I got this little bit of info off the RAC Bulletin Service and thought I would share it with you as well as toss a couple of comments out… Yes I know I had resolved to be nice but I am not RAC Bashing (or ARES Bashing) with this one…
First of all courtesy of VE3AJB who is the Section Manager for the Ontario Section of RAC … News comes to us that the Ontario ARES group has a new website. This is a good thing because when Ontario ARES had that tiff with ECOA last year the guy who owned the old domain name sided with ECOA and took what was the official Ontario ARES website down. This is kinda like taking your ball and going home when you don’t want to play the game anymore….
Anyway the new Ontario ARES Website is here.
Well I am glad to see something replace the old website and hopefully in the very near future the site will be updated with information that not only will be of use to Amateurs but the people who just might someday need our services.
Now lets take a look at the bigger picture
Cut the crap guys… We are not going to impress anyone when we fight like little spoiled brats in the playground.
On one side of things we have Bill Unger VE3XT and his group trying to convince the Minister of Transportation that we deserve an exemption from the Driving while distracted laws.
If the Minister decided to do a Google Search he would find one suspended site and a second site that still needs some work and unfortunatley the first one he will find is the suspended site. Looks really good eh!!! Its all about how the public sees us and right now they are not seeing our best…
Several other bloggers have made comments about how they think things should be done and their comments make sense to me. Take at look at Bill VE3CLQ’s blog and read some of his posting in Jan 2012 and Dec 2011 and you will see what I mean. Peter VE3HG also makes some good points about ARES in the same time frame. Check out Peters blog from December 1st to December 15 for some thoughts on Field Services and ARES.
There is no doubt in my mind that ARES needs a makeover. Canada is way too large to have one set of needs that can be met across our country. In the larger centers the needs are different than in the northern parts. The east and west coasts with their ever changing weather patterns have needs I can’t even imagine in Ottawa. The same way someone in Rural Manitoba worries about floods is wondering what we are talking about when 10,000 people are sent to shelters when there is a fire in a chemical plant in Toronto.
We need to re work ARES to the good old days… When we used to support our local communities and do a good job at it. We don’t need to set up large province wide groups. We don’t need the large confused organisation… We have the goverment to do that…. We need to be able to provide limited Backup communications to our friends and neighbors while the larger groups are talking or arguing about who is going to save the world…
73bob
ps…. Yes this turned out to be a bit of a rant…. Sorry…. As usual comments are welcome…. BE NICE…. Flames will be cheerfully ignored…. and really Nasty stuff will just be deleted…. If you want to send me a detailed comment by email I’ll even cut and past it into a Blog Post giving you credit as a “Guest Blogger” The choice is yours…
Tags: amateur radio, ARES, Driving while distracted, Ontario ARES, RAC, RAC Ontario ARES, RAC Ontario Section, Radio Amateurs of Canada
