ARES District 3 Bulletins 2017

TO:    ALL WOOD COUNTY ARES MEMBERS (OFFICIAL)
       ALL ARES AND NON-ARES AMATEURS ANYWHERE (INFORMATION)
FROM:  KEN HARRIS WA8LLM ARRL DISTRICT 3 EMERGENCY COORDINATOR
       WOOD COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS INC.

WOOD COUNTY ARES BULLETIN NR 17.30          DATE: July 23, 2017
SUBJECT: IT MAY BE PRETTY, BUT DOES IT WORK?

A lot of people will purchase, acquire, or are impressed by something just because it's pretty, or it has a nice looking paint job.  Take the used car dealer that's able to purchase a number of cars that has been in a flood, at a real reasonable price.  From the looks of the cars, the only thing wrong with them is a little water, and maybe a little mud.  He's able to wash the cars and clean up the upholstery, but how about inside the engine, the doors, the transmission, the brakes, and rear- end.  Did he clean all the mud from under the dash?

Just because it looks good doesn't mean that it will work good. The same thing holds true for communication personnel and equipment.  Just because the equipment looks good and doesn't have any scratch marks doesn't mean that it works.  It may have been a brand new radio or computer, and it just got hit by lightning.  From all outside appearances it looks perfect, but it may have all kinds of problems in it.

It's a proven fact that if you want to get rid of something or just impress someone, just paint it, polish it, or make it look shiny, but it doesn't mean better or any good.  Communications personnel are the same way, they may get all dressed and comb there hair, but that doesn't mean they have the knowledge and experience to properly answer a telephone, talk on a radio or dispatch public safety personnel to the scene of an incident.

Communications personnel need to practice as much as possible and use the equipment they have on hand.  They need to be able to "THINK".  Just looking pretty won't help, it's got to work.

Ken Harris WA8LLM
WCEC
Wood County WV

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