Archive for the 'Emergency Communications / Public Service' Category


NIST Debuts New Approach to Ad Hoc Networks for First Responders

From the 8/6/08 issue of Tech Beat, a publication of the National Institute of Science and Technology:
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) researchers successfully demonstrated a prototype approach to maintain two-way communications with first responders as they make their way in building fires, and mine and tunnel collapses. These and other disasters in enclosed [...]

Fun on the Fourth

This year, as we have done for at least the last five years, our amateur radio club provided communications for the JayCee’s Ann Arbor Fourth of July Parade. Last year, I tried to get a small flag they were handing out to kids to mount on my HT antenna, but was rebuffed, the woman saying, [...]

What the Academics are Working on for EMCOMM

The IEEE Communications Society is offering for free the article, “A Broadband Wireless Communications System for Emergency Management.” This will give you a peek at what academics are working on as far as emergency communications is concerned. As you’ll note, there is no mention of amateur radio.
The abstract reads:
Wireless communications have received much attention during [...]

From NIST Tech Beat, May 13, 2008

Here are a couple of items from the NIST Tech Beat, an e-mail newsletter of the National Institute of Science and Technology. The first could really be important in an emergency situation. The second is still more in the realm of research, but the speed at which some of these things become products, I wouldn’t [...]

Hot for Solar Data?

We may be at the nadir of the sunspot cycle, but that doesn’t mean there’s not a lot of interest out there in solar data. If you’re hot for this kind of thing, I suggest you get the FREE Solar Data Plotting Utility.
As the website notes:
This application was written mainly for Amateur Radio Operators who [...]

2007 Simulated Emergency Test, 10/6-7, 2007

From the ARRL website:
The ARRL Simulated Emergency Test is a nationwide exercise in emergency communications, administered by ARRL Field Organization Leaders including Emergency Coordinators, District Emergency Coordinators, Section Emergency Coordinators and Net Managers. Many other Section Leaders like the Section Manager and the Section Traffic Manager may have a hand in planning the exercises and/or [...]

CQ FD? No, CQ GOTA!

Here’s another great idea for GOTA stations that’s gaining traction on the ARRL PR mailing list—instead of calling “CQ Field Day,” call “CQ GOTA.” Maybe, just maybe, hams answering that call will take the time to speak slowly and use plain language, giving the GOTA station operator every opportunity to have a great experience.
Dennis, KG4RUL, [...]

Ham Radio Makes the Congressional Quarterly

From Gary, K2GW, SNJ SEC:
Very nice article about Ham Radio in the other CQ (Congressional Quarterly).
Members of Congress are an audience definitely worth reaching. As background, I believe Amateur radio has been involved in all of the TOPOFF exercises since they started.

A Little History

This from Maggie, K3XP, via Allen Pitts, W1AGP, the ARRL PR guru:
In 1955, The Phil-Mont Mobile Radio Club, an association of mobile amateur radio operators, provided emergency communications during the…during the devastating flood of August, 1955 along the Delaware River and in the Pocono Mountain s following Hurricane Diane, the sixth costliest U.S. hurricane of [...]

ARRL Rolls Out EmComm PR Campaign, Website

From the ARRL Letter of 2/2/07:
“Ham Radio . . . Getting the message through for your family and community”
is the theme of the League’s 2007 public relations campaign. The Emergency Radio Website debuted this week. ARRL Media and Public Relations Manager Allen Pitts, W1AGP, says the 2007 PR initiative picks up the momentum ARRL [...]