I found a link to this picture on a twitter page and then they were nice enough to include the html code to embed it here… Kinda like the way googlemaps and youtube does…
Therefore its easy enough for me to do it…
But first I take you back in time to my old webpage. (Way before I started blogging…)
I wrote this article many years ago and with the I concider it still to be relevant today…
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Many years ago when I first got my callsign (I was VE3YBC back then) I attended a presentation that was given to civic officials on Emergency Planning. One of the first things stressed is that they should make friends with the local amateur radio clubs in their areas as the “hams” could do it all!!!
Now in reality we know that Hams can’t walk on water, but we do know where the rocks are hidden just under the water, so it seems like we can.
Now many callsigns have passed (VE3YBC,VE3UAX,VA3RCS and now VA3QV) since I heard those comments and technology now brings new toys. And most of these new toys mean that don’t need us as much as they used to. In most of the urban centers we have been delegated to passing routine traffic between shelters if needed.
Cell Phones, Blackberrys, Text Messaging, WI FI and the internet itself have pushed Amateur Radio back a few steps in the communications ranking.
However when it really hits the fan….They are going to want us to step in and do everything for them. Cell Phone sites batteries do fail, Internet lines can fail, most of the modern phone systems need power to operate. Even those fancy 900Mhz Digital Trucking systems have repeater sites that rely on power.
I’m not saying they will fail… Chances are they probally won’t…. But if they do…Be ready for it!!!
I’m not telling you what to do, but I am suggesting that in addition to making sure you can do the assignments that the local Emergency Plan asks for you should also plan for what they don’t ask for. That way when you do get asked the impossiable you will be ready to prove the comment that “Hams can walk on water”.
Make sure a few people in your ARES Group know how to operate portable HF and have the equipment to do so independant of commercial power. Have them check into nets like the Ontario Phone Net, the ARES Ontario Weekly HF Nets,the Comsont Net or the ONTARS or the Trans Provincal Net. Get them used to the equipment and the differences between operating from the safety of the shack to the insanity of portable operations.
The opinions stated above are mine alone…I personally hope we never get called out for real…If we ever do I hope that I am ready and I hope that you are ready.
73bob
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So those were my views so many years ago… They have not changed since…. but seeing the following picture brought a smile to my face so i thought I would share this with you….
…….. I wonder if anyone will think about it….
73bob
PS… Thanks to Eric VE3XEJ as I orignally saw a link from his tweet to the picture…
Tags: amateur radio, Amateur Radio Emergency Service, ARES, Emergency Prepardness, VA3RCS Website
September 24, 2010 at 1:45 am |
Participated in Ex Shooting Star on the 18th (http://www.mbchamber.mb.ca/2010/09/first-of-its-kind-preparedness-exercise-in-canada-to-test-over-40-manitoba-communities/). Operating portable HF _might_ have helped us were it not for the S9 noise at one of the EOCs. What would have overcome the noise would have been to operate _digital_ portable HF.
I agree with you, Bob, but sometimes we just don’t like getting our shoes wet…
Kent ve4keh
September 24, 2010 at 12:54 pm |
Hi Kent,
First of all CONGRATS go out to you and the other members of the Manitoba ARES Groups for a job well done on this exercise.
My posting was just to remind someone (some groups) (all of us) that IN MY OPINION if we just plan for what they ask us to do then we might not be able to do what they need us to do…
With the popularity of the internet based modes (IRLP, ECHOLINK, DSTAR) there is a good chance that we might become too dependant on systems that are not linked by RF. If we lose the internet then we could lose the link… If we lose the link then somone better remember how to communicate using HF. Chances are that the affected area might not be close to someones shack so we better have some portable capabilities…
Expect the unexpected and …
“Plan for the worst and hope for the best…”
73bob
September 24, 2010 at 3:55 pm |
Great article Bob, very true and very appropriate!
September 24, 2010 at 5:13 pm |
Thanks for the comments and the visit Bill…
Nothing against the new toys but lets hope people remember how to use the old toys…
73bob
September 26, 2010 at 9:28 pm |
Bill, VE7CVQ is correct, and I hang my head in shame for not having considered the obvious. If I had been proficient in CW (I can’t speak for the op at the other end), we would have been able to pass traffic through the S9 noise on 80m.
And yes, Bob, I hear that we still impressed some of the organizers by utilizing an intermediate 2m repeater and a relay station. That was plan D (plan A, B and C having failed), credit for which goes to the op at the affected EOC.
Sometimes we don’t need _more_ technology to appear to walk on water.
September 26, 2010 at 9:29 pm |
Actually, I credited Bill for Bob’s comments.
Well, Bill is probably right, too
.
Kent ve4keh