FWIW, some of these agencies already use sophisticated HF systems with ALE and very advanced DSP implementations for Voice use. Some are interlinked with SHARES, MARS or both on NITA Frequencies. A recent FEMA NECN exercise recorded 598 stations from 31 federal state and civil agencies and entities. None of these were via Amateur Radio frequencies, albeit many operators held valid Amateur licenses. By the same token, many did not..... This was from The FEMA National Radio System (FNARS) National Emergency Coordination Net (NECN) quarterly exercise was conducted December 17, 2007.
These all had to be considered operators in that they did make the contact and were acknowledged as contacts of the exercise. The number of contacts was limited by the request that some suppport organizations only batch the total participation of "subnets" held during the operational period. I am extremely happy with the support our hospitals, EOC/911 Center, Police, Fire, Public Health and other organizations has shown for Amateur Radio in our commiunity. I also am aware of their plans to obtain equipment of their own so they will not only be able to produce operators from within their ranks, but also possess the equipment needed. Our County Police Chief had us build 4 briefcase VHF setups complete with magmount antenna and power cable to allow easy setup at the 4 POD (Point of Distribution) locations. He also plans to have them manned by local amateur radio operators as soon as possible after disaster recovery commences, to allow his resources to resume duty on the street. He has placed that much trust in Amateur Radio. He is also one of the 30 new public safety hams licensed last year in our county. Our EOC director, Fire Department Chief and other support staff also were among that group. I expect this trend to increase in both terms of scope and magnatude in the months to come. The playing field is definately shifting. Amateur Radio is important and Amateur Radio operators are certainly in demand. But, there is no corner on the market held by an all volunteer resource pool. David KD4NUE -----Original Message----- From: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Rud Merriam Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2008 4:18 PM To: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com Subject: RE: [digitalradio] Re: Oregon Governor Allocates $250,000 for Digital Communications Network How is the government going to get operators? Any full time staff will have a multitude of other duties to perform. As a taxpayer you should appreciate the government supporting volunteers and obtaining equipment that is less costly than the equivalent commercial gear. Rud Merriam K5RUD ARES AEC Montgomery County, TX http://TheHamNetwor <http://TheHamNetwork.net> k.net -----Original Message----- From: digitalradio@ <mailto:digitalradio%40yahoogroups.com> yahoogroups.com [mailto:digitalradio@ <mailto:digitalradio%40yahoogroups.com> yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of jgorman01 Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2008 11:29 AM To: digitalradio@ <mailto:digitalradio%40yahoogroups.com> yahoogroups.com Subject: [digitalradio] Re: Oregon Governor Allocates $250,000 for Digital Communications Network Not knocking the volunteers for sure. I do have a question. How come the money wasn't invested in public safety equipment using public safety NTIA assigned frequencies to do the same thing? These don't require ham licenses to operate and could expand the resource pool of operators. As a taxpayer, I would want to know why my government has to rely on volunteers to provide public safety communications. I know the current administration and politicians probably have every intention of letting the equipment stay with ARES. But, as you know, things change, sometimes for the worse. This may not always be the case. And even if it happens in your area, it may not occur elsewhere. I'm just worried we are setting ourselves up to be "purchased" sometime in the future. Jim WA0LYK
