On Fri, 13 Aug 2004 16:52:28 -0600, Graybyrd wrote:

If this were 1950, I would agree that ARRL Field Day is a relevant and
valuable exercise. Today, I disagree. Sad truth is, the element least
welcome at the Federal/State civil emergency authorities table is the
amateur radio community. The federal/state power structure and
self-perpetuating control structure are increasingly hostile to
"amateur" intrusion as any truly significant part of the professional
organization mission.

Then explain why New York state - just two months ago - paid for Erie
County ARES/RACES dualband antenna to be erected on the new
communications tower at the county EOC/Training Center, using federal
money obtained through DHS (a federal agency)?

Things have changed greatly in the last 40-50 years, and most
catastrophically during the government's rush to "absolute security"
following 09/11/01. The "involved citizen" is honored in lip service
only nowadays.

Then explain why NYSEMO has been paying (again with federal money) for
CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) training in an effort to
*get* more "involved citizens" ready to help in an emergency/disaster?

Perhaps this is why the old guard at the ARRL is
frantically trying to find a new look for the old ARES .. hoping against
hope to cloak it in digital, commercial, internet garb (WinLink 2000) to
make it appear more attractive to the federally-dominated emergency
structures.

This statement strikes me as downright laughable. The WinLink 2000
system is designed to benefit *local* communities and the agencies
that serve them. While ARRL has approved the inclusion of the Winlink
2000 Radio worldwide digital email network for ARES, they are
certainly not forcing it down anyone's throats, it's simply a tool
that is there to be used by those who might find it useful - like the
ARES groups in Florida; in Harris County, Texas; in Riverside County,
California, and in Wisconsin.

That doesn't count the use of WinLink 2000 by the Virginia Department
of Health, and International Heath Services (IHS) of Minnesota, which
are medical organizations, not ARES or RACES organizations.

Field Day used to be fun, any maybe it still is .. but it sure is
pointless for anything serious ..

It is still fun, and it is anything but pointless to hams who are
serious about the public service and emergency communications aspect
of amateur radio.

unless you're thinking we'll be
tapping out CW on scavenged, converted transistor radios from our caves
during the post-nuclear accident epoch.

If that's all you see at Field Day where you live, maybe that explains
your attitude towards the whole thing. At this years Field Day, we
operated not only CW but also phone, VHF/UHF, and PSK31, and we
demonstrated SSTV, ATV, and APRS. All of this was done without
commercial power, in a public place, and resulted in positive
publicity for the hobby as two newspaper articles were published in
response to our press releases and interviews conducted by a reporter
who visited the Field Day site.

Frankly, as an ARES/RACES member, CW is the *last* thing I'd
expecting to be using in an emergency.

VHF/UHF? Most definitely. SSTV? Possibly...our EOC is set up for it,
and we do have members with digital cameras and the capability to use
mobile or portable SSTV to take pictures at an emergency scene and
transmit them back to the EOC for the emergency management officials
to see. APRS? Also a high probability. You can run it with a PDA and a
handheld with a simple interface, giving you some basic digital
messaging capability along with the ability to glance at a map and see
who is closest to a location where you need to send someone, thus
keeping response times to a minimum.

Of course, learning and preparing for this requires team members who
have a positive attitude about what they are doing. If that is absent
where you live, you and your community has my deepest sympathy, but
fortunately for the rest of us, not every locality suffers from the
same negativity that you seem to...and I do not mean that as an insult
but rather as a constructive criticism - if this is how things are
where you live, well, if you aren't part of the solution, you're part
of the problem, gray. Think about it...

73 de John, KC2HMZ
Erie County (NY) ARES/RACES Member
ARATS EOC Team Co-Coordinator