[NevadaARES] Excellent Article - Please Read

[Paul Cavnar]

This article come from this weeks' EMCOMMWEST Bulletin,
courtesy of Dave Thorne, K6SOJ, SV SEC.  Please read and
pass along to members in your area.  Mr. Faulkers's perspective
is right in line with everything I have experienced in my years of
service.  Once we (amateur radio operators in general) can
understand this wisdom, we will do much better in providing
services to our community.  I do appreciate your comments on
the article and will forward them on to the author.

73, Paul Cavnar - NN7B

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AMATEUR RADIO: Emergency Communications Liability or Asset?
  -- By Robin L. Faulkner, N7GSU - McMinnville, Oregon

  Over nearly forty years of involvement in emergency communications
in amateur radio, the military and public safety; I have been asked
many times for my input in matters pertaining to the emergency
communications capabilities of the Amateur Radio Service.  Having
served on both sides of the fence, I suppose one does sometimes
have the advantage of being able to see the forest, in spite of all those
trees.

  The truth is, those not directly involved in Amateur Radio, and in some
cases, those that are; do not fully understand how truly unique Amateur
Radio is. From the standpoint of it�s potential as an emergency
communications asset, unlike the communications systems normally
deployed by public safety agencies; Amateur Radio has the ability to
adapt and expand to meet the rapidly changing requirements of any
communications emergency.

  This is not the case with any other public safety radio system, no
matter how large, well designed or financed it might be.  This aspect
of the Amateur Radio Service alone is in no small way responsible
for our very existence, and one of the reasons why nearly every nation
on the planet has set aside very valuable radio spectrum to it.

  Our many available modes and bands allow us flexibility unmatched
by any other single communications service.  In an emergency, we
can simply select additional channels to handle the increased traffic
load.  Our spectrum space is nearly limitless, whereas even the
largest public safety agency system has a finite number of channels
available.  Our high frequency capabilities using NVIS and other
techniques, allows communications in any terrain, without the support
of fragile infrastructure, such as repeaters.

  Even with all our capabilities, there are some very real, and not so
real shortcomings of our service in the minds of some public officials.
There are many Emergency Managers, public safety agency chiefs
and elected public officials with Amateur Radio Licenses; even these
professionals are often of the opinion that our service is more a
liability than an asset, when it comes to it�s use in an actual
emergency. Unfortunately for all concerned, this opinion is often not
without foundation.  Although from a technical point of view, there is
little doubt our service has potential as an asset to public safety in
an emergency, the volunteer nature of our service, if not it�s very
name; is often the greatest obstacle to its� greater acceptance and
utilization by those agencies we seek to serve.

  To many, the very word amateur is associated with being less than
professional, or something less than expert.  When one is used to
dealing with human lives and property, you can see where a term
like �amateur paramedic�, or �amateur police officer� might give one
pause, where the term �professional paramedic� or �police
professional� might invoke completely different feelings.   Amateur,
as in �Amateur Radio� of course, reflects the unpaid, volunteer nature
of the service, i.e., �amateur athlete�. But this is an example of why
we are sometimes met with some reservation on the part of those
charged with the public safety, when it comes to being utilized in
their emergency operations plans.  This however, is only one
example, and one more easily dealt with.   There are,
unfortunately, other examples that are more difficult to overcome.

  There are �volunteer paramedics� and �volunteer fire fighters� and
we know that this reflects only the fact they are unpaid for their
services to the public.  This does not mean they are less trained
than their paid counterparts, or that they are exempt from meeting
certain standards of education and conduct.  Perhaps we should
move to have the term Amateur Radio Operator changed to
Volunteer Radio Operator?  I would probably not support that
idea, but I certainly do support becoming more like our volunteer
cousins, the fire fighters and paramedics.  These folks train and
work very hard, and subject themselves to certain demands of
conduct, training and experience.

  Certainly a person having just completed basic training as a fire
fighter, is not going to be expected by the public, his peers, or his
superiors to be as well suited to all aspects of the job, as one who
has undergone additional training above the basic level, or one with
more experience in the field.  Why is it then that many of the
Amateur Radio fraternity feel that having an operator�s license
makes them an automatic asset to public safety communications?
Unfortunately, this attitude is held by many amateurs, and is an
example of something in need of change.  A driving license gives
one the right to drive upon the public streets and highways, but does
not entitle the driver to drive a heavy truck for hire.  It is the minimal
requirement for additional training and experience.

  A Technician or even an Extra Class Amateur License does not
make anyone an emergency communications expert, or even an
asset to the public safety. Unless one is willing to undergo additional
training and experience, and to subject one�s self to accepted
standards of conduct and discipline, these serve only as minimal
requirements.  An Emergency Manager or Fire Chief is not going to
place anyone at risk; including his other personnel, and certainly not
the public; without making very sure you know what you are doing.
In matters pertaining to emergency communications, this means you
are expected to know more than how to hook up and use a radio
transmitter and antenna.

  You must also know something of how to conduct yourself
concerning sensitive communications, dealing with the press, your
limitations as well as your assets.  If you expect to be dumped into
the middle of a forest fire to provide emergency communications to
professional and volunteer fire crews, then you had best also know
the basics of fire fighting, and how it related to your own safety, that
of the public at large, and the other members of �the team�. In short,
you might be the best communicator in the world, but if you expect
to be placed in the thick of it, you might want to know which way the
wind is blowing!

 Until a Fire Chief or Emergency Manager is relatively confident you
will be more of an asset than a liability, he or she is not going to
utilize you in any meaningful way.  At best he risks a lawsuit, at worst
he might be responsible for having cost someone�s life.  Unless you
become part of the solution, you are part of the problem.  Be willing
to view the issue from his or her perspective, and you will soon
realize there is more to it than just showing up with a car full of
radios, and an orange vest.  If you are willing to show up for offered
training, and not just when there is a real emergency.   If you are
willing to listen as well as talk.  The Fire Chief or Emergency
Manager might just move you and your ARES group into his asset
column, and out of the one headed �liabilities�.
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