Amateur Radio Emergency Service- stuff you don't want to hear
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- Опубліковано 29 вер 2024
- TelescopeMan discusses ARES as it relates to local city and county emergency services. ARES- the Amateur Radio Emergency Service.
This radio service is sometimes associated with SKYwarn where trained spotters track weather events and report conditions to the local weather bureau. A "sister" service is RACES, which is the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service.
Amateur radio operators can and do belong to both organizations. - Наука та технологія
Most EOCs now see ARES and RACES as a nuisance. In fact, one of our rural East Texas units got booted out of the EOC facility because they needed the space. In a way I don’t blame them, because generally they (the ARES chapters) are run by the oldest or least capable members of the group. The weekly nets are all talk, but when the real thing goes down nobody seems to show up. Texas has had several severe weather events in 2020 and 2021 and apparently the local ARES members had other thing to do or didn’t bother to follow protocol. The result was there were only 2 operators, myself and another member on the net. This was during a 4 tornado, in a 30 mile radius event in April. After that, I resigned from that group because frankly it wasn’t worth my time.
KC5RJL
Houston, TX
As a retired U.S. Forest Service employee who was assigned to over 100 wildland fires and has worked other types of emergencies (e.g. floods) and non-emergency incidents [visiting dignitaries and one for the widespread (nationwide) handling of time sensitive water samples] the local, county and state personnel need to be well versed in the Incident Command System (ICS). People need to go through training and mock incidents working in the positions they are qualified for. All those working in communications, whether they are on local, county and state radio systems AND all amateur radio operators need ICS training. The incident and the people in the field need to work under the structure of an ICS organization. If a mayor thinks they are to be the Incident Commander without ICS qualifications, they are in serious trouble.
This should not be a surprise. ICS is required by the federal government if ANY federal aid is rendered. This has been a requirement for a couple of decades or more.
APRS WORKS GREAT FOR INTERNET RF RADIO ONLY FOR EMAIL, USE IT ALL THE TIME
By the way, I am Skywarn trained and hold FEMA 100, 200, 700 Certifications for anyone who might be interested in my background. I am also a Volunteer Examiner- ARRL.
RFI-Crypto Lab well maybe? :)
RFI-Crypto Lab this would be great idea , I would trust Joe much more than the trump chump ,he makes valid observations, up into just recently our senior dispatcher at 911center was a ham,and the guys that built the 911 center and built and installed the radios were hams ,so we all have had a really good look inside the traditional emergency services and it's capability and know what to plan for and expect , we have pretty robust ares/races group here that frequently drills and activates multiple times a year ,we have been cited nationally for some of our responses to emergencies .
Excuse me Cryto-- but you might want to look at my equipment before to make snide remarks. Just search for w1xwx on qrz.com as you will note my equipment goes way beyond hand held radios.
You should also know that amateur operators were used extensively during Katrina, and last year's New York hurricane-- the Boston bombing --cell towers down and or overtaxed-- dispatchers consoles inoperative. Anytime there is a large scale disaster hams are used to provide communication.
Joe Lalumia the price of our toys does not define us , it's the knowledge and can do spirit put into training that makes us valuable , not everyone needs or could use an Icom 7851 even if baofeng made it at 200 price point tommorow ,any radio that when the ptt is pushed transmits in an emegency is a force multiplier , be it weiled by a ham or LEO or anything else , its a link in the chain of restoring an area or community, I have seen guys with baofengs support the New York city marathon just as well as guys with more advanced gear side by side .people need to celebrate the diversity of ham radio and the people behind the mic rather than the cost of there radio , radios change ,modes change frequencies change but the spirit of the guy willing to dig in and get it done escapes some people ,you can sit and bad mouth us and call us amateur wakers RFI guy , however outside of radio many us are Paramedics , Firefighters , Police officers, senators , congressman who on or off duty will jump in and do whatever they can whenevrr they can be it with a radio a gun a hose or a pen .
