mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
I agree with all this.
"threat to public safety communications during disasters" shows me one of a couple of scenarios:
1. Complete misunderstanding by the amateur radio community as to what public safety communications systems are.
2. Complete ignorance to how far public safety communications have progressed. Even looking at the changes since 9-11-2001, things have come a long way.
3. An overinflated ego is getting in the way. Thinking that they are "public safety" triggers the whacker alarms.
I agree with what the others have said. 40 years ago technology was a lot different. Attitudes were different. A public safety radio system might fail, and the amateurs would be able to come in and set up a temporary system. It wasn't much, a couple of guys with mobile/portable radios and could pass some basic radio traffic.
Now, public safety systems cover a lot more area. They are built much better than the amateur radio systems I've seen. Redundancy, better planning, fall back systems, etc are all in place. I've been in the industry for almost 30 years now, and I've never seen any point where amateur radio operators came in and "saved the day". I've been there when they were put on a few street corners when phones were down, but then they were replacing the public telephone systems, not the public safety radios systems.
I've got a local amateur group trying to install equipment on top of one of our buildings right now.
They have absolutely zero understanding of grounding. No understanding of the NEC, building codes, basic structural design, etc. I'm having to walk them through all of this, things they should understand. They want to throw an antenna up on the roof weighed down with cinder blocks, which isn't so bad. They didn't want to do any grounding, I've had to walk them through that and quote sections of the NEC.
From their other installs I've seen, there is no battery backup. It's a pair of 30 year old Motorola mobile radios lashed together and sitting on a shelf.
Public safety, my å$$.
Amateur radio needs to up their game. Not by buying more Chinese radios, but by cooperating more with each other and with other community support groups. Rather than having 20 different repeaters covering the same general area because Club A can't get along with Club B, maybe club a and b need to combine and build one really good repeater site, back up battery plant, generator, maybe digital (come on, agree on a standard digital mode already!!!). Build a reliable system that can be used for public service. Stop trying to be police, fire and EMT's. Be radio guys. Set up the radios and get the *&#% out of the way of the professionals.
"threat to public safety communications during disasters" shows me one of a couple of scenarios:
1. Complete misunderstanding by the amateur radio community as to what public safety communications systems are.
2. Complete ignorance to how far public safety communications have progressed. Even looking at the changes since 9-11-2001, things have come a long way.
3. An overinflated ego is getting in the way. Thinking that they are "public safety" triggers the whacker alarms.
I agree with what the others have said. 40 years ago technology was a lot different. Attitudes were different. A public safety radio system might fail, and the amateurs would be able to come in and set up a temporary system. It wasn't much, a couple of guys with mobile/portable radios and could pass some basic radio traffic.
Now, public safety systems cover a lot more area. They are built much better than the amateur radio systems I've seen. Redundancy, better planning, fall back systems, etc are all in place. I've been in the industry for almost 30 years now, and I've never seen any point where amateur radio operators came in and "saved the day". I've been there when they were put on a few street corners when phones were down, but then they were replacing the public telephone systems, not the public safety radios systems.
I've got a local amateur group trying to install equipment on top of one of our buildings right now.
They have absolutely zero understanding of grounding. No understanding of the NEC, building codes, basic structural design, etc. I'm having to walk them through all of this, things they should understand. They want to throw an antenna up on the roof weighed down with cinder blocks, which isn't so bad. They didn't want to do any grounding, I've had to walk them through that and quote sections of the NEC.
From their other installs I've seen, there is no battery backup. It's a pair of 30 year old Motorola mobile radios lashed together and sitting on a shelf.
Public safety, my å$$.
Amateur radio needs to up their game. Not by buying more Chinese radios, but by cooperating more with each other and with other community support groups. Rather than having 20 different repeaters covering the same general area because Club A can't get along with Club B, maybe club a and b need to combine and build one really good repeater site, back up battery plant, generator, maybe digital (come on, agree on a standard digital mode already!!!). Build a reliable system that can be used for public service. Stop trying to be police, fire and EMT's. Be radio guys. Set up the radios and get the *&#% out of the way of the professionals.
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