June 16, 2018 -- I've been away from being Section Manager now for several years, and I still have yet to find my ham radio "mojo".
I shouldn't blame my terms as SM I suppose. But in a way, the two go hand-in-hand. Ham radio became much more than hobby I shared with the ARRL membership I met and interacted with. Ham radio from my perspective, became a battleground of competing
and many times conflicting interests. The DX'ers hate the ragchewers; the ragchewers hate the DX'ers and the contestors. The contestors hate everyone. You can subdivide all of those groups once again when you throw in the topic of "emergency communications," which becomes a whole different ballgame.
I am still listed as the emergency coordinator for my county, but the damn truth is I have given up on ARES. And this comes at a time when the ARRL is allegedly revamping and "improving" ARES. How they accomplish this remains to be seen, of course.
As I have written before, I came to the conclusion long ago that the ARES program is little more than a program that allows hams with a minimal skill set to pretend to be part of communications group during an emergency response.
Now the ARRL typically highlights the actual work done by the very small groups of skilled volunteers who actually contribute to a deployment. These volunteers are trained; they work closely with their served agency or agencies; for the most part, they do whatever is needed (even tasks outside of communications); they do what they are told.
The vast majority of ARES members fall outside this small group; they fall into the scale of "unskilled, untrained, and not necessarily wanted," to "Whacker, First Class" at the far end -- and everywhere in between.
Many emergency managers don't want to use ARES volunteers they don't know and trust -- and who can blame them? IS100, 200, 700 and 800 don't make you a trained volunteer.
Currently the ARRL is revising ARES to create some sort of standards and training. Hell, its long overdue. But even that effort probably won't mean spit to Emergency Managers, particularly if it isn't training that is useful to the EMs.
When I was Section Manager, my guidance to ARES groups was to "train to the level your EM Director wants." The damn truth however was that outside a few populated areas, the EM job was often a job "awarded" the the judge executive's brother-in-law or other relative. If anything big hit the fan, law enforcement would call the state capital anyway.
In my years as SM in my state, I only saw a handful of incidents where the ARES groups truly assisted in an emergency. There were many more incidents where ARES did little more than talk about what they could do if called upon.
This isn't to say that ARES groups can't and don't do good works. They do. Sometimes. Some of the volunteers assist with marathons, bike ride and other public service events. In fact, these are probably events better suited to ARES groups than emcomm.
In my own experience here in my rural county, communications have improved significantly over the past 20 years, and the need for a backup communications group has become unnecessary. 20 years ago we didn't have smart phones that could do all the things that they can do. My argument is simple -- ARES has, for the most part, outlived its usefullness.
And perhaps in its wisdom, the ARRL board recognizes this and is working to attempt to keep ARES relevant in the 21st Century. Best of luck to them.
Now I'm not going to cast dispersions on ARES members; the majority of members I've met are interested in serving in their comcommunities. And most of these volunteers believe they're helping out. There's a few who are obvious whackers and frauds, but only a few.
And perhaps I've been burned out by the experience, but I'm not at all interested in participating in ARES, much less the local radio club. After eight years of being a public figure of a ham, I enjoy ham radio on my own terms, privately.
Go figure.
I shouldn't blame my terms as SM I suppose. But in a way, the two go hand-in-hand. Ham radio became much more than hobby I shared with the ARRL membership I met and interacted with. Ham radio from my perspective, became a battleground of competing
I am still listed as the emergency coordinator for my county, but the damn truth is I have given up on ARES. And this comes at a time when the ARRL is allegedly revamping and "improving" ARES. How they accomplish this remains to be seen, of course.
As I have written before, I came to the conclusion long ago that the ARES program is little more than a program that allows hams with a minimal skill set to pretend to be part of communications group during an emergency response.
Now the ARRL typically highlights the actual work done by the very small groups of skilled volunteers who actually contribute to a deployment. These volunteers are trained; they work closely with their served agency or agencies; for the most part, they do whatever is needed (even tasks outside of communications); they do what they are told.
The vast majority of ARES members fall outside this small group; they fall into the scale of "unskilled, untrained, and not necessarily wanted," to "Whacker, First Class" at the far end -- and everywhere in between.
Many emergency managers don't want to use ARES volunteers they don't know and trust -- and who can blame them? IS100, 200, 700 and 800 don't make you a trained volunteer.
Currently the ARRL is revising ARES to create some sort of standards and training. Hell, its long overdue. But even that effort probably won't mean spit to Emergency Managers, particularly if it isn't training that is useful to the EMs.
When I was Section Manager, my guidance to ARES groups was to "train to the level your EM Director wants." The damn truth however was that outside a few populated areas, the EM job was often a job "awarded" the the judge executive's brother-in-law or other relative. If anything big hit the fan, law enforcement would call the state capital anyway.
In my years as SM in my state, I only saw a handful of incidents where the ARES groups truly assisted in an emergency. There were many more incidents where ARES did little more than talk about what they could do if called upon.
This isn't to say that ARES groups can't and don't do good works. They do. Sometimes. Some of the volunteers assist with marathons, bike ride and other public service events. In fact, these are probably events better suited to ARES groups than emcomm.
In my own experience here in my rural county, communications have improved significantly over the past 20 years, and the need for a backup communications group has become unnecessary. 20 years ago we didn't have smart phones that could do all the things that they can do. My argument is simple -- ARES has, for the most part, outlived its usefullness.
And perhaps in its wisdom, the ARRL board recognizes this and is working to attempt to keep ARES relevant in the 21st Century. Best of luck to them.
Now I'm not going to cast dispersions on ARES members; the majority of members I've met are interested in serving in their comcommunities. And most of these volunteers believe they're helping out. There's a few who are obvious whackers and frauds, but only a few.
And perhaps I've been burned out by the experience, but I'm not at all interested in participating in ARES, much less the local radio club. After eight years of being a public figure of a ham, I enjoy ham radio on my own terms, privately.
Go figure.
-30-
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