"EMCOMM" -v- Communicating During An Emergency

Started by RadioRay, May 02, 2013, 11:11:02 PM

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RadioRay

I saw that Gil brought up a good point in another forum: the difference between what most hams all "EMCOMM" -vs- communicating during an emergency.  The difference is huge.  Usually EMCOMM mans supporting government or NGOs like The Red Cross in disaster, when infrastructure is not used. However, our focus on communicating during emergencies is often quite another matter because it comes to personal and small group preparedness.

For small group preparedness, we are not generally passing large messages, containing large complicated text such as 150 refugees , their next of kin and etc. or orders for supplies from distribution centers and etc.  For our use, ham radio emergency communication is more for checking the status , location and perhaps some planning needed for our family/small group.  The next layer is local area reporting by eye witnesses or second source (next to eye witness) of events which might impact us locally, usually on the 2 meters band.  Finally, we consider long distance information from around the nation and the world, via HF radio. We'll generally be doing more listening and less talking, so the ability to monitor is important. Hand crank shortwave/AM & FM radios are an excellent way to let non-geeks contribute to the information gathering, saving your 'geeky radios' for those who are trained and have the least likelihood of accidentally damaging them. 

As such, our power burden is generally lower, our volume of radio traffic is actually quite small and one of the most important bits of information in our case might simply be a one line message. "WE ARE SAFE AT FAMILY FARM.". This is easily tapped out in Morse on a small, light kit transceiver, powered by AA batteries and recharged by solar or other means, as Gil has doing for fun from his campsite a very short time ago.


Your Thoughts?


>Ray
"When we cannot do the good we would, we must be ready to do the good we can."  ~ Matthew Henry

KK0G

Agreed 100%. I have zero interest in EMCOMM, in fact I feel in most cases it's unnecessary and sometimes even counterproductive but that's a whole different subject  8)

My concern, and most of us I assume, is being able to gather information and communicating with family members, friends, group members etc, on a local, regional and nationwide status. Having current information and the ability to relay messages can be a huge advantage. If nothing else simply eliminating the fear of the unknown can be a morale boost, although many people today believe ignorance is bliss I definitely don't fall into that camp.

Your last point is a very important one. We have discussions on the best rig for this, the best mode for that and what antenna will work better for that etc, etc, and the number one thing that we absolutely must be able to do for any of that to work is to make tiny electrons flow through a conductive material................ in other words we have to be able to make and store electric power. If we can't do that then everyone of our high tech whiz bang rigs is completely useless. Which reminds me, I need to improve my solar system.
"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety" - Benjamin Franklin

KK0G

Quietguy

Ray is correct with his definitions, but I don't necessarily see them as mutually exclusive.  EmComm - as Ray has defined it - varies widely depending on how local agencies look at volunteers.  Major cities or metropolitan areas may shuffle volunteers off to the side to keep them out of the way of the "professionals".  Smaller jurisdictions have fewer resources on the payroll and are more likely to integrate volunteers into official response plans.

I live in a county that has a fairly large land area but a relatively small county-wide total population of around 100,000 people.  County government openly states they depend on volunteers to get things done in emergencies, and they treat us well.  I have been a county volunteer for several years now and that effort has paid off with a much better understanding of how things work around here.  It never hurts when senior law enforcement officials recognize you as one of the "good guys".  The training hasn't been a bad thing either.

But, someone living in a different area will find a different atmosphere surrounding volunteer EmComm work - some areas will welcome volunteers and treat them right while others will send good people running away screaming.  However, finding out which kind of area you live in is part of the situational awareness we all ought to be practicing.  Knowing how your local government is going to react to emergencies is an important part of your personal preps.

Wally

KC9TNH

Quote from: Quietguy on May 03, 2013, 01:25:18 AMHowever, finding out which kind of area you live in is part of the situational awareness we all ought to be practicing.  Knowing how your local government is going to react to emergencies is an important part of your personal preps.

Wally
Very true that many folks want to help the organized EMCOMM groups when something finally happens and, to be fair, can be a hindrance rather than an asset if not trained & practiced in the methods of that group so they may indeed be sent away as being late to the game. As Ray mentioned, that effort may not be the focus here, although the work teaches other things if one is open to it.

All that aside, your statement above is very relevant. Whether or not we overtly help an established group, having the intel of how the local government (and any other gov't layer that might join the party) will act is paramount to insuring that whatever your "plan" is remains doable. This can be done sometimes simply by engaging with people, whether it be letting some mandarin brag about their latest disaster exercise (and at what point the Feds get involved), or just engaging George over coffee down at the local diner on Main St.

