TO: ALL WOOD COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS AMATEURS
ALL NON-WOOD COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS AMATERUS
FROM: KEN HARRIS WA8LLM
WOOD COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS INCORPORATED
WOOD COUNTY BULLETIN NR 12.41 DATE: October 7, 2012
SUBJECT: PERSON-TO-PERSON IS THE BEST
With all the technical communications today, the best is still Person-To-Person. If the information that you need to pass to someone else is important, you should talk directly to that person. It doesn't have to be face-to-face, but it should be interactive.
If the information that you have for someone else if left on some kind of machine or computer, it may be lost by several means. Some people still use answering machines that use magnetic tape to record the information. If the tape is old, it might not record properly, or it could get jammed or break. Newer answering machine might record the information using a digital format which works well, but the information could be lost if the power goes off, and the backup battery, in the device, isn't any good.
Newer technology such as text messaging is great at long as the person you are sending the information to is near their receiving device, and they have service available. Voice paging isn't any better, since the paging information needs to be stored somewhere, and then wait for the answering device to make itself known that it is available. Voice Mail has been known to store messages three or four days before they are sent to the receiving party.
Some people don’t check their E-Mail everyday for various reasons, so they may not get the information for several days. If you send the important information to some high tech device, then you should request a confirmation back as soon as the person gets it. If you don’t hear back in a reasonable time, then try some other way to get information to them.
If the information that you are wanting to give someone else is important, then you need to talk to them person-to-person. Then if there is any additional information they might need, they can ask for it, without playing telephone tag.
High tech technology might be great, but it's not the answer to everything. Try other ways to pass the information, but, don't forget Person-To-Person.
Ken Harris WA8LLM
WCEC
Wood County WV