Stan,
While you have made your motives clear, if such an emergency does arise,
just powering up radios and transmitting can result in communications chaos.
I encourage you to get on the air not only to familiarize yourself with
your equipment, but also to experiment with a variety of antennas that
can be deployed easily - your home antennas will likely come down in
such a disaster.
Get involved with local ECOM organizations, and if they do not exist for
you, form one.
Ordered nets are the norm during emergencies, and someone has to act as
net control - to whom all traffic is directed. Establish standard
frequencies and practice, practice, practice so that all participating
know the format and the rules of proper operating.
You might want to consider taking an example (and perhaps some guidance)
from the National Hurricane Net, which many of us are quite familiar
with here on the East coast.
In the event of a disaster in your area, you will likely be forced to
use low power to conserve battery power and depend on relays from
individuals who can run higher power outside the disaster area.
You may have to learn to setup and use digital modes as well as voice in
cooperation with your local and area Emergency Communications Center
(ECO) which coordinate Police, Fire, Rescue, Hospitals and other
emergency services during a disaster.
That is all very organized communications. If you are concerned about a
disaster, I recommend you become familiar with it and hold practice
sessions communicating with other concerned hams. Many EOCs hold
simulated emergency drills that you might want to participate in.
ARRL Radio Amateur Field Day is a good exercise in setting up a
functional station in a short order of time and operating on generators
or other forms of emergency power.
Communication of Health and Welfare information can occur on
non-emergency frequencies in the ham bands, but that still needs to be
done in an orderly fashion since those in the disaster area can be
expected to be operating at low power and depending on relays from
outside the area. There are formats for messages that operators should
observe so the message gets to the intended recipient in an orderly
fashion. The ARRL information is quite helpful for the formats and
relay net operating procedures.
What I am trying to say is that the formats and operating procedures for
emergency communications is already in place, and you should become
familiar with them and practice with your own local group and/or
participate in national nets and exercises.
73,
Don W3FPR
On 4/30/2017 9:41 PM, KG7FYI wrote:
I'd like to say
that radio is a hobby but the fact is that my only motive was that lives
are at stake. I'm learning.
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