As mentioned, sometimes we're reluctant to acquire (or make) the little "non-fun" things that enable our own plan. Ditto here on solar although it's bubbled up to #2 on the list, delayed mostly because of still fleshing out what I will be expecting of it.

Good topic, Ray. Tagged.

madball13

I am an active member in my towns EM group. The benefit for me is exercising my equipment and ability to to operate when i need to on all forms whether digital, SSB and maybe someday CW. The gear i acquire always has a dual purpose to not only support emcomm but also be functional to my and my family/groups needs JIC. I also get a lot of training. I just passed a first responders course and one of the members of the EM group is certified to teach wilderness first responder which he will instruct to us for free.

All that aside my main reason for joining is for intel. I strongly believe that i will get information long before the general public which gives me a head start to get my prep plans going before the masses.

WA4STO

Hi guys:

I've been sitting back and watching this thread develop.  Thanks, Ray, for starting this particular ball rolling.

Those of you who know me already realize that CW is my favorite mode.  Always has been.  But over the years (and decades!) I've come to understand that CW and EMCOMM are a bad -- and potentially dangerous -- mix.  Same thing with voice modes.

I can clearly remember back in the 70s when I was the ARRL Section Communications Manager for Virginia.  One weekend, we were tasked with providing federally mandated communications for evacuation purposes around the North Anna nuclear power plant.  We were instructed to send a fairly long message, which -- unknown to us -- was duplicated six times by other entities.  On purpose. The end result?  You guessed it, all six arrived with different errors, different texts, different almost everything. 

Fast forward 35 years.  My traffic count for April was 1582 messages.  The vast majority was done via Pactor I, although about a hundred, maybe, were sent via CW. 

I swear that every single time I send one out on CW, I cringe.  Without error correction, I just can't know that there will be any message integrity. 

For me, ham radio involves two distinctly different subsets of activity.

1.  The practice for 'situations' that we do; the service to the public and to the agencies that we serve.

2.  Everything else. 

The 'everything else' is huge.  It's the 'fun' part of amateur radio.  It's the chasing of certificates, the contesting, the experimenting with any number of new modes that we enjoy as federally licensed radio amateurs. It's how we attract newcomers. 

OK, off my soapbox and back to handling traffic for third parties with Germany.  Wait, that's illegal, right?

73,

Luck, WA4STO
ARRL A1-operator, BPL Medallion holder
VUCC Satellite (all CW)
NTS(D) Digital Relay Station, Central Area
NTS(D) Target Station, CAN, TEN & NE
TCC Station ?Foxtrot?

RadioRay

#6
I am enjoying the thoughts of others on this topic. 


Let me clarify how my depraved mind    ;D   sees things:

1.  I am absolutely pro-community support and am quite active in my areas' county based emergency communications back-up planning and activations.  As many been mentioned, volunteering for community/county based EMCOMM is good community service and a great source of intel, as close to the source as we're likely to have.

2.  This web site - while not completely exclusive of volunteer EMCOMM, has more of a focus on the personal and small group (family) use of electronic communication.  Because of this emphasis and the generally short or ''chatty' type of comms desired, we are able to use lower tech, lower 'burden' communications systems, planning to have power disruptions, lower traffic volume and crowded bands, has kept HF Morse as the front, with HF digital next and HF voice last on the list so far - because of relative effectiveness, balanced with the 'tech burden' of keeping said systems operating effectively.  VHF/UHF voice is a great tool for the shorter distances and 'tactical' comms.

A word about digital and specifically e-mail over radio systems: GREAT!  Many of you know me from other places where I pushed for e-mail over radio systems.  The repeatability of messages, automatic message forwarding and non-real-time method of message delivery and retrieval of most e-mail over radio systems is a tremendously powerful tool. I strongly suggest that people have the capabilityto make use of e-mail over radio.  >>> The ability to send/receive "normal e-mail" when your local infrastructure is not operating is a tremendous plus. <<<  For county emcomm, it's a powerful tool as well.