AJ-- as you may know most all cities have radio systems that are incompatible with each other. During a training session with out local Army National Guard brigade-- they could not communicate with any of the local police, fire, departments -- so hams were called in to make the LINK. The Guard unit was tasked with helping during a wide spread disaster but had no way to actually communicate with civilian emergency teams. They asked us to help them get licensed for the amateur bands -- and learned how to setup radio links with local emergency services.
There are a few cities that have corrected this but NOT very many.
FEMA states a community must have an Emergency Operational Plan on file in order to be reimbursed for any monies spent during a declared emergency. All of these questions you have should be answered there. Doesnt mean the town/city actually follows them or even opens the plan to drill
John Ryan considering the dunce in the white house has still not appointed anyone to head FEMA or N.O.A.A and we already into hurricane season consider yourself on your own unless until they show up .
Great video Joe really enjoyed the part about the Motorola people. I knew what you were going to say before you said it. Yes Motorola makes great equipment but everyone cannot afford or why spend money needlessly. I enjoy the FREE software and open source nature of the Chinese equipment. Kinda like the old days when the Collins owners stuck their nose up at us Heathkit guys hi hi.
De Ray Wb2mly
I HOPE & PRAY these town folk's Listen to you on this. All very Smart TIP's for them.
I had NO Problem hearing you. I Have an Volume Switch and I turned it UP a little bit is All👍
Ex-Law Enforcement thank you and 73
Pffft ARES is a joke. Most of the guys are so old and creaky (or big as a bus, 500 lbs) that if an actual REAL emergency happened most would keel over with a heart attack!!!
I am a new ham. I got my Technician and General in late October and am ready to test for extra this month. I have been attending ARES Nets and have Joined the local club. I hope that I can use my military and survival training along with the radio knowledge and experience I am obtaining to be an asset to my community. I have already seen that there are some out there that are a lot more interested in being seen as a big dog than being prepared to be a real asset in a real emergency. I think, in small rural towns like mine it is a good idea to get to know the Sheriff. When the chips are down, the Sheriff will be the center of action-oriented operations. Therefore, it is important to develop a relationship with him before a disaster so that he knows you are credible and able to perform.
Ron Parks great comment. Yes having a relationship with EMS and law enforcement personnel is very important.
I agree, you should know your local Sheriff regardless of an emergency.
I strive to have all the local L.E.O.s
Know me and my family a fist name basis.
the local ares here in North East Houston run there weekly nets on a vhf repeater that has zero backup power
Not surprising-- I would speculate that very few actual drills are conducted using a "power- out" scenario. In other words where the dispatch office must operate on backup power. I have been in many emergency drills and they are always conducted with normal electric power, never on backup power.
While FEMA representatives and local emergency management (like hospital staff) use cell phones to communicate.
That may be true but there is a fail safe procedure for power loss and other repeaters around Houston that would cover that area that are multi-powered.
If you depend on just a cell phone for use in an emergency, lot's a luck. Even when not outright destroyed, the system is crashed by massive overuse. It is not designed nor can it operate at 100% of the phones in the system. The government has understood that even the fancy systems that everyone wants to have won't hack it and is going back to HF communications. The HF independent systems don't depend on any outside infrastructure and are the last to go down and the first to come back up.
Ed, if your local OEM is doing their jobs, they know about the WPS, wireless priority system, and GETS for landlines. If I'm registered on WPS and the next 100 callers are not? I get priority access while they can't connect at all. In some cities, Sprint/Nextel used to place all responders on this list. If you are part of a formal emergency operations agency, priority communications are available for your personal phones and usually activated on your issue phone and office line.
audio too low to understand clearly, sorry
The bad thing is so many Hams are now relying on computers and internet. I'll stick with my Icom 735 and EFHW.
I feel bad for young people als they care about are theese damm phones im 24 and im.a ham operator im prepared i just need a bug out bag and other safety stuff then im all set
One thing to note is that the major cell phone providers will bring in portable systems for EMS/EOC. And some of the officials will be using Satellite Phones. But they could incorporate limited communication in their drills. The PR issue sounded more like she didn't do her job, as opposed to a failure to coordinate. Most of the suggestions that you're telling us to do are things that either a local club, or the ARES/RACES group in the town should be doing. The EOC manager won't answer if John Q. Public comes and asks. But if the coordinator for ARES/RACES/REACT (for CB) asks, they are more likely to answer and listen.
