[FLARES] ARRL BOD Report on ARES

Wed, 13 Aug 2003 18:05:09 -0400

Well said Dave!!

Sherri W4STB
SFL SM

On Wed, 13 Aug 2003 15:35:17 -0400, "Dave Armbrust" <[email protected]>
said:
> 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 has been replaced by the fax machine, telephone, internet and E-mail for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: [email protected]
> Web: http://www.wcfarrl.org
> 
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