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In Foxs Mercantile writes:

On 10/23/2014 10:09 PM, Phil Kane wrote:
Activation of EmComm, whether it's called ARES/RACES, ACS,
or otherwise, is at the discretion of the local government's
Emergency Manager - we do not self-activate. If the EM does
not feel that s/he needs our assistance, it's their decision.

And

The usual activation is to serve as a "bridge" between the
PSAP and the responding agencies and/or the Wire Centers (new
name for Central Offices) per pre-prepared arrangements.
Message traffic can be tactical voice or data.

So from just a logistic standpoint, how many amateurs would
have been required to bridge 11 million customers? And where
would they be deployed? The article mentioned this affecting
81 call centers. And how many responding agencies/wire centers
are served by each PSAP? Wouldn't that require at least one
amateur at the PSAP and one more at each served end point?

How rapidly could they be deployed?
Based on the article, I doubt the problem persisted for more
than eight hours. Certainly less than one whole day.

And course, there's the liability issue. Hypothetically, how
many lawyers would be involved if just one amateur dropped the
ball? Or even if they did everything right, and something bad
happened anyway.



--
Jeff-1.0
wa6fwi
http://www.foxsmercantile.com


Can't speak for supporting a community of 11 million customers.
However, we know from past recent experience that it is workable for a
community of about 400,000 (Lincoln, Nebraska and surrounding 12
counties). Windstream (nee Lincoln Telephone Company, nee Alltel) saw
their E911 system go down on two separate occasions.

A write-up of one of the incidents may be found at:

http://www.arrl.org/news/telephone-o...il-fool-s-joke

Some of the highlights:

- Amateur radio operators were deployed very quickly and provided
meaningful support during the morning-to-evening outage (about 12
hours or so).

- The 62 volunteers that deployed followed a previously written,
practiced, and activated (on a smaller scale) "Y2K" plan, deploying
to 15 high-profile locations at intersections in the city of Lincoln
at the direction of the Lancaster County Emergency Management
Director and supported by the County's Emergency Operations Center
(EOC).

- As part of the contingency plan, those in need of emergency services
could also go to the nearest police or fire station if practical, so
amateur radio served in an assistive, not substitute, role.

- Citizens were made aware of these contingency plans, and where to go
to make emergency reports, via all electronic media (radio,
television, and Internet).

- The use of trained volunteers, in coordination with the county
government, minimized potential liability. Such plans, admittedly,
seem to be more workable in smaller communities, and in a state like
Nebraska, which is a "contributory negligence" state with an almost
non-existent case-law history of its courts awarding punitive
damages.


(73, Paul, K3FU)

- --
Paul W. Schleck

http://www.novia.net/~pschleck/
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