On The Other Hand, if we ever have to leave the comfort of our ham shack (or have little capability to generate electrical power, even at home) , we must have already acquired and maintained the skills to communicate reliably and to pass messages effectively using low power consumption, high portability systems, such as Morse QRP transceivers.  It's so much lighter a 'tech burden' to keep a simple CW (Morse) transceiver going in the field in dire circumstances than to keep a laptop , interface and SSB capable rig operating. The is also the factor of weight and bulk.  As demonstrated, for 'tactical' communications, the handi-talkie is excellent. Past the range of the handi-talkie, HF radio in Morse code is extremely effective, far more-so than voice, which requires much more power to convey the same information AND the voice bands are much more crowded, because it's easy to talk.

Just some thoughts from this side of the country.  What are your thoughts?


>de RadioRay ..._ ._


Ps.  A good review of highly portable, effective yet INEXPENSIVE HF communications while backpack camping, see Gil's most recent trip here http://radiopreppers.com/index.php/topic,407.0.html.
"When we cannot do the good we would, we must be ready to do the good we can."  ~ Matthew Henry

madball13

Couldn't agree more.

The problem i have is no one i need to contact has a HF radio and if/when they do, they have zero desire to learn CW. Fortunately they are local (150 miles) so if and when the time comes connecting to them early will be likely and we can get the plan in motion. In my certain case i see CW as a must have especially as time w/o power goes on and you are forced to conserve.

gil

Very good points guys. Here is the original message I posted on another forum:

QuoteEmergency communications is also not just about helping government agencies. It's about getting information on the situation and potentially helping others outside of the official channels. I can't go to a police officer and have him relay a message to my relatives telling them that tornado that just went through did not kill me. He has other things to do.. Do I trust the media to update me on a developing situation coming my way? I don't think so... My friends know I can get messages out no matter what, that's emergency radio.

A note about CW for emergencies: My whole HF station fits in one cargo pant pocket. That includes the radio, antenna, key, battery, earphones, notepad and pen. No digital or voice radio can do that, period. My 2m HT is actually heavier! Most emergencies, you'll be operating in a cozy temperature controlled environment.. Then you can have all your toys around and a big generator to power it all. The day you have to carry the stuff on foot, you'll be happy to have a small CW rig..

In some parts of the world, there are no local agencies to help or communicate with... Actually, even in the U.S. some remote areas are pretty isolated. The tools and methods then are different.

IMHO, the worst the emergency, the more Ham radio can help... In small events, it could even be a hindrance, or at least ineffective. As the seriousness of a situation increases, Ham radio becomes more useful, not only to officials, but more importantly, directly to the community. The main problem I see in emergency communications with Ham radio is that most of that fancy equipment will probably stop working before it would be direly needed, when the generators run out of gas or the batteries run out, or God forbid, if either need to relocated via human power. I am not sure enough emphasis is placed on portability and field operations. Field day? Yeah, nice effort, but, really..? A large number of Ham operators are not even in good enough shape to do little more than sit..

The last storm we had around here, the local 2m repeater was bustling with activity and regular weather reports, I mean, every five minutes! It made me chuckle.. I applaud the guys who spot tornadoes, that is a great service to the community (here a good example of when Ham radio is very useful), but unless there is a tornado, or a storm even worth mentioning, there is no need to get into emergency mode! Not to mention the local nets asking anyone if they have emergency traffic... As if they don't own a phone. And by the way, if I have an emergency, I'm not going to wait for the evening net to call it in on 2m!

Official relief agencies are now mostly well equipped. Except for rural areas, they don't need Ham radio for manageable situations. The Ham radio motto is "When Everything Else Fails." but it seems to me that's not what people are preparing for...

As to error correcting in Morse, it's simple: You have the other guy repeat the message.. Using a word count also helps.

Gil.

Geek

As you all know I am pathetically new to amateur radio.  I find this distinction useful as a way to think about what I want to do with my new license.  My first goal, as stated in other threads, has been to establish communications with family members located about 30 miles away.  I know I can make that work, as soon as I can get at least one other member of the family to pick up a Technician license.  That is easy and cheap, and in my area I can accomplish it on the 2m band.

My second goal, which turned into a pretty active thread, was to be able to get news from outside the disaster area, assuming a wide area problem such as Hurricane Sandy.  For this, tapping into the EMCOMM world would be helpful.  If you are thinking in terms of TEOTWAWKI then there is no "outside the disaster area" and you're now into another ball game.

