2020-11-05, 10:26:35
Let's be really honest. How many of us are ready, willing and able to leave our homes during a declared emergency and spend an indefinite period either outside or in an EOC (Emergency Operations Centre) to provide communications support at any time and on very short notice?
Maybe one or two might be willing to take on the challenge. But, what are you going to do when you get there? Do we have a plan? Are we familiar with the comms protocols of the various emergency services? Does anybody reading this have an emergency kit (and I don't just mean a radio and spare battery) ready to grab and go?
Reading the ARES reports in the The Canadian Amateur magazine I see a common theme. ARES activity has been suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Let me re-phrase that: "Amateur Radio Emergency Service activity has been suspended due to an emergency". In what other emergencies would ARES suspend its emergency service; a winter storm, a major flood? In either of those examples the police would close the roads in the area affected. Are you aware that your motor vehicle insurance is invalid if you drive on a closed road?
The idea that hams would be ready, willing and able to provide backup communications to primary responders in a real emergency is bordering on fantasy. But, it did happen during 9/11 in New York City and it did happen in New Orleans during the flooding caused by hurricane Katrina. I am not aware of the exact circumstances in which amateur radio volunteers were able to provide valuable aid to emergency services personnel but I am fairly certain that, here in Canada, an organization that puts everything on hold due to an emergency situation is more likely to just get in the way of first responders.
So what can we do to make ourselves useful in the real world? I can think of two things, one of which we already do (but not very well).
First, support of community events. GBARC has been successfully supporting community events for a long time. If a walker, or runner, is lost or injured during a charity event we can relay a support request to St John Ambulance or Red Cross or even by calling 911. For that injured person this is a very real emergency and we are very well qualified, ready, willing and able to respond.
But let's say the event is taking place in a remote location, out of our repeater range. Now what can we do? I have heard discussion within our club about whether we maybe couldn't support an event in those circumstances. Poppycock! "When all else fails there is Amateur Radio!" The solution is very simple indeed. Put a repeater in the right place at the right time to meet the need! Think laterally. A repeater isn't always a permanent installation at the top of a cell tower. It can be a mobile repeater in a trailer. Heck, it can even be a member's car with a mobile dual-band radio set to cross-band repeater mode (Advanced Licence required). Park that temporary repeater in a location where every station can get into it and Bob's your uncle. Since GBARC doesn't have a club trailer with a mobile repeater it's high time we started planning how to raise funds to get one!
A second example of how we can realistically provide emergency support doesn't even require volunteers to stray from a warm comfortable shack and the coffee pot. I used to live in a valley where the hydro seemed to go out every time the Sun went behind a cloud. It would sometimes stay out for days on end. One winter, heavy ice brought down the phone lines too. The local cell tower was on a hill accessed via a steep, narrow lane. It was backed up with a gas-powered generator but couldn't be reached until the road and access lane were cleared of snow. After a couple of days without power the generator ran out of gas and cell service just stopped. I had no power, no landline, no cell service and no Internet; but I had amateur radio! All my neighbours knew I was a ham and I was ready, willing and able to call for emergency support if any of them needed it.
To make neighbourhood emergency communications support work all we need is for volunteers to routinely monitor the repeater. And, if the repeater goes down, we have proved through our club HF nets that we can communicate on the 80m band as well.
So, fellow hams and GBARC members, we are ready, willing and able to undertake emergency communications. But let's re-focus our efforts and aspirations on what is practical and put a stop to the fantasy about bravely marching in where the professionals with their full-time training and multi-million dollar budgets have failed.
Maybe one or two might be willing to take on the challenge. But, what are you going to do when you get there? Do we have a plan? Are we familiar with the comms protocols of the various emergency services? Does anybody reading this have an emergency kit (and I don't just mean a radio and spare battery) ready to grab and go?
Reading the ARES reports in the The Canadian Amateur magazine I see a common theme. ARES activity has been suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Let me re-phrase that: "Amateur Radio Emergency Service activity has been suspended due to an emergency". In what other emergencies would ARES suspend its emergency service; a winter storm, a major flood? In either of those examples the police would close the roads in the area affected. Are you aware that your motor vehicle insurance is invalid if you drive on a closed road?
The idea that hams would be ready, willing and able to provide backup communications to primary responders in a real emergency is bordering on fantasy. But, it did happen during 9/11 in New York City and it did happen in New Orleans during the flooding caused by hurricane Katrina. I am not aware of the exact circumstances in which amateur radio volunteers were able to provide valuable aid to emergency services personnel but I am fairly certain that, here in Canada, an organization that puts everything on hold due to an emergency situation is more likely to just get in the way of first responders.
So what can we do to make ourselves useful in the real world? I can think of two things, one of which we already do (but not very well).
First, support of community events. GBARC has been successfully supporting community events for a long time. If a walker, or runner, is lost or injured during a charity event we can relay a support request to St John Ambulance or Red Cross or even by calling 911. For that injured person this is a very real emergency and we are very well qualified, ready, willing and able to respond.
But let's say the event is taking place in a remote location, out of our repeater range. Now what can we do? I have heard discussion within our club about whether we maybe couldn't support an event in those circumstances. Poppycock! "When all else fails there is Amateur Radio!" The solution is very simple indeed. Put a repeater in the right place at the right time to meet the need! Think laterally. A repeater isn't always a permanent installation at the top of a cell tower. It can be a mobile repeater in a trailer. Heck, it can even be a member's car with a mobile dual-band radio set to cross-band repeater mode (Advanced Licence required). Park that temporary repeater in a location where every station can get into it and Bob's your uncle. Since GBARC doesn't have a club trailer with a mobile repeater it's high time we started planning how to raise funds to get one!
A second example of how we can realistically provide emergency support doesn't even require volunteers to stray from a warm comfortable shack and the coffee pot. I used to live in a valley where the hydro seemed to go out every time the Sun went behind a cloud. It would sometimes stay out for days on end. One winter, heavy ice brought down the phone lines too. The local cell tower was on a hill accessed via a steep, narrow lane. It was backed up with a gas-powered generator but couldn't be reached until the road and access lane were cleared of snow. After a couple of days without power the generator ran out of gas and cell service just stopped. I had no power, no landline, no cell service and no Internet; but I had amateur radio! All my neighbours knew I was a ham and I was ready, willing and able to call for emergency support if any of them needed it.
To make neighbourhood emergency communications support work all we need is for volunteers to routinely monitor the repeater. And, if the repeater goes down, we have proved through our club HF nets that we can communicate on the 80m band as well.
So, fellow hams and GBARC members, we are ready, willing and able to undertake emergency communications. But let's re-focus our efforts and aspirations on what is practical and put a stop to the fantasy about bravely marching in where the professionals with their full-time training and multi-million dollar budgets have failed.