By the way, I could hear and understand you just fine... maybe it's my speakers.
Audio is far to low. I turned the video off after 15 seconds.
8P6RC
Very hard to hear you on an iPad (which is all I have access to at times)
audio is super low to start but you took 28 minutes to drag on and on what could have been said in under 10! To keep the viewers attention, think in tv sound bites. just look at how much news they can cover in less than 28 minutes and you took more just to make one point.
I always enjoy watching videos like these to see what people think about ARES or RACES organizations. However, nothing you mentioned had anything to do with ARES, like what your title states.. Still enjoyed it though, but you are complaining about unorganized city or county governments and FEMA. If your PIO doesn't know what is going in an event (and probably doesn't care during a drill), then that is the fault of the PIO and the IC. Also, the IC(s) is/are always in charge of an emergency (IS-100), whether it is a single or unified command. The city government will be making the decisions and letting the IC know what to do or they will sit back and let the IC do what they do best. And, your remark about "chain of command" is actually called Continuity of Operations (check out FEMA IS-546). It's a basic part of the city's emergency operations plan. The only item on your list that really has anything to do with ARES, is the one where the city might not know anything about you. That is the fault of your ARES group as well as your emergency manager. That can be easily fixed. These are all great questions for your ARES group to ask your city though. MAKE them start thinking about that stuff and see if you can take it upon yourself to do that stuff for them (e.g., testing and using the equipment). You would be amazed at the things my city has let us do just because we asked.
The Darkest One we have an "international airport" and part of its readiness evaluation yearly is a city wide drill with fire departments , police , hams, hospitals , red cross, salvation army and all the blue jackets of alphabet scramble on the back , then again one of the DHS heads was from here so he knows the value of ham element and it's readiness to step up .
Lol he's making a video via U TUBE,
Give him a little break, he's not on his ham radio,, so what's the big deal, I enjoyed his knowledge and grasp on the situations on hand, no offence my fellow hams,, 73sss Ki6-ewf
its a great idea but on the day the Apocalypse happens or you get called to an emergency all you will get back on the first call is " THIS IS ABC 123 CONTEST ABC 123 CONTEST.
I'm sorry but audio was to low for me to hear.
Im watching this with $120 head phones , a desk top PC and the volume up at 80% [Don't want to go higher then that because windows sounds will hurt if i get any other noise besides this video.. Try it. Compare this video audio to a music file. playing at thee same time.
Don't know why? I hear it just fine using the PC speakers and or a $20 pair of headphones?? Sorry you are having issues.
+Joe Lalumia I have watched on my tablet and note3 phone. lol. I don't have a set of head phone but did try my ear buds. I just thought I'd share my issue. 73's
Nothing wrong with my hardware. Or hearing.Or the other guy probably. Auto level for this video is 18%lower then most stuff I listen to. Videos or audio. On average. Used my smart phone and an audio DB app.
Nothing wrong here on my PC-- however I went into UA-cam audio and raised it all the way up. They are processing it now-- tell me if this is any better. Give it an hour for UA-cam to process.
Naivety, pure naivety on their part. Good points TelescopeMan
local club here are all snobs i went to a skywarn class few years back with many hams and was not very pleasant
This theme seems consistent through many different comment sections on every UA-cam channel.
It’s unfortunate that what seems like a great resource for the community is routinely commandeered by self important people.
Clicks be clickin’
Modern cell towers can stay online for up to 72 hours in limited mode (low power) if there is no generator on site. Longer if there is a generator on site.
Now lets wait for some know it all chairborn expert try and tell me otherwise... Yeah I design and build cell towers FYI..
ElfNet Gaming really? And how long were they running after the hurricane made landfall in Rockport Texas. ????
