The Comm Room
  • Home
    • About Me
    • Personal Website
  • Amateur Radio
    • SkyWarn >
      • What is SkyWarn?
      • Getting Started
      • What Do I Report?
      • Severe WX Reporting
      • Spotter Safety
      • Overpass Safety?
      • SkyWarn in Arizona
    • Public Service & Events >
      • 10 Ways to Optimize Your Effectiveness
      • Are You Making a Difference?
    • ARES Information >
      • ARES Net
      • Prowords
    • Emergency Communications >
      • Emergency & Disaster Radio Operating Procedures
      • ECom Do's & Don'ts
      • Emergency Management Cycle
    • Training
    • EMCOMM Bulletins >
      • RACES >
        • 1995-96
        • 1996
    • Virtual QSL Wall
  • Incident Command
    • DHS Position Paper on NIMS & the ICS
  • Emergency Preparedness
    • Emergency First Aid >
      • First Aid for Pets
    • Planning For Pets
  • Social Media
    • Social Media vs Ham Radio
  • Links & Awards
    • SkyWarn Links
    • Public Service Links
    • ECom Links
    • ICS/NIMS Links
    • Emergency Prep. Links
    • Training Links
  • Radio Logs
    • Contest Log
  • Photos

1996-97 EMCOMM Bulletins

TO: Emergency Communications Units - Information Bulletin
TO: Emergency Management Agencies via Internet and Radio
FROM: Auxiliary Communications Service (ACS) of the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services 

Back

EMC091 - Uses for Amateur Radio - 4/7

8/4/1997

0 Comments

 
Subtitle: Radio Management?
  • For mobile and portable communications the conventional radio is the most used instrument and still holds first place. However, trunking radio technology, which, as of now, does not have a data capability, is slowly catching up and the cell phone is actually being relied on more and more.
  • HF (voice and data) radio is again, in a small way, becoming more popular for regional and statewide use.
Now lets take a look at the four basic phases of emergency management in which all activities can be grouped. The following is a short definition of each.

PREPAREDNESS
  • Preparing to handle an emergency. This includes plans or preparations to save lives and to help response and rescue operations.
RESPONSE
  • Responding safely to an emergency. This includes actions taken to save lives and prevent further property damage during a disaster or emergency situation.
RECOVERY
  • Recovering from an emergency includes actions taken to return to a normal, or even a safer situation following an emergency.
MITIGATION
  • Preventing future emergencies or minimizing their effects. This includes any activities that might prevent an emergency from happening again, or reducing the severity of unavoidable emergencies.

After an examination of the above four phases we can see that emergency management is a full circle of never ending activities.

Looking a little closer it can be seen that the cell phone system will work fine in most of the four phases. The preparedness and mitigation phases present no problems at all. The exception is perhaps during exercises, and this is where problems are supposed to be discovered and where the cell system can fool you. ("I don't understand it. These here cell phones worked just fine when we did our exercise in this area just two months before this here quake!") The recovery phase is almost never a problem, because the cell carriers have almost always had time to recover. Obviously the response phase (in the area of the incident) is the time to be concerned. This is when Murphy will insure that all the problems mentioned above will come into play.

Now, outside the area of the incident, the cell phone is a great tool. I couldn't have met my public safety responsibilities during the '97 New Years Flood in California without it. Those responsibilities included arranging for conventional radio equipped operator mutual aid response for a multi-agency, multi-government incident, into flooded metropolitan and semi-rural areas along a major north/south highway corridor where cell service is normally abundant. This I accomplished from an area some 50-75 miles away where the cell service was working just fine.

Continues next week
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    About Sar Dogs
    Acceptance Takes Time
    ACS And...
    Acs Overview
    An Incident Or Disaster?
    Are You
    CHP ACS Activities
    Command Bill Of Rights
    Communications Only?
    Convergent Volunteers
    Emergency Means What?
    Emergency Water Storage
    Eternal Vigilance!
    Floods And Changes
    Focus - Ability Levels
    How To Be Left OUT!
    Hurry Up And Wait?
    ICS/ACS Comm Positions
    ICS Terms & Definitions
    Incident Command System
    Info Bulletins
    Mandatory Training?
    Medical Communications
    Missed Communications?
    Mutual Aid In Action
    Mutual Aid - Reaction
    Mutual Aid Sop
    Ongoing Or Reserve Volunteers?
    RACES Limited To Amateurs?
    Radio Officer Concerns/Problems
    Red Cross Overview
    The Eoc Radio Room
    The MOU - How Effective?
    Them Vs Us
    Training & Indoctrination
    Training Standards
    Transparency
    Use Of Volunteers
    Uses For Amateur Radio
    Volunteer Bill Of Rights
    Volunteer Grouping
    What Is A State Radio Officer?
    What Leads Them To Serve?
    What Type Of Emergency?
    Who's In Charge?
    Why Some Units Fail
    Why Use Radio

    Archives

    December 1997
    November 1997
    October 1997
    September 1997
    August 1997
    July 1997
    June 1997
    May 1997
    April 1997
    March 1997
    February 1997
    January 1997
    December 1996
    November 1996
    October 1996
    September 1996
    August 1996
    July 1996
    June 1996
    May 1996
    April 1996
    March 1996

    RSS Feed

Search This Site:



© Copyright 2009-2022, David M. French.

All original content by David M French is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Other names, titles, and images are registered trademarks of their respective companies or organizations. All rights reserved.
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.