[FLARES] ARRL BOD Report on ARES

Wed, 13 Aug 2003 12:22:07 -0400

hey Ron... come over to Polk County, they are giving us their OLD EOC =
building to do EMCOMM
at, this includes usable centacom DIRECTOR and Centracom II's to use as =
well as some repeaters that we
can retro-fit to the HAM BANDS and use them for area communications. We =
also have the opportunity to
acquire 30+ UHF midland HT and have them reprogrammed to work as Damage =
Assessment Team
Communicator Radios with at least one County Frequency and several HAM =
repeaters as well.
Overall I have to say that Polk County has made a right hand turn =
towards the HAMS in Polk
and has said, see all this stuff you can use?? Come help us and we can =
help you....
It has been years since anyone over here has ever said that to the HAM =
community, and right now
there are 25 or so volunteers that are taking the counties offer =
seriously. I mean, since when has=20
the ham community here ever been given the chance to build out their OWN =
EOC???? Humm
I can not recall this ever at all since I lived in Polk, but I will tell =
you one thing, I am thankful that Polk
county has stepped up to the plate now!!! we get a renovated EOC build =
with kitchen, bath, and equipment room,
consoles, pc's, internet access, phone service, and a 200 foot tower to =
load up, and emwin station, repeaters to use
loads of surplus two way radios, h.t.'s, did I say our own 200 foot =
tower to put stuff on like packet node, vhf, uhf, hf,
county communications equipment.... and all we have to do is sign up to =
be a Polk County Volunteer and do a few
hours work / help down at the communications shop.... =
DANG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You wana come help us Ron??? <laugh out loud>

I also want to add that the Director of Communications and a dozen or so =
COUNTY employee's are signed up to take a=20
NO CODE TECH class that Mr. Joe Pirkle (AD4IH) will be conducting along =
with a team of other volunteers, humm
even the DIR is going to become a HAM to help us out!!! I know PASCO has =
the EOC<?> director as a HAM, and
there are other counties as well, I feel that it is great that Polk =
County is taking on the same path too....

peace for now....

Evans F. Mitchell
KD4EFM / AFA2TH
Polk County EC
Polk ARES Group
Polk County Florida

----- Original Message -----=20
From: "Ron Wetjen" <[email protected]>
To: "'Florida ARES'" <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2003 10:07
Subject: Re: [FLARES] ARRL BOD Report on ARES

> Paul Womble wrote:
>=20
> > It is becoming too easy, and relatively affordable, for served =
agencies
> > to get satellite access to high speed data and voice communications.
> > Service can be had for not much more than an average cell phone =
bill.
> >=20
> > Yes...it takes a few days to deploy that type of infrastructure.  =
Those
> > first few days are really where amateur radio needs to focus.  =20
>=20
> And in my opinion, deploying this type of infrastructure is what=20
> Amateurs should be assisting with and what will keep Amateurs involved =

> in the future (I don't think that's the direction Paul was going).  I=20
> believe our knowledge and technical skills are our most valuable asset =
-=20
> and not our communications "tools" (in the past, yes ... not today).=20
> Our knowledge and skills are largely going to waste when it comes time =

> to assist in a disaster.
>=20
> As Dale wrote in his definition of luddite, "any opponent of=20
> technological progress".  Too many Amateur groups are dead against=20
> stepping outside of the box to perform more "non traditional" Amateur=20
> activities.  Why?  I don't know.  Amateurs should be jumping at the=20
> chance to learn how to deploy these communications systems and be =
ready=20
> to deploy them when needed.  This is the kind of help your county =
wants=20
> and needs.
>=20
> The state has been conducting a "Weapons of Mass Destruction" drill in =

> each of the Florida Counties.  I haven't read one report on this=20
> reflector, other than mine (see=20
> http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/flares/2002-December/000102.html) of=20
> any Amateur participation in these WMD drills.  As I wrote in that=20
> report "As I helped Victor demobilize EDICS on Thursday, he mentioned =
he=20
> wished more Amateur groups would get involved like we do!"  Have any=20
> other Amateurs been involved in their county's WMD Drill?  I've seen=20
> news reports of the drill being held in surrounding counties, but then =

> no details of any Amateur participation.  Why not?
>=20
> Is anyone doing anything else, besides waiting for a storm to arrive=20
> before getting active?  And once it does, then what do you do?  Go to =
a=20
> shelter ... or deploy a backup 800 MHz system to keep Police and Fire=20
> communications working?  Which do you think your county would =
appreciate=20
> more?
>=20
> 73, Ron  WD4AHZ
>=20
> _______________________________________________
> FLARES mailing list
> [email protected]
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/flares
>=20

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