Running on mains power and transmitting their control data? Probably not long since the actual antennas are fiverglass, plastic and cheap crap from China.. BUT the internals inside the equipment building should have been in standby mode (not transmitting due to high SWR - Antenna loss or damage). meaning the site was running on it's internal 24 volt DC battery system until they ran down and since a damaged (high SWR Condition) site is not transmitting those batteries could have lasted for a week or more..
But on a serious note I wish ALL of this cellular crap would fail and be scrapped. I cannot stand the society of zombiefied iPhone addicted people around me.. But that's the world we created..
How many ham repeaters were running in New Orleans when Katrina came on land?... I know this for a fact because I was there.. ZERO.. There was ONE UHF repeater the held on the longest but it eventually went down. So did most all wireless infrastructure in that area.
So yeah there is no hurricane proof antenna system yet. I have some fair designs for commercial and cellular systems I am going to submit for wind tunnel testing later this year and see how they hold up..
I was in houston and my phone worked until 2 days after the storm. after that is was gone until they got the juice back on.
No cell service immediately after Hurricane Michael and week after. If the towers aren't standing you have no service.
The audio needs to be better
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ARES is pretty much redundant and their real purpose lives outside of major cities where users would just switch to simplex. ARES are not going to dispatch, they are not going to coordinate, they are just going to establish communications. It's really up to the contractor who built the system to get it online after some sort of downtime, like in Nashville. AT&T had emergency backups, which worked, and the system got by until the big trailers with the backups arrived. ARES is really setting up at fire stations, hospitals, etc, and letting people who actually work in emergency services know incoming information from different operational positions. Way back in the 90s a ham friend of mine was involved in a major 911 outage, where 911 was unreachable but phones for the most part worked. The operators set up at fire stations around the county, monitored Channel 9 as well as calling frequencies, but also established communications on simplex with each fire station and any local EMS stations. There were dispatchers operating on the county mutual aid frequency which is simplex but the two big towns in the county talk on it every day to establish communications. Setting up communications and relaying information to other communicators is where they shine and is where they are useful, even in today's world. But in cities, just about everybody can talk to eachother on a Simplex frequency. Schools, hospitals, police stations are just about always in reach of eachother. I am tired of hams with the stupid stobe lights and reflective vests acting like they are first responders.
I needed help, because cellular was down and I was in an accident on ON-400. I called out for help and reached 2 operators. One said he was uncomfortable and would no longer respond, and the other said he didn't want to be responsible for calling 911. How do you think these exact same operators would act in a stressful situation with ARES or RACES?
To any ham involved in the public service, hats off to you. I'll even take off my socks if you know where you really shine and the service you do provide.
Good video. Food info. Might be a bit long. But, great info thanls. W3CLC
I joined a ham radio club about 5 years ago as a new ham. I was floored by the near chaotic conditions when we were operating our first Field Day. Nobody knew what to do, and everybody knew what to do. Very little cooperation. Then it started raining with strong winds and flooding. Tents blew over, standing water puddles all over the field. I had to even donate 5 gallons of gasoline to help keep the generators running, and give them some cordage to help hold down the tents and guy the antenna poles. As a landscaper, I always have these thing on the truck anyway. End of the event, these seasoned hams were arguing over how to take down the antennas. This is probably similar to what is probably going to happen all over the country when a large scale emergency happens.
Great vids you produce! Truly good, practical advice and it’s much appreciated. When I volunteered with the Red Cross, they were pretty good about testing, checking inventories and running drills. Keep making your vids, and thank you.
I just watched your video, there is a lot to think about. Since I live in a small town, I will start asking more questions. I am also looking in to Skywarn for more training.
I am really trying hard to understand what his description of the exercise (which sounds accurate for most small Type IV teams) has to do with ARES and the use of ham radio operators to staff an EOC.
I can hear and understand you, which is often not true of other You tube channels. ARES is a good place to hone your skills, but remeber it is government and you may want to be involved just to keep them from screwing up too bad.
