[FLARES] ARRL BOD Report on ARES

[Jim Goldsberry]

The ARRL Board of Directors has received its report from the Volunteer =
Resources Committee on our Field Services Organization.  Their is a very =
brief summary of the report on the ARRL website.  The following is a =
excerpt from the minutes of the BOD meeting:

25. Mr. Walstrom, as Chairman, continued with the report of the =
Volunteer Resources Committee. On motion of Mr. Walstrom, seconded by =
Mr. Fallon, the following resolution was proposed:=20

WHEREAS, there are situations when the Amateur Radio Emergency Service =
(ARES) must have the capability to pass traffic across the nation =
quickly and accurately, and=20

WHEREAS, future expectations of ARES for such a nationwide emergency =
message handling capability will likely increase, especially with the =
ARRL's recent new Citizens Corps partnership with the Department for =
Homeland Security, and=20

WHEREAS, such a capability is not currently available to ARES,=20

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of Directors of the American =
Radio Relay League immediately establish an ad hoc committee of members =
to develop a comprehensive program to enhance the current ARES emergency =
communications capability to include rapid and accurate handling of long =
range (inter-state, national, and international) emergency =
communications. The efforts of this committee will be coordinated with =
the ARRL Headquarters Field and Educational Services Department and =
overseen by the Volunteer Resources Committee. This committee will =
provide a preliminary plan to be presented to the Board at its Annual =
Meeting in January, 2004, and a final plan to implement these new =
capabilities of the ARES to be presented to the Board at the July 2004 =
meeting.=20

On motion of Mr. Stinson, seconded by Mr. Milnes, it was voted to AMEND =
the original motion by striking "WHEREAS, such a capability is not =
currently available to ARES." The question then being on the motion as =
amended, the resolution was unanimously ADOPTED.=20



This may sound positive for ARES but the report itself is very negetive =
concerning the National Traffic System (NTS).  This may not seem to have =
much of an impact on ARES at first glance, however, the NTS is really =
our lifeline out a disaster area for any type of long distance messages. =
=20

I feel we should communicate with our SE Division Director, Frank =
Butler, W4RH, who is a member of the VRC, and let him know that ARES and =
NTS are both an integral part of our emergency communications plan here =
is Florida.  The NTS is included in our state Emergency Operating =
Schedule which provides Net Controls from the various Florida NTS phone =
traffic net

I hope this will be a prime point of discussion at the Melbourne =
Hamfest.  If you would like to have a copy of the complete VRC report =
send an email to me and I will forward it to you.



73,

Jim KD4GR

SEC SFL







--- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts ---
multipart/alternative
  text/plain (text body -- kept)
  text/html
The reason this message is shown is because the post was in HTML
or had an attachment.  Attachments are not allowed.  To learn how
to post in Plain-Text go to: http://www.expita.com/nomime.html  ---