TO: ALL WEST VIRGINIA ARES MEMBERS (OFFICIAL)
ALL ARES AND NON-ARES AMATEURS ANYWHERE (INFORMATION)
FROM: KEN HARRIS WA8LLM WV SECTION EMERGENCY COORDINATOR
WOOD COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS INCORPORATED
WV ARES BULLETIN NR 06.26 DATE: June 27, 2010
SUBJECT: FIELD DAY - CORRECT YOUR PROBLEMS NOW
Since September 2005, emergency communications has been a subject that many people have talked about. After the Hurricanes that hit the Gulf Coast a lot of people have wondered how all communications for the Public Safety and general public could be disrupted so much that Amateur Radio operators needed to be called in to help provide that much needed communications service. Most general use and Public Safety communications use towers and other hilltop equipment to allow communications between different users of the systems. If those towers are destroyed or the power to them has been interrupted, those pieces of equipment cannot be used, and the users of that equipment are without communication service.
As Amateur Radio operators we try to keep our communications equipment ready to use at any time. If our main repeater system is made inoperative, then we just change channels, or frequencies, and use another repeater, or use a simplex channel. This is part of the reason that we have Field Day. It's a way to practice setting up auxiliary equipment to overcome a communication outage or overload.
Field Day is the time to locate any problems or short comings and correct them before an actual event so that we will be a part of the solution, instead of being a part of the problem. We just finished Field Day for this year, and have located a few problems that need to be worked out or corrected.
If you attended a Field Day at any location, sit down and make notes of what you saw that worked well, and of what needs to be corrected. It will be another year before we have the opportunity to observe what needs to be fixed, but an actual incident might happen tomorrow.
(Reprint, with modifications, of District 3 Bulletin NR 06.26)
Ken Harris WA8LLM
Wood County WV
WV ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
WV ARES District 3 Emergency Coordinator