3-5
Ya I agree the audio is too low and mumbled. BoB Heil,mic and Ham Radio expert, has it right. So many Ham Radio operators have difficulty Grasping the concept of using a microphone. I would think, Ham Radio operators would be expert audio engineers. Please redo this video, nice info but really lousy audio.
Nets are for fish just ask Jesus. On the radio they are a total waste of Band space and time much like contest and special event stations. One of the biggest waste of time daily is Southcars & Midcars. No useful information passed anytime during the day with either of these useless nets as it is with 99.9% of all nets.
1OFGODSOWN well it's a hobby that can help during an actual disaster event. On any particular day you can always find an open frequency no problem. Most times there are large portions of the bands completely empty of traffic. 73
I'm sorry I just can't understand what he's saying
I think your giving them to much leeway on checking twice a year,, I think fat min needs to be quarterly at min. They need to let the local club use the equipment on some of there field day events to work it out..
My city doesn’t even care. We have lost all of Emergency services and cell towers for 6 hrs because of a fuse and had no way to dispatch police fire or ems and they still don’t see the need for it,, and I’ll go one step farther we have spent $20-$25000 out of our own pocket on a trailer set up and they don’t care or under stand it’s there. We can set city up and have it running in under a hour and they have no idea and don’t care.
In Texas the county judge is the guy the mayor is just mouth piece.. sorry for the rant but I see it as important at you do.. our EOC only has one key and the guy that has it will not open it unless he wants to.. crazy great info.. audio was just fine on my end..
Thanks for the nice comment. Like you I agree that many cities do not have a backup plan for communications during a wide spead emergency (grid down). 73
Your audio is bad: difficult to understand, sorry.See the comment of Ian Harvey also . And you talk to long, sir.
Very weak audio, kinda kills it.
Well said.
Granted old video. Currently (6/2018) the head of FEMA stating they are NOT to be considered first responders in a disaster situation. States and local emergency responders must be prepared to handle their immediate needs. Individuals are recommended to have two weeks or more of supplies on hand. It’s as if the gov’t is facing reality. In a true national emergency there is no way FEMA can meet the needs of every state. How thick is the veneer of civilization when the power is lost?
Hams use this ARES BS as a way to TRY to desperately make the hobby look relevant... But the general public doesnt take hams seriously....
Better to think of FEMA as pre event coordinating (think more than 40 years ago when different local agencies had equipment that was incompatible when it came time for mutual aid).
Thank you sir
Can't hear you!!
Try a computer with speaker instead of that religious icon an Apple phone.
Audio is ok but there is definitely a detectable noise floor. [edit: noticed how old this video is.... sheesh! Why am I commenting!]
Yes it was made in the past but the subject is still relevent.
Can't hear you very well old buddy !!!
drew bee try listening on a computer with speakers or with ear buds. On a phone the audio is low.
The reason some of you are having audio issues is that you are using a cell phone or a tablet instead of a computer with external speakers. When I listen to the video on speakers I can turn up the column very easily. Let me address some of the comments by saying I am using a Sony stereo microphone that is attached to the camera.
Joe Lalumia joe, you should produce content that can be accessed on the most common platforms on UA-cam. If you're not going to do it right, how do you expect us to take you seriously? When people say they would like to hear what you have to say, but they can't, you should respect their comments.
For a guy with ZERO content on your UA-cam channel you certainly have an opinion. Why not try one of my other 180+ videos? before you write silly stuff on my channel.
I had no problems with understanding on my laptop...You are a great info source Joe, THANKS for your effort..I enjoy your videos
Your audio is horrible
IT'S NOT HIS VIDEO IT your COMPUTER. i HEAR HIM FINE
I think the audio is just fine. Good on my laptop with out speakers and loud with ear buds.
Thank you
Jerold there’s definitely low hum noise but ok on my iPad. I agree with others that Audio quality could be better. Audacity could easily clean up audio.
All great points you have made Joe. Thanks for taking the time to make this video!
Get a microphone
Get some computer speakers. :)
Joe Lalumia 😂😂😂
your audio is very bad for a ham radio operator