Query: Does an emergency management agency really need two-way radio?
Response: Not if you are victims of an image that using radio is someone talking on a microphone or sending code with a telegraph key.
There was a time when, in a world less complex, that was "radio." Today "radio" includes a spectrum of related systems. In essence, it is a WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY that includes CELLULAR, DIGITAL, MICROWAVE, SATELLITE, VOICE AND TELEVISION SYSTEMS.
The characteristics of radio distinguish it from that of wired technology, such as E-mail, LAN's and the Internet. Radio can go places that do not have wires or fiber optics. Using the NVIS (Near Vertical Incidence Skywave) principle it can go over mountains and into valleys without wires or optics. Radio serves the communities that either don't have telephones or still use the party lines. (Yes, they do still exist.) Radio systems that are not computer-based cannot be defeated by a hacker's virus. Heavy storms have taken out key satellite and microwave systems necessitating voice radio as the medium. Wireless radio is instantly deployable, totally portable and works when and where other systems cannot function.
Wired technology, like computer and Email systems, fail if crossed with high-voltage or struck by lightning, and whenever wires and fibers are damaged, cut, or destroyed. Just one virus - even one glitch or "hiccup" at the wrong time - can totally disrupt the best computer network and destroy data. That, of course, doesn't mean wired systems shouldn't be used; just that they are not fail safe as some people think.
(Continued, next week)
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