EMC197 EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION 2/2
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

EMC197  EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION 2/2  Release 8/16/99

Continuation of Ben J. Green's response to the Rick Palm
article in the May QST and distributed in bulletins 184-187.

"First and foremost is the need to convey the message that
'volunteer communications is not free'.  The salaried aspect
is all that should separate our volunteers from the paid staff.
That is why we prefer to identify 'volunteers' as 'unpaid
professionals'.  The program does cost, whether it be full-blown
Amateur Radio repeater systems and radios at each station or
pencils & paper, it all must be supported by the government or
private agency using volunteers.  This must include an intensive
training program not only to provide guidance and coverage of
liability but also to expand the volunteer knowledge-base of the
ever-changing world of telecommunications.  An example is of one
County in California that has its own Amateur Repeaters and is
maintained by paid professional technicians (some of whom are
licensed Amateurs).  Its day-to-day use is by the County's unpaid
professionals as well as Amateurs passing through needing
information. But it is a valuable second or third line of
communications backup that makes it worth the expense to that
government. That same County has the latest in 800 MHz trunked
radios and has provided training and the radios to the volunteers
so they are part of the Government served and not an outside
group. The common Amateur frequencies put coordination of
multiple agencies in arms reach of the Integrated Emergency
Management of the County."

"California is not perfect, we haven't 'arrived' yet, but we are
moving in a direction that I feel is the trend that this Nation
is moving towards with regards to Emergency Management.
Emergency Management's greatest technological natural resource is
the Amateur Radio volunteer.  That individual, shown to have
accomplished a basic radio knowledge, can be continually
re-trained in new technologies as the industry expands its
diverse field of products.  Our own State OES  and many County's
and City's volunteers operate and maintain a plethora of hi-tech
items which all contribute to the overall mission.  No one system
be it Amateur, cellular, trunk radio or satellite can stand on
its own during a major telecommunications emergency.  Working
together all the diverse systems can if used by a trained
individual such as an Amateur Radio Operator."

s/s Ben J. Green, WD8CZP, Telecommunications Coordinator
ACS Program, State of California, Governor's Office of
Emergency Services                        ---

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