2019 7:45 PM
To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Reaching Across the Chronological Divide

One point that I don't believe has been addressed is Emergency
Communications. As a former ARES Emergency Coordinator, it seems to me
that if Emergency Communications could be presented to young people in
the right way it might interest some of them. It fills a need in the
community. When other communications break down, hams can usually find a
way to bridge the gap and provide the necessary communications. I can
remember some exercises in Spartanburg County, SC where most of the
people in the EOC were gathered around the ham radio position listening
to live, relevant communications that their positions weren't getting.
We were providing real-time communications because communications was
our only job. Many others had their primary job and communications was
something that they did when they had a spare minute.

Jim Campbell - W4BQP
K2/100 #2268
Former Spartanburg County, SC ARES EC
Former Spartanburg County, SC RACES Radio Officer