[MRIC] ICS 123 Comments from BaCo

[Pat Scolla]

HARCO agrees completely with the Baltimore County RO on the use of the 
ICS-213.

I think that many of us have become so used to using and seeing the ARRL 
Radiogram for so many years that it might be hard to "break with 
tradition" and move onto something else.  Please remember, no one is 
doing away with the ARRL Radiogram.  An additional tool is being added 
to our bag of communicators tools that allows those we serve to have a 
"more user-friendly" format for a message form.  We do not create the 
messages, we simply pass them along accurately and in a timely manner.  
Remember, the ARRL Radiogram was developed for use in CW traffic 
handling and adapted to phone traffic handling by amateur radio 
operators for amateur radio operators.  The ICS-213 was developed for 
use by those who create the messages, not by those who handle them.  
Please keep that in mind.

We all must remain flexible in order to best serve those we serve!

73,
Pat Scolla, WB0EGR
Harford County RO & EC



Joe wrote:
> BaCo is okay with the modified form as presented during the initial MRIC
> meeting.
>
> We have been using the ICS-213 standard form with minor modifications (as
> developed with Harford County in 2005) for a over 18 months. Over the last
> ten months we have used it during two county wide drills and three
> activations with no issues. We have clocked over 1500 man hours of proven
> use during exercises and activations. Our supported agencies (12) have found
> that keeping the outgoing reply on the same form as the incoming actually
> improves efficiency, makes it easier for the responder to compose a reply
> and for archiving.
>
> We tried a radiogram/ICS-213 hybrid and found that word count, fixed spaces
> and separate forms for message and reply leads to confusion. We don't send
> messages word by word we send them phrase by phrase. During one of our
> county wide exercises supported agencies passed over 20 formal and 15
> tactical messages using the modified ICS-213 format within a span of
> forty-five minutes. Compare that to how long it takes and how few messages
> are passed on a traffic net during any given session of the same duration. 
>
> Our personnel have used the form, it is used outside of RACES and it has
> been used under fire by federal agencies since 2000. A hybrid ARRL/ICS-213
> format is not workable for BaCo. 
>
>
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