Ham Radio Help Desk » EmComm

ARRL Emergency Communications Handbook – First Look

kx4o — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 12:57:43 +0000

My latest ARRL renewal came with the usual free gift. This time I selected the “Emergency Communication Handbook.” I made a promise to the fifteen or so EmComm organizations that made an appearance during the Haiti tragedy to look at EmComm again with an open eye resulting in the ordering of this book.

Fair enough.

I was glad to order this book to see how EmComm might be done from a well organized perspective. I sat down one evening and opened it up. Here is the first sentence…

“What does has my attitude have to do with emergency communications?”

There is nothing tragic about grammatical errors; I make quite a few myself. However, I would expect a published book to not have such a glaring error in the first sentence of the first paragraph of the first chapter! This is not a great way to initiate a knowledge transfer of EmComm techniques.

We need to keep one thing in mind; It is the liberal elite who are in charge at the moment and they do know their grammar… well most do anyway. They are the customer of what we are selling.

Thankfully, the content of the chapter contains some good common sense EmComm discussion, but the review of that is for another post.

EmComm, Phone Patch, Haiti – Right On!

kx4o — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 04:42:11 +0000

Regular readers of Ham Help Desk know my general lack of confidence in the volunteer emergency communications efforts.

Thankfully amateurs are documenting good examples of helpful communications on YouTube.

This one will make you proud…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqaKzIkyBug

Thank you operators. We really needed to hear this positive example.

Haiti Amateur Radio Assistance

kx4o — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 18:57:33 +0000

Prayers go out to the folks in Haiti who are living in the aftermath of that earthquake.

Amateur Radio Operators seem to be geared up to provide some form of assistance.

The Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN) organization is managing nets…

“Full Alert Level DELTA III for Haiti Earthquake Emergency. All nets active. 14.265 MHz Primary Daytime. 7265 and 3977.7 kHz evening and night.”

We can only hope and pray these good intentions result in useful deeds accomplished.

We should all listen in on the net frequencies above to see for ourselves how amateur radio may help the situation. I will be tuning in.

Meanwhile, I will also be sending some cash to relief organizations who are clearly going to need some resources quick.

Ham Saves Self with HT While Hunting

kx4o — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 03:09:22 +0000

Early one November morning an amateur radio operator was patiently waiting for morning to break in his tree stand in Rappahannock County, Virginia to get in another chance at a deer. Then tragedy. The tree stand broke sending him down to the ground and, we are not sure how, onto a board with nails leaving him near motionless with six nails in his back.

About 6am a call for help came in on the Warrenton, VA repeater… quite likely out of range from Rappahannock County using an HT. However, the victim managed to hail help from listeners on the repeater including folks named Randy, Frank and Tom. Authorities were called by the Warrenton operators who then talked with the hunter to encourage him while he drifted in and out of lucidity. Before sunrise, help arrived to the hunter who drew the attention of the rescuers to his location by swinging a flashlight beam through the trees.

A quick visit to a hospital addressed his wounds and he is already out and recuperating at home.

Great news…

There just one question though… How did the hunter use a small low power HT to access a repeater several counties away?

It turns out the hunter has a 2M/440 FM transceiver in his truck which can be set as a cross band repeater. This is exactly how he had it set up this particular morning while he carried a 440 FM HT with him. The mobile radio was tuned to the Warrenton 2 meter repeater.

So, the hunter relayed his signal from his HT to his truck and, in turn, to the repeater and finally to the hams listening during their morning commute.

Sure a cell phone would provide the same results, but there is a real chance they don’t work in the back roads of Rappahannock County and this was the case for Steve. Plus the cell phone would not allow the vocal support from a variety of concerned friends listening in on a party line.

So Steve relied on his amateur radio equipment to keep him “connected” to the world. Good thing he did. Here is the pathway Steve’s call for help took to bring the first responders to his side…

Entire communications path for ham requesting ambulance.

Steve’s equipment includes:

Yaesu VX6R hand held transceiver
Kenwood TM-708A mobile transceiver in cross repeat mode

This is an excellent example of how a hunter prepared for the worst using the best capabilities our amateur radio gear can provide. Thankfully, the morning commuters knew just what to do and helped keep up the spirits of the hunter.

This is real EmComm…
…and it didn’t even require a uniform.

The Death of EmComm

kx4o — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 04:20:26 +0000

An interesting article appears in the October issue of World Radio Magazine. The author of the regular EmComm section told the readers good bye as he does not intend to write about Emergency Communications in the context of Amateur Radio any more.

If you have never picked up a copy of World Radio magazine you should. It is printed on news print giving it a different appeal. While you are reading the articles you will quickly get a feel for the cranky, and frequently rude, style of the writing which sometimes makes it a little over the top. Good points include “Krusty” old Kurt’s technical advice. The Rules and Reg column is right on the mark, even though the writer consistently lambastes the reader.

The EmComm column is one I never paid much attention to since I think Amateur Radio and Emergency Communications has been, for all practical purposes, dead for years. When I saw he was putting down the pen for this column, I just had to read more.

It turns out the writer has seen what many of us have noticed for some time. He highlights the technical capabilities of the emergency services is in really good shape leaving any contributions amateur radio can provide for most any circumstance almost entirely pointless.

An excellent point is the national and state emergency services have access to HF spectrum just like we do canceling any advantage we might think we have with our own HF bands.

He goes on expressing concern many hams these days desire to be first responders rather than communication assistants. Wannabees is a more appropriate term.

The best advice the author gave to those who wanna-be a first responder is to, well, become a real first responder by volunteering as a fire fighter, police reservist, etc. An amateur radio license makes you a cop, not. If you are not a real first responder, but you do have an amateur radio license and you ever put on a day glow vest or have any kind of attention attracting lights on your vehicle you are a Whacker and an embarrassment to the Amateur Radio hobby. Sorry… that’s just the way it is.

The fact a popular author of a regular column in a ham radio magazine is joining the chorus decrying the absurdity of today’s wannabee EmComm freaks is a welcome next step towards getting real.

Advice to new amateur radio operators. Your new license conveys no authority whatsoever to help our emergency personnel. If you got into Amateur Radio to wear a day-glow vest and direct traffic you should rethink staying in Amateur Radio.

Wanna help? I mean really help?

Just enjoy your hobby, have good equipment, become proficient and relax. The time may come when your radio and you are needed to convey some important information you stumble upon. Don’t hold your breath though.

“When all else fails, amateur radio” is still reasonably true. Just don’t design your life waiting on the “fails” part.

I got into Amateur Radio as a logical extension of my electrical engineering profession. I enjoy antenna design and becoming proficient in contests, Field Day, etc. One day I will put HF into my car to help alleviate the boredom of long commutes; Talking to Europe during the morning commute is an amazing thing.

I don’t desire to be a first responder although I once was when volunteering as a fire fighter. No… I don’t have callsign license plates as I don’t need to tell the world “Hey, I passed a test.” I don’t collect QSO cards or certificates as I don’t need to impress anyone else with my radio activities. I just operate and learn more about radio physics… for my own personal satisfaction and to stay in touch with my ham friends.

This is a very cool hobby with much going for it. Unfortunately the “first responder” type of folks in our ranks spoil the image for all and that is such a shame.