[FLARES] ARRL BOD Report on ARES

[Dave Armbrust]

First of all I would like to say "great discussion".  This is probably one
of the best discussions I have seen on FLARES since it's creation.  It is
also an excellent discussion on NTS and ARES as well.  I believe this is
exactly the point of the VRC report as well.  We do need to be talking about
NTS and ARES and taking an hard look at the current structures.

I would also like to point out that none of this is decided at this time.
While it has been proposed, by the VRC, to drop financial support of NTS
this will not actually get decided until the January board meeting at the
earliest.  The board could decide to revitalize NTS rather then throw it
out.

To get a handle on this report let's first look at the history of NTS.
Unlike in today's world NTS was designed and created during a time when
there was no internet, long distance calls were very expensive and
unreliable.  In fact many people just did not have telephones as they were
perceived as expensive, much like many perceive high speed internet access
today.  Most communications was done by the US postal service which was even
slower then it even is today!  This was probably before there was even "Air
Mail"!  There was no such thing as FedEx or fax machines.  NTS was able to
send a message from Florida to California in less then a day!  NTS was
impressive and high tech!  Amateur Radio, NTS operator and our radios
themselves were on the cutting edge of technology.  Using CW to get a
message from coast to coast was some pretty neat stuff.  NTS was not just
for emergencies.

As you probably noticed our world today is a bit different.  NTS is no
longer the lighting quick way to send a written message coast to coast.  It
has been replaced by the fax machine, telephone, internet and E-mail for day
to day communications.  NTS is more of a novelty then an high tech solution
to our communications needs today.  For the first time in 20 years the VRC
decided to take a fresh look at NTS, ARES and the ARRL field organization as
it exists and functions today.  They had found while the world has moved on
in those twenty year NTS and to a certain extent ARES has not moved on.
They did note there were some shinning exceptions as can be found in
Sarasota, Seminole and Polk counties which did please them very much.

NTS is no longer needed for high speed coast to coast communication.  Still
the VRC did recognize that it could and has played an important role in
Emergency Communications during the times when the FedEx truck is not
running, the telephone and the internet is down and cell phones are useless.
Andrew and other disasters are certainly examples of this.  They found the
primary justification today for NTS is ARES itself.  Unfortunately in many
areas of our country NTS exist as a somewhat separate organization from
ARES.  While NTS has always been willing to kick into high gear for an
emergency it does not adequately address ARES EComm needs.  One day is too
long for emergency communications, in many cases one hour is too long.  ARES
needs more of a 24/7 system as Keith, KF4BXT, points out.  The biggest
question facing the VRC was "Can NTS be modernized so that it better address
the needs of ARES and/or Emergency Communication as the need exists today?"
They decided the best way to answer this question is to ask the NTS
leadership itself.

They contact the high up NTS reps. and many others in the NTS system.  They
asked "Given a clean slate how would you design NTS to work today?"  The
answer they got back was "Much like exactly what we already have."  Well,
that was the wrong answer.   While the VRC did indeed find some amateurs
that were very forward thinking they did not find them in the NTS leadership
itself.  The VRC concluded that the NTS is not really embracing change and
is not really understanding today's ARES / Ecomm needs.  In many cases they
are not even working with ARES!  They decided since NTS is not willing to
adequately address these Ecomm needs then we need a new system that is.

So what happen next?  I guess that is mainly up to the NTS folks.  The way I
see it there are two choices.

1) NTS folks will see the VRC report as a wake-up call.  They will come back
with some proposals about how NTS can be modernized to handle the EComm
needs of today's modern ARES units.  The type of ARES units that exist in
Sarasota, Seminole, Polk and some other Florida Counties.

   - or -

2) NTS folks will talk about how unfair the VRC report is, how the ARRL VRC
does not understand NTS, how clueless the ARRL VRC/ARRL board/ARRL Section
Managers are, what a proud history NTS has had, etc. and not make a single
change to the National Traffic System in the end.

At the moment option 2 seems to be the most likely of the two but who knows.
We have until January to come up with some real answers.  Anyone want to
take a shot at this?

73,
Dave Armbrust, AE4MR
ARRL WCF Section Manager
3024 Salem Ave
Sarasota, FL 34232-5120
Tel: 941-685-2081
Internet: ae4mr@arrl.org
Web: http://www.wcfarrl.org

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