[K3PZN-List] ARES and RACES members, please read about the NY Drill results

[Douglas Kearney]

Greetings Fellow Club Members,

	PLEASE READ!!!!

	This is a post from the ARRLMENTORS group that I am a member. The
groups purpose is a reflector for ECOM mentors of the ARRL ECOM courses. I
think that this email will be of interest to the group over all. I will also
try to get an electronic copy of the article that is mentioned in the email
below. 

Regards,
Douglas Kearney N5LBJ

FROM w2ilp at juno.com

        The following comes from parts of an article in today's "Newsday", a
Long Island, NY daily newspaper - ....The National Commission of Terrorist
Attacks Upon the United States will hear from former and present police and
fire commanders today and tomorrow....
...The city held a terrorism drill Sunday in what several sources said was a
concerted effort to impress the 9/11 commission, only to have a police
officer hurl a firefighter to the ground during a dispute over who was in
charge....
....Radio communication on 9/11 is also expected  to be a major topic....
....The Fire Department has conceded that the current model of its new
hand-held radios are being discontinued by the manufacturer, Motorola. 
The XTS3500 radios purchased in 1999 were put in service in March 2001 and
withdrawn within a week because of potential fatal transmission problems.
        The Fire Department was using its old Sabre model Motorola radios on
9/11, but it has since returned the XT3500.
        "We're absolutely going to have new radios soon". Philip McArdle,
the health and safety coordinator of the Uniformed Firefighters Association
said yesterday.
        Another union representative offered a similar view. "If we have
another major crisis, whether terror or other, we would face a lot of the
same problems as we faced on 9/11," said Robert Unger, spokesman for the
union representing ambulance workers, who are a part of the Fire Department.
<end of quotes from Newsday>

        I hate to comment at this time myself...but I want all volunteer
radio amateur emergency folks to understand that emergency operation in the
Big Apple is controlled by union organized paid professionals who neither
want or need any help from amateurs.  It is their responsibility.

        I urge all to follow the TV and newspaper reports pertaining to this
commission.  Also expected is an alleged accusation that people in the south
WTC tower were told (via a PA system) to stay at their desks after the first
tower was hit, even though the FAA and FBI knew that
there was more than one airliner skyjacked.  Poor communication?   If
true....Yes...but nothing that hams could have done about it even with long
range radios.

        Enuf sed about big city emergencies...There are no "organized"
professional unions for paid professionals in less populated areas.  It is
only beyond the big cities that Ham emergency training is of great value.
Volunteers with their own organizations and their own radios may accomplish
more there.

Respectful 73,
Bob Wexelbaum,  W2ILP