With Varying Frequency – Amateur Radio Ponderings

As we are approaching 24 hours to start of Field Day 2007, the contrast in various on-line postings as to expectations of “professionalism” in the Amateur Radio ranks has caught my eye.

There are ECs and AECs (Emergency Coordinators and Assistant Emergency Coordinators), Radio Officers and what every the title of the day might be, simply Emcomm Leadership who not only have bought into extensive training as an end in and of itself, but openly talk about turning away any Amateur Radio volunteer who isn’t interested in massive hours of classes, other “professionalism exercises” and some have openly written they would thwart the effective use of any volunteer who didn’t agree to set aside some of their constitutional rights to be “their volunteer.”

The difference between competency in being an Emcomm Volunteer and being a mindless drone willing to set aside common sense in order to help seems to escape these false leaders.

Granted these leaders have allowed their organizations to become addicts to FEMA and Homeland Security money, and the “strings attached.”

We’ve had mandates to the ARES/RACES volunteers – think about this mandates to unpaid volunteers – that demand they do x number of this or that drills, nets, courses or whatnot to volunteer. 

We’ve even had fully qualified First Responders/Firemen told that their current & documented present ICS (Incident Command Structure) training needed to be repeated for ARES/RACES !!  What lack of common sense.

They have let a distance open between their heavily committed enthusiasts and the average Radio Amateur to the point that they now call for the exclusion of the average amateur from their ARES/RACES operational plan.

Locally we are blessed with leaders at the county level who are club members first, and Emcomm leaders second, so this is a problem imposed on them from State and Beyond.

Bringing this around to Field Day, a joint club and ARES/RACES event, we have the great fortune where the average amateur gets a chance to participate and the ARES/RACES enthusiast gets a chance to work with people more along the lines of the mixed skill and ability pool that they would need to draw from in any long term real emergency.

And most importantly, while the lessons are being learned from Field Day, we all will be having a lot of FUN doing the event! 

 And you know what, we’ll do all that learning and have all that fun as Radio Amateurs – Hams if you prefer, not as some sort of junior cadets lockstep to some mindless government program.

Catch you on the air tomorrow!

73

Steve
K9ZW