[SMCARA] Texas Val's

[Eddie]

Yep, this is the real story. Book worthy material.

I have a ton of questions for these guys.

The dispatchers: What are their day jobs? If these are soccer moms and
cashiers at the Piggly Wiggly, they are 6 figures+ under valued. Amazing
job.

Ad-Hoc: Just how ad-hoc was this all put together? What little I can find,
its sounds pretty much ad-hoc, off the self, of the cuff operations. How
much practice do these folks have? Are they CERT? Do they drill?

Comms: They are using a cell tower/Wi-Fi dependent app for comms. The app
works. Period. The dispatchers/moderators have priority comm over any one
else keyed up. If they are just jaw-jacking, the dispatchers can key up
with pertinent info/dispatch, kicking every other keyer off the line.
  And to be sure, the evil people of the world (and I do mean an evil study
of the human psyche) do intervene with life saving operations.. The
dispatchers can ban them quickly and in short order...There are Bluetooth
speaker mics that work with this app...pricy, but I plan on obtaining one.
 EMT/Doctors/Para are coming over the air to provide real time advice.

File Sharing/Info dissemination: Apparently, they are using Google Maps to
mark call-ins for rescue, keep up with shelter/triage areas, flooded
area/streets and actual rescuers themselves. While the Zello app is open to
everyone, it sounds like the dispatchers are very protective of the Google
Map info; in that, they do not want this to be open due to folks
maliciously or mistakenly deleting info. It also sounds like they are using
Google Spreadsheets to share info, especially call-ins.

Boat prep: Sounds like having a few bottles of baby aspirin on board is
pretty standard. They have had encounters with heart attack victims and
sure enough, they had baby aspirin at the ready. Extra water, food/MREs are
carried and yes, they are armed. Some heavily. Water moccasins are being
dispatched regularly.

Amateur radio: Anyone following HAM radio on this thing? It sounds like, at
least for local and tactical comms, the app is working at or near 100%.

Remarkable study in EmComm and disaster coordination.

-Eddie
KB3HAM










On Sat, Sep 2, 2017 at 2:31 PM, Jason Rearick <jbr13 at md.metrocast.net>
wrote:

> Eddie, Thanks for the info, this is amazing!  This is the kind of stuff
> they need to put on the news!!!
>
> I really recommend everyone trying to listen to some of the stuff going on
> down in Texas.
> Check out:  Southeast Texas Navy (409)
>                    Texas Navy
>                    Cajun Navy
>
> Jason N3YUG
>
>
>
> -----Original Message----- From: Eddie
> Sent: Friday, September 1, 2017 6:30 PM
> To: smcara at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: [SMCARA] Texas Vol's
>
> Hey folks, I've been monitoring the volunteer comms using the Zello
> smartphone app.
>
> I recommend you tune in.
>
> A very well thought out app and, a remarkable comm plan, practices and
> operations considering the multitude of factors (volunteers, open channel,
> disaster etc..etc..)
>
> Be sure to check out the "Southeast Texas Navy" channel and pay attention
> the the main "dispatcher", Courtney.
>
> Yeah, you'll have one or two keying up playing shenanigans, and ebbs and
> flows of professionalism (some of the language is not PG)but for the
> greater part of the day, it's been ran very, very well.
>
> Well worth tuning in for lessons learned and taking notes.
>
> -Eddie
> KB3HAM
>
>
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