FW: post to Yahoo

Tue Feb 2 11:15:22 PST 2010

From: George Mann [mailto:George.Mann at treattusa.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, February 02, 2010 1:46 PM
To: KG4YNI at arrl.net
Subject: post to Yahoo

Ernie,

There is a professional networking group called LinkedIn.  They also host
user groups this was an answer to a post on the ARRL Ham group. I might be
of interest to the members of our Yahoo Group. I am unable to post to the
group from work.  Also, some might want to join the LinkedIn group at
www.linkedin.com.

Here is the question a one of the posts:

LinkedIn Groups

*	Group: ARRL HAM Radio Operators 
*	Subject: New comment (20) on "I am wanting to learn about and get
started in HAM radio for emergency purposes. I know I need to get licensed
but then what? I just need someone to point me in the right direction." 

(1) I agree with a previous poster, and strongly suggest you find out if
your city/county/rural area has a CERT organization, and if so contact them
for training & volunteer membership. Arguably the most important initial
aspect of a CERT group is getting the Incident Command System (ICS) training
that you will likely need to provide emergency communications during a
disaster in your area. By this I mean that you may likely be denied your
offer of volunteer services of any kind by police, fire, CERT teams, and
even some ARES teams unless you have completed certain training courses on
ICS (eg, this happened to a number of hams during the hurricane Katrina
disaster); in fact, it has become difficult to even obtain emergency worker
credentials (badge permitting you to appear on-site or cross first responder
barriers) from our state Emergency Management Division here without such
certification of completion of required ICS courses, whether you're a CERT
member or not. Good news is that ICS courses are available online, or in
person at training classes delivered by CERT teams.
(2) The suggestions posted here of getting a mobile radio vs. handheld is
biased by the locale of the posters. There are places where a handheld (HT)
is the preferred radio to have, because the most frequent or likely
emergencies rise out of natural events that exclude or severely impede
vehicle travel (floods, ice storms, severe earthquakes (we're seeing that
now in Haiti where it's impossible to drive and people are moving by air,
foot, donkey, etc) , volcano/lahars, "snow jams", etc. Even cities where
population >100,000 that lose their streets during disasters. I happen to
live in such an area, plus I emcomm volunteer to hospitals (can't drive your
car into the hospital or run down a flight of stairs and a block away to a
car every time you need to send/receive messages). SO...look at where you
live and what historical emergencies that have occurred as a guide, then
imagine whether you'll either have practical access to or the ability to
move your vehicle around in those situations. You may find that the HT is
clearly the best way to go (I have both, but started with an HT because it's
a better choice for my locale).
(3) The ARRL has some good emcomm courses that you can take either online or
from a local ARES team that does training (I've had all 3). Useful, but in
the end meaningless to state/county/city/federal emergency workers (they
want to see ICS training certification). Some ARES teams require you
complete 1 or more of these AREC courses (check with your local ARES team).
(3) Be aware that there are certain volunteer emcomm "specialties" that may
require additional non-radio training. Eg, one of the ARES teams I belong to
specializes in supporting hospitals, and they require certificated training
in HIPPA (a requirement that frequently originates with hospital policy;
HIPPA is federal law that among other things addresses privacy of patient
information, ie what/how it is communicated). Another: Search And Rescue
teams may require their ham volunteers to be trained in helicopter safety
and CPR (such is the case here). The bright side of this is that you can be
trainined and exposed to a new and fund area at someone else's training or
equipment expense (eg, swift water rescue, ski patrol, emergency operations
centers, riding a fire engine (another example of HT required). SO...you may
wish to think about the type of emergency or public service communications
volunteer work you're most interested in focusing on (community general
purpose, fire, search & rescue, medical, river, civil air patrol, military,
mountaineering/ski, etc); if you live in a rural area with few hams, then
you may best serve in a general purpose ARES team.

I hope that this is helpful & stimulates more imagination for you.

Stephen W9SK
AEC & PIO, North Bend ARES Team
PIO, Western Washington Medical Communications Emergency Service 
Posted by Stephen Kangas 

George Mann
Business Development Manager
Treatt USA
Tel : 001 (863) 668 3322
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Email : George.Mann at treattusa.com
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