The ARES Forum at Ham-Com had some good info in it. The room was full to the point it got hot from all of us in there. Or maybe the projector heated the room well, but I want to share a point made in our SEC’s presentation. He was sharing some goals for the coming year and this one struck me as odd till he explained it.

The idea was to not self deploy. At first it was like a foreign idea to me, but as John explained it some groups self deploy. No, I don’t know what events or how often or even how they would decide to do that, but apparently some do. We don’t, and that’s a good thing when you hear the reasons.

In the case of SKYWARN we deploy at the request of the National Weather Service. Net Control keeps up with where everyone is and where the weather is to try and keep the two from getting too mixed up. NWS is listening to our reports and so are local EM officials. If you self deploy and no one knows, well, who knows what was reported?

How about the case of a train wreck, literally or figuratively? All of us get a case of the rubberneck every now and again. This is not a situation to which you want to self deploy. It could be a very serious unsafe condition depending on what the train was carrying (or truck). First responders don’t need a ham or a group of hams running around on the scene possibly adding to the confusion. And again, who would you talk to that is in a position to help? We have a plan and a process to follow. I hope you get the idea.

We need to act in concert with our EM officials and at their request communicate in the way that makes best use of the persons and equipment available at the time. Just like wrong notes from an instrumentalist can ruin an otherwise great musical concert, a wild cowboy operator can cause discord in ARES operations and relationships.

Now before anyone goes off on not responding to a situation you come upon such as a wreck or where people need assistance or a similar emergency and you need to use the radio to communicate, that is a commendable thing to do.

I hope you see the benefits of the team working together – ARES, EM officials, and first responders. It’s what our purpose is in ARES; let’s be the best we know how to be.

73
Rick
K5ECX