[OkHam] Re: [pio] Ham Radios? What kind?

[Lloyd Colston]

On Wed, 05 Nov 2003 17:14:26 -0000 "mikemccormackusa1"
<mmccormack@ci.new-bedford.ma.us> writes:

> New Bedford recently received funding to purchase a mobile command 
> and communications vehicle. We're pretty up-to-date on the comm 
> equipment we use every day but would like to ensure complete 
> capability. Can anyone suggest a make and model of a amateur radio 
> transceiver for inclusion in our equipment?

First, congratulations on the grant!  That is a tremendous opportunity as
well as a pretty broad challenge, Mike.  It's like asking "what kind of
computer do I need?" and the answer depends of "what do you want to do
with it?".

Some of the answers depends on the resources there.  You are in MA.  I'd
contact one of the radio clubs in your area to ask them for their advise.
 They can tell you the lay of the RF land in MA, as well as surrounding
States.

http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/club/clubsearch.phtml?state=MA&selstate=
Show+clubs+in+selected+state is your list for MA.  While you are
approaching them, ask them if they'd like to volunteer to man the radios
on deployment.  It would be a good way to pick up some good volunteers,
many of whom already have ECOM training.

I'd recommend two radios.  One would be the Kenwood TMD-700A with APRS. 
The other would be an  ICOM IC706MK2 HF radio  The Kenwood, in addition
to APRS, can also crossband repeat from two meters to 440 and back.  The
Icom is your HF radio that also has two meters, 440, and six meter
capabilities all rolled into one.

Don't forget High Frequency radio.  Locally, I am blessed with a wide
area UHF network.  On it, I can talk to hams in the eastern third of the
State.  If that link is broken, however, I'm relying on HF, because the
State has an HF radio network, then there's the Military Affiliate Radio
System (http://www.navymars.org with links to the other two services),
and then there's the amateur radio networks dedicated to disaster
service.  If you are not familiar with the robust nature of HF radio,
here's a guide to help.  Some say it's old technology; I say it may be
the only thing working in the hours and days after a disaster starts.

Since you may want to be on the SHARES (http://www.ncs.gov) network with
FEMA,  the radio must be NTIA compliant
(https://ntc.cap.af.mil/comm/equipment/hf_summary.cfm).  There's your
list of radios that are.

I'm including a number of emergency management and amateur radio groups
in the reply since this is somewhat off topic for the PIO list.  If you
can help Michael, please reply to him directly since he is probably not
on the list you are getting this on.

Lloyd Colston             Mayes County Emergency Management
Pryor, OK USA           http://www.geocities.com/mccem
        Homeland Security begins at HOME.

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