--- In digitalradio@yahoogroups.com, "Rud Merriam" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Jim, > > That yourself, family and property are supposed to come first, even in ARES. > It is common sense that a volunteer operator is not going to be focused on > their activity if they are worrying about all the other issues.
And in fact, exactly why volunteers are so critically needed in large scale events like hurricanes. The state EC and county EOC where I spent most of my time were both MIA dealing with family. We understood, and filled a gap. The most visible local ham presence we had in the county I was assigned was the 20yo no-code tech..... manned, coordinated, and held things together. He was a hero in our book, and from a demographic not well respected in our hobby. I saw the video of his home being flooded by the storm surge. Not just a bit, submerged and destroyed. The only possessions he had were in a pile in the AV room of the local high school. His car, an IC-706, and a 2m homemade jpole in a pvc stick. Like that ham, most of the local ARES team were heavily impacted themselves. None were active, nor were the repeaters functional. And not too long into the event the full county EOC was destroyed. Leveled, including 911 & police dispatch. This does make for an interesting dynamic when the local teams do surface, usually several days into an event. They find strangers setup in ways they had not planned, under different control structures, etc. Lot's of arguments "we must use xyz repeater, because that's the published plan" when well established simplex nets are encountered. Nevermind the repeater was dead for the 1st N days, and has compromised coverage even 2 weeks in, etc. Saw this in buckets at Hugo and Katrina, two decades apart. Same dynamic. This really is to me the biggest gap in the amateur based planning. No one planned for transition/handoff during recovery in large scale events with lot's of outsiders. Very difficult when a third of the counties in a state are impacted, and can't even get fixed at a regional level because 3-4 states were heavily impacted. With regard to my comments about bitter old men, that's not pointed at anyone here. Or an assumption that if you did not respond, you are in that category. It's a commentary on the "consumer" mindset permeating our hobby that Andy raised. For the record, I'm officially middle aged, had an understanding boss and tolerant wife. I was able to respond. It was important that I did, because I know many others could not. And some it flat out would never have occurred to. The same ones that posted all the debates on how the response was broken, should not have occurred, should not have used xyz technology, should not disrupt the "pottery collecting net" with their red cross traffic, etc. At Hugo I had to deal with active jamming/interference for hours on HF when trying to pass traffic. (And where I learned how much more effective digital nets were) If anything, the most challenging volunteers we had to deal with were younger. Energetic, well intentioned, but a bit less steady on average. No issues from the old timers. (And there were many). Again, We had two senior citizens relieve one shelter. They were a hoot. One was almost blind, but heard well (and was 80+). Another was very hard of hearing, but had full vision. Together they were a team. Had never met before, but met on a net, traveled down, and went to work. Did a great job. "Bob, I can't find my glasses.... do you see my glasses????? Bob??????" Wish I could remember their calls, as to me they were great examples. Have fun, Alan km4ba
