Query: Who writes the EMCOMM bulletins?
Response: In their current format, the bulletins are written by Cary Mangum, based on the legacy of Stan Harter, Marion Henson, and Ken Hughes.
Response: In their current format, the bulletins are written by Cary Mangum, based on the legacy of Stan Harter, Marion Henson, and Ken Hughes.
Historically, a form of bulletins was issued in the 1960's by Ken Hughes, W6CIS, State RACES Officer, until Marion Henson, W6NKR, became the State RACES Officer in 1966 or '67. Marion continued to issue periodic bulletins until 1985.
In April 1985, when Stan Harter was hired by the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (State OES) as paid staff, a bulletin series was begun on a regular weekly basis. They were titled "RACES Bulletins" and signed by Harter as KH6GBX, his Hawaii FCC Amateur call.
Stan had extensive FULL TIME experience since 1962 as a paid professional in Hawaii, as State Assistant Director of Civil Defense for Communications and Warning. California hired him to build a program using FCC Licensed Amateurs to aid local governments. In Hawaii, the RACES (Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service) and the CAP (Civil Air Patrol) were the key volunteer groups, hence the bulletins focused on those areas, particularly the RACES.
For many years the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had been quiet on RACES education, so in California Harter set about to present the basics of the RACES to as many as were open to that material, both in government emergency management agencies and in the Amateur Radio world. He realized that until the government staff understood the use of the FCC Amateur Radio Licensee, their acceptance would flounder.
In 1988 he was asked to put the bulletins into the national packet network for full distribution across the United States, where they became the educational resource on the RACES program. In effect, the bulletins issued from l985-1993 became the basic education tool on the RACES, even if some are now out-of-date.
In 1993 the Bulletins become a shared responsibility between Stan and Cary Mangum, W6WWW, who became the State RACES Officer in the spring of 1991, a volunteer position. After joining OES that year, Cary had begun to ghost write them at Stan's request.
During the years from 1993 to 1996 either of them would write a bulletin and the other would do the editing. Often the author was not specified.
In 1996, the FCC mandated change from the Emergency Broadcast System (EBS) to the Emergency Alert System (EAS) caused Stan's work load to became so great that he turned the entire bulletin process over to Cary.
Since then, unless a bulletin is from a stated source, written by a particular author, or is signed, or quoted from an article, then Cary is probably the responsible party, although he has seldom signed them, preferring to remain in the background. Perhaps we can persuade him to sign them in the future.
Stan Harter passed away in 1998, and on an interim emergency appointment Cary handled both programs that had been the responsibility of Stan, until the appointment of Ben Green (WD8CZP). Ben holds the same position as Stan, that is, Assistant Chief, Telecommunications Unit, with coordination responsibilities for the Auxiliary Communications Service (ACS) -the program that evolved from the RACES as a result of the work of Stan and Cary, but that is another story. Occasionally Ben also contributes to the bulletin process but, like Cary, may not sign them.
The last "RACES" bulletin was issued on 3/30/96. A month earlier, the current "EMCOMM" bulletin series was born. The EMCOMM series was designed to meet the evolving needs for emergency communications due to sweeping technology changes.
THIS bulletin was co-authored by Cary & Ben. Till next time, enjoy!
In April 1985, when Stan Harter was hired by the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (State OES) as paid staff, a bulletin series was begun on a regular weekly basis. They were titled "RACES Bulletins" and signed by Harter as KH6GBX, his Hawaii FCC Amateur call.
Stan had extensive FULL TIME experience since 1962 as a paid professional in Hawaii, as State Assistant Director of Civil Defense for Communications and Warning. California hired him to build a program using FCC Licensed Amateurs to aid local governments. In Hawaii, the RACES (Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service) and the CAP (Civil Air Patrol) were the key volunteer groups, hence the bulletins focused on those areas, particularly the RACES.
For many years the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had been quiet on RACES education, so in California Harter set about to present the basics of the RACES to as many as were open to that material, both in government emergency management agencies and in the Amateur Radio world. He realized that until the government staff understood the use of the FCC Amateur Radio Licensee, their acceptance would flounder.
In 1988 he was asked to put the bulletins into the national packet network for full distribution across the United States, where they became the educational resource on the RACES program. In effect, the bulletins issued from l985-1993 became the basic education tool on the RACES, even if some are now out-of-date.
In 1993 the Bulletins become a shared responsibility between Stan and Cary Mangum, W6WWW, who became the State RACES Officer in the spring of 1991, a volunteer position. After joining OES that year, Cary had begun to ghost write them at Stan's request.
During the years from 1993 to 1996 either of them would write a bulletin and the other would do the editing. Often the author was not specified.
In 1996, the FCC mandated change from the Emergency Broadcast System (EBS) to the Emergency Alert System (EAS) caused Stan's work load to became so great that he turned the entire bulletin process over to Cary.
Since then, unless a bulletin is from a stated source, written by a particular author, or is signed, or quoted from an article, then Cary is probably the responsible party, although he has seldom signed them, preferring to remain in the background. Perhaps we can persuade him to sign them in the future.
Stan Harter passed away in 1998, and on an interim emergency appointment Cary handled both programs that had been the responsibility of Stan, until the appointment of Ben Green (WD8CZP). Ben holds the same position as Stan, that is, Assistant Chief, Telecommunications Unit, with coordination responsibilities for the Auxiliary Communications Service (ACS) -the program that evolved from the RACES as a result of the work of Stan and Cary, but that is another story. Occasionally Ben also contributes to the bulletin process but, like Cary, may not sign them.
The last "RACES" bulletin was issued on 3/30/96. A month earlier, the current "EMCOMM" bulletin series was born. The EMCOMM series was designed to meet the evolving needs for emergency communications due to sweeping technology changes.
THIS bulletin was co-authored by Cary & Ben. Till next time, enjoy!
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