I agree with Rud! Amateur Radio has ALWAYS been the base point for EVERY type of communications with in the US and most of the rest of the World! If it's out there, most likely it started in Amateur Radio!
Emergency Communications has ALWAYS been an integral part of Amateur Radio, at least here in the USA. AND it's ALWAYS been VOLUNTARY!!! Amateur Radio Operators have ALWAYS been there, and hopefully always WILL be, to lend a hand, or mic, to help out in times of emergencies! ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Services) is NOT mandated by ANYONE. It IS supported by the FCC. In fact, the FCC put ARES under control of the ARRL, along with RACES (Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service). I whole heartedly DISAGREE that Amateur EMCOMM is going away! In fact, quite the opposite IS occurring! Hurricane Katrina and the attack on 9/11/01 has shed more light on the LACK in communications in the Public Safety sector than any other incident that I can recall! I'm the Radio Tech for our County, and speaking for my County and the surrounding metro area, there is a HUGE misconception concerning it's 800 MHz trunking system! All the elected officials seem to think that the Public Safety communications system is going to work flawlessly in an emergency! WRONG!!! I've seen what happens when a minor incident happens! The system becomes overloaded and just shuts down! They do simulcast on VHF, which they keep saying needs to go away. I keep telling them NOT a smart move as it's the ONLY system they have that is RELIABLE! Anyway, ARES plays a HUGE part in at least OUR county's communication viability and is highly supported by our County officials!!! I could go on and on citing instances where Amateur EMCOMM has come to the rescue, but you get my point! Rod KC7CJO Rud Merriam <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Hi Flavio, The "Basis and Purpose" mean that these are the reasons the ARS exists in the US. It is more than a "value". It is a long standing tradition to provide this service in the US. I believe it is also true in Canada. I cannot speak for the rest of the world. From the comments I am seeing it apparently is not for them. Rud Merriam K5RUD ARES AEC Montgomery County, TX http://TheHamNetwork.net -----Original Message----- From: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Flavio Padovani Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2007 2:38 PM To: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [digitalradio] Why Amateur EmComm? Saludos Rud, I can not see in your quote any mandate for EmComm by the FCC. If I can read right, the regulations just recognize a "value" (usefulness ?) fo the service for EmComm. I think that the EmComm argument is new and is being utilized to try to save the amateur service. In the long run, we hams are going the way of sailboats, steam locomotives, dinosaurs and CW. Lets enjoy what we have while we can. Thursday, October 18, 2007, 12:34:59 PM, you wrote: RM> From the US FCC regulations: RM> ยง97.1 Basis and purpose. RM> The rules and regulations in this Part are RM> designed to provide an amateur RM> radio service having a fundamental purpose as RM> expressed in the following RM> principles: __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
