I assume this was a single point occurrence? Or... were there 200 such stations set up? If a single point, did it satisfactorily support the needs of the entire region? If as many satellite uplinks were provided as were required, the initial and on-going costs necessary to support such a response just might be beyond the scope of reasonable planning.
I'm not sure about military satellites, but I believe commercial sats require operational ground-based control stations. It's not simply point-to-point communications. ... Duane N7QDN --- In [email protected], DuBose Walt Civ AETC CONS/LGCA <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Here are some excerpts from E-Mail between individuals deeply involved in > FEMA and NDMS communications. > > From a FEMA Incident Commander who is an active amateur radio operator... > > "The subject of this email is Communications and it is from the > Southern Mississippi FEMA Incident Manager. He was without cell phone, > and Internet capability. He cornered a State Police Car and asked them > to be his commo. They said fine but they had no commo too. Jim was at > wits end when an Army Captain came to him and asked if he had any commo. > Jim said no commo and it's a big problem. The Captain said no problem, > and got on his radio and ordered an Army Communications Van to be placed > at Jim's disposal. Two hours later a van arrived and it had 4 guys that > set up a big dish antenna and then asked Jim how many telephones he > needed and what computers needed the Internet? Jim ordered 5 telephones > and the Internet for his laptop. Soon Jim was on the phone to FEMA > letting them know about the situation and giving them his telephone > number. Jim was found by the Salvation Army. They said they can set up > 85 soup kitchens but needed $560,000 fast to stock the kitchens. Jim > called FEMA requesting the funding and the Salvation Army had the money > in 3 hours." > > "Due to this success story from Katrina, we are all told to use the > Army for communications support and I have the phone number to call when > needed. I fear that what we can do with Ham Radio is too little and far > too late. We can help with Health and Welfare traffic which is not done > by the official part of an Incident." > > From an amateur radio operator who works closely with NDMS and on a DMAT > (Disaster Medical Assistance Team)... > > "Your posting this morning was most timely and coincided with a FL3-DMAT > team meeting I was attending. To underscore the points you made, members > of the Comms unit, all of whom hold an Amateur Radio license, were advised > this morning that NO Amateur Radio, FRS or GMRS gear may be brought to a > deployment, effective immediately. If any of the above is observed by FEMA, > > the DMAT unit will lose its funding for the next twelve months!" > > "It is becoming more and more apparent the Feds are doing what they can, > short of taking our frequency allocations and licenses away, to push Amateur > > Radio out of the picture. I fear once they have achieved success doing to, > they will use it to justify a revocation of spectrum and license > privileges." > > This should be a wake-up call...amateur radio has less and less to offer > emergency and disaster relief communications. > > While I like nothing more than a good rag chew on 40 or 75 with my amateur > radio friends of 40+ years, > I believe that those days of me being able to do so are rapidly coming to > and end. > > Today ones community service is evaluated as "value to the community, state, > nations." Funding for groups is based on that. > > With the money set aside for Katrina and Rita relief, you should have been > able to purchase complete new HF dual band stations of every ham in Texas, > Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida...plus a few other states. But > that is hardly the amount given to the ARRL. > > The more value you bring to the table, the better your position of survival > is. This doesn't make it right or anything else...it is just the way it is. > > Survival of the "righteous and just" is not assured. Survival of the > "performers" is. > > What can amateur radio being to the table? > > No quick answers or answers at all...we just need to think long and hard > about how we can be of significant value to emergency and disaster relief > operations. > > 73, > > Walt/K5YFW > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. Make Yahoo! your home page http://us.click.yahoo.com/dpRU5A/wUILAA/yQLSAA/ELTolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Need a Digital mode QSO? Connect to telnet://208.15.25.196/ Other areas of interest: The MixW Reflector : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/themixwgroup/ Looking for digital mode software? Check the quick commerical free link below http://www.obriensweb.com/digimodes.html Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/digitalradio/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
