by Russell E. Bankson, N6GWL
Pacific Region, Civil Air Patrol
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Russ Bankson is a licensed Amateur Radio operator. He has been
deeply involved with volunteer emergency communications operations,
plans, and system development for over forty years. A Lieutenant
Colonel in the Civil Air Patrol, he spearheaded a period of major
CAP communications development in California as its director of
communications. Russ is active for in the Amateur Radio Emergency
Service of the American Radio Relay League. One of his favorite
activities is speaking before youth groups and encouraging their
interest in radio, electronics, and the sciences.
Let's get down to the nitty gritty of how the Amateur tactical communications net performs its services.
When an emergency or disaster happens in a community, the Amateur Radio public service volunteer checks into pre-established nets to report conditions in his locality and his availability and capability. If there is a need for Amateur radio communications, when directed he may report to the emergency operations center, fire department, hospital, Red Cross, shelter, incident commander, forest service, Amateur radio net control station, or to the area as directed where the Amateur is needed. As long as all established communications are available, he does nothing but monitors and is available in the event any communications system becomes overloaded, fails, or is not available between agencies.
This sometimes means more than coming to the assignment with a hand held transceiver. Following the October 17, 1989 earthquake the Amateurs had to install antennas, coaxial cables, lights for operating positions, power supplies for mobile transceivers used as base stations, maps, phone numbers, writing materials, battery charging systems, personal survival kit, tools, transportation, fuel, money, expertise, dedication and professionalism. Many of the locations worked around the clock for many days.
So far nothing has been said about what communications service the Amateurs provided during the earthquake emergency when phones were disabled and electrical power was off and there was danger to life and severe damage to property. I am going to relate some of the messages the Amateurs handled following the earthquake in Watsonville, Santa Cruz, San Jose, Oakland and San Francisco. Within twenty minutes after the quake the Amateurs had checked in to the reporting nets, checked their neighbors for well being, and had reported to the Red Cross Amateur Radio stations. Immediately the tactical emergency net was established. This was done because there was no power, no reliable phone communications between the Red Cross Chapters, and a major threat to life and property existed.
This is just a small example of the many types of messages handled by the tactical net of Amateurs. If you use your imagination you can visualize the service the Amateur provides during floods, hurricanes, fires, lost people, earthquakes, hazardous material spills, internal telephone failures in hospitals, snow storms and other communication needs.
Why did the Red Cross need to use Amateur Radio communications? Communications were needed to activate shelters for thousands of displaced people. Feeding, providing clothing, accepting donations of supplies, transporting supplies where needed, providing safe routes between cities, storage of supplies, communications between leaders with responsibilities, assignment of personnel to tactical positions, keeping track of hundreds of assigned volunteers, providing change of shift personnel around the clock, communications with Western Red Cross Field Office and other chapters, communications with other agencies such as the Navy, Air Force, Department of Transportation, fire departments, police, State Office of Emergency services, damage evaluators and hospitals.
When the need is there, the dedicated public service Amateur Radio operator is there, doing volunteer public service.