My approach to prepping generally, not just communications, is to try to always be extending my capabilities to longer term disasters.  I had reached a point where I felt I was prepared for short term disasters, and even prepped for disasters ranging up to a few months except for communications, which drew me here.  In order to get my communications up to the level of my other preps, I think the EMCOMM route is appropriate.  Will this prepare me for TEOTWAWKI?  Absolutely not, but then I'm not prepared for that in any other way, e.g. food, water, etc.  It will however, improve my communications to a point I feel is in balance with my other preps.

What I sense here is that members who have come in with a strong Ham radio background are imbalanced in the other direction.  They have radio capabilities that are ready for TEOWAWKI, but need to build their capabilities in everything else.  That is no worse than where I am at, it is just different.  For that type of individual involvement in EMCOMM may not really add anything.  They'd be better off doing something about food, or buying a 1000 rounds of ammo.  In my case, it looks like a useful way to get myself to a better communications level than I am at now.

madball13

Quote from: Geek on May 03, 2013, 11:48:09 AM
What I sense here is that members who have come in with a strong Ham radio background are imbalanced in the other direction. 

Maybe. We haven't really discussed other preps here. I think a lot of people are ready to go when it comes to supplies like food and ammo.

Geek

Quote from: madball13 on May 03, 2013, 12:48:59 PM
Quote from: Geek on May 03, 2013, 11:48:09 AM
What I sense here is that members who have come in with a strong Ham radio background are imbalanced in the other direction. 

Maybe. We haven't really discussed other preps here. I think a lot of people are ready to go when it comes to supplies like food and ammo.

We have the tactical corner for discussing these things.  My statement was a generalization, not meant to apply to everyone and clearly situations vary.  I think it is hard to be balanced due to the variety of things that could go wrong and due to varying backgrounds, strengths and weaknesses, etc.  I know I am not in as good a shape with communications as I am with other aspects of prepping.  Each person who is interested in prepping needs to make their own judgment as to where they stand.

My key point is that while the EMCOMM vs. personal preparedness distinction is useful and thought provoking, involvement in EMCOMM may be more valuable to some of us than to others.

EmptySpaces

I think many people have the wrong idea behind prepping or survival or what ever you wish to call it.
It's not stockpiling supplies or taking classes or having enough weaponry to handle the apocalypse.
It is a lifestyle  that takes a long time to develop.  I've been at it for several decades and am not comfortable yet.
Actually that's the main point. You should never be to a point where you feel comfortable. There is always more you can do.
It just takes time.

With me, I never really thought that seriously about comms until it bit me in the rump. Cell phone coverage failure and a major need to be reachable from a remote location. I had become "comfortable" with my comms. The difference is once bitten I began to rectify the problem with a vengeance. I went from barely being able to spell Ham to a General ticket in about two months. That was followed immediately with a P3 modem and a FT-857 for use with Winlink.  Now that prep hole is much smaller.

As Ray has said, Email over radio is an amazing thing. So much so I would argue to move it to the front of the list primarily due to flexibility.
With Winlink you have the ability to send a short (think txt msg) message to any valid email address on the planet.  This also includes cell phone txt messaging. 

But wait there's more! You can develop a stand alone nationwide 24/7 network of peer to peer stations as some of us have already accomplished. You can even store and forward messages on one station to be forwarded to another station that may be out of range due to band conditions. The receiving and or frowarding station doesn't even need anyone there.

But wait there's even more! It is possible to set up a station at home and then take another station remote providing messaging back and forth with, say your spouse and they don't need a license or any knowledge of radio at all. (Yeah, I know, your thinking OH heck NO! That's illegal but there is a way to be perfectly legal, but more on that at another time!)

Simply being able to communicate outside your immediate region with someone you trust in another part of the country or even from abroad can be priceless. 

Which would seem more important. Having a stash of food and say a few thousand rounds of ammo or the knowledge there is a seriously large mass of escaped bad folks heading your way with ill intent in mind. Or that there has been a severe virus outbreak in the adjoining state?    Knowledge is power.

But that's just me!  ;D




Geek

I certainly agree on the knowledge part.  On 9/11 I was inside the World Trade Center.  I didn't know what caused the disaster, but got out of the building, made my way home, and finally found out what had caused the disaster at 6:30pm that evening.  Everyone else in the country knew what was going on within the hour.

Quietguy

I think it's best to not think of these things in an either-or sense... these are not mutually exclusive concepts.  All of these modes and methods are just tools in a toolbox that can be used in specific situations.  They all have advantages and drawbacks, and I think it's important to understand the pros and cons so reasonable choices can be made.  More capability means more flexibility.

Wally