N5FDL Amateur Radio

Sandra Cantu, 2001-2009I’ve already discussed the problems we — mostly meaning I — had getting the Amateur Radio response started on Saturday morning. In this post, I will talk about the response itself.

Our mission throughout the search was two-fold:

1. We provided communications for the search
2. We provided communications in support of the public outreach

I do not want to overstate the importance of amateur radio in the completion of these missions. Much of what we did was not entirely communications-related, such as checking in volunteers who were being given flyers to pass out or actually participating as searchers. In those cases, amateur radio was a useful thing to have around and our hams provided other services when amateur radio was not actively required.

More than communicators

I am a big believer in cross-training hams to do more than just communicate. That makes us not “just” communicators but allows us to do other important things when we’re not talking on the radio. Hams can be part of the overall success of a mission and should assist where they are able without losing sight of their primary function as communicators.

This also reflects the interests of many new hams, who become licensed not because they are hot to work DXCC or contest, but because they understand it provides an important tool for community service. Reaching out to these “non-traditional” hams should be a major undertaking of all ARES/RACES/ACS groups.

(There are, for example, two hams shown in the preview frame of the video below).

There is a management point to be made here: Do not lose control of your operators by seconding them to non-communications tasks. Both your operators and their non-ham bosses must understand that your members are communicators first and may be called away or even relocated if necessary to support the communications mission.

Another useful function hams provided was running errands. Flyer printing was being done at about the same rate the flyers were given to the public for distribution. Amateur operators were sent to the print shops to bring the flyers back to CERT HQ, where the public was gathering.

It was very useful for the public to be sent several miles from the actual search or the Incident Command Post to receive flyers and instructions on where to distribute them. That kept the hundreds of people who wanted to help out from congesting the ICP area.

This video is raw footage shot inside CERT HQ where flyers were being handed out to members of the public who wanted to assist in the search. The hams are Judi, W6JCG, whose entire head is visible, and her husband, Bob, K6VZT, who is wearing the red jacket.

 

Our CERT group has been fortunate enough to have been given use of a vacant fire station, which is very convenient for them as a place to hold meetings and do training. Another fire station (move the apparatus and use the bay), a church, school, community center, etc., could have provided the same function.

We staffed CERT HQ with radio operators throughout the operation.

Supporting the searchers

As for the search itself, at various times we assigned hams to go out with search teams. This was more important on the first day, when ham radio might be the team’s only communication back to the ICP. Later, teams brought their own radios to talk back to their Division CP and we provided comm from those field CPs back to ICP.

On the second Saturday, when a big field search was underway, I operated net control from my car because it enabled me to fill gaps in field coverage and solve problems as they occurred. This may not be an optimal arrangement—and I reportedly scared folks when I got out of the car for a few minutes without warning people (or carrying a talkie)—but it did work for a fairly small operation such as this. (We had about eight people assigned to the field at that point).

It is often a good idea to run net away from the actual operation and certainly away from the ICP, unless a suitably quiet place can be found. During this operation, I ran the net variously from home, a fire station (that wasn’t CERT HQ), and from my car. Steggy, WY6E, ran the net from his vehicle parked near the ICP for a time and perhaps from other places, as well.

John, AF6JP, operated a station from inside the ICP on the third day of the search. That worked out well and having an operator there gave the Operations Chief access to our people in the field, who gathered information about the progress of the search at his request.

Here is a list of the hams who participated in providing communications support for this incident: WB6AGR, KE7CMV, KE7CMW, N6DDJ, WY6E, KA8ENC, N5FDL, AA6HO, W6JCG, AF6JP, KI6KBQ, KI6OAG, KS5ONE, KI6RIA, KI6RHX, KI6RHZ, W6RPA, KD6TDE, K6TFD, W9TFD, KI6UTM, K6VZT, KI6YIU, and KZ6Y.

In the third installment: Lessons Learned

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