EMC196 EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION
To:   Emergency Communications Units - Information Bulletin
To:   Emergency Management Agencies via Internet and Radio
By:   Auxiliary Communications Service (ACS) of the
      California Governor's Office of Emergency Services  

EMC196  EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION   For release 8/9/99

Bulletins 184-187 ("Agency Needs Shift") were an authorized
direct quote of Rick Palm's excellent article from QST May 1999. 
The following is a response by Ben J. Green, WD8CZP, sent to
QST following Ben's reading of the original article.

"Rick Palms article (QST May, l999, pg-32) was right on target. 
This is something that the State of California has recognized for
a few years and have taken the necessary steps to ensure Amateur
Radio's place in our Emergency Management organization.  To
answer a growing need within the non-technical Emergency
Management community, State OES re-organized the then State
RACES into a better functioning title called the Auxiliary
Communications Service or ACS.  This allows 
  (1) a jurisdiction a means to pool talented technical people from
       the Amateur, Citizens Band, MARS & CAP communities and
  (2) provides an easy understandable unit identification to 
       government."

"Over the last 25 years or so a distinct trend in use of volunteer
communicators has progressed over the telecommunications
landscape. The functions of RACES particularly and ARES somewhat
have expanded while the mission statements remain the same.  The
FCC has slowly changed some regulations with regards to RACES but
in the real world, (at least here in California) we have had to
come up with creative solutions to some demands placed upon us by
the governments we serve. The RACES call sign change (dropping the
WC calls) is welcomed because it was a hindrance to the functionality
of our mission. The inter operability between volunteer units is a
continuing challenge for any jurisdiction to overcome.  End users
(government & private agencies) need to better understand how to
manage the use of  volunteers and at what cost."

Article by Ben J. Green, WD8CZP, Telecommunications Coordinator,
ACS Program, State of California, Governor's Office of Emergency
Services continues in Bulletin EMC197, next week.

                           ---
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The bulletins are also in the weekly ACS Newsletter. You can
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   - For training assistance contact the ACS Training Officer
     at the web site or send an email to larton@garlic.com
   - Submit suggestions, topics or comments on the bulletins to
     cary.mangum@macnexus.org or cary_mangum@oes.ca.gov

Bulletins are on the ACS Web page: http://acs.oes.ca.gov  -and a
Landline BBS: 916-262-0856 (graphical & standard interface); and
a FTP Archive located at: ftp.ucsd.edu/hamradio/races
EOM