FEMA Administrator Calls Amateur Radio “The Last Line of Defense”

05/25/2011

In an FCC forum on earthquake communications preparedness, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Craig Fugate described the Amateur Radio operator as “the ultimate backup, the originators of what we call social media.” The forum-- held May 3 at FCC Headquarters in Washington, DC -- brought together officials from the White House, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the United States Geological Survey (USGS), FEMA, the FCC and the private sector. Fugate and FCC Bureau of Public Safety and Homeland Security Chief Jamie Barnett gave the opening remarks.

Later in the forum, Fugate spoke more on Amateur Radio. “During the initial communications out of Haiti, volunteers using assigned frequencies that they are allocated, their own equipment, their own money, nobody pays them, were the first ones oftentimes getting word out in the critical first hours and first days as the rest of the systems came back up,” he told the forum. “I think that there is a tendency because we have done so much to build infrastructure and resiliency in all our other systems, we have tended to dismiss that role ‘When Everything Else Fails.’ Amateur Radio oftentimes is our last line of defense.”

Fugate said that he thinks “we get so sophisticated and we have gotten so used to the reliability and resilience in our wireless and wired and our broadcast industry and all of our public safety communications, that we can never fathom that they’ll fail. They do. They have. They will. I think a strong Amateur Radio community [needs to be] plugged into these plans. Yes, most of the time they’re going be bored, because a lot of the time, there’s not a lot they’re going to be doing that other people aren’t doing with Twitter and Facebook and everything else. But when you need Amateur Radio, you really need them.”

FEMA Administrator Calls Amateur Radio “The Last Line of Defense”

05/25/2011
In an FCC forum on earthquake communications preparedness, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Craig Fugate described the Amateur Radio operator as “the ultimate backup, the originators of what we call social media.” The forum-- held May 3 at FCC Headquarters in Washington, DC -- brought together officials from the White House, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the United States Geological Survey (USGS), FEMA, the FCC and the private sector. Fugate and FCC Bureau of Public Safety and Homeland Security Chief Jamie Barnett gave the opening remarks.

Later in the forum, Fugate spoke more on Amateur Radio. “During the initial communications out of Haiti, volunteers using assigned frequencies that they are allocated, their own equipment, their own money, nobody pays them, were the first ones oftentimes getting word out in the critical first hours and first days as the rest of the systems came back up,” he told the forum. “I think that there is a tendency because we have done so much to build infrastructure and resiliency in all our other systems, we have tended to dismiss that role ‘When Everything Else Fails.’ Amateur Radio oftentimes is our last line of defense.”

Fugate said that he thinks “we get so sophisticated and we have gotten so used to the reliability and resilience in our wireless and wired and our broadcast industry and all of our public safety communications, that we can never fathom that they’ll fail. They do. They have. They will. I think a strong Amateur Radio community [needs to be] plugged into these plans. Yes, most of the time they’re going be bored, because a lot of the time, there’s not a lot they’re going to be doing that other people aren’t doing with Twitter and Facebook and everything else. But when you need Amateur Radio, you really need them.”

Emergency communications drill set for Saturday

The Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) will be conducting their semi-annual emergency communications drill at the Marion County Public Works at 8 a.m. Nov. 6.



ARES is a national organization of ham radio operators who provide communications assistance to state and county emergency officials when the standard means of communication have been disrupted.
The November drill will involve all Oregon counties communicating with the Oregon Office of Emergency Management and with each other. The emphasis of this drill will be using the new email over the air technology.



Read more: http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20101101/UPDATE/101101041/-1/update#ixzz148geR9AB

Oregon amateur radio operators ready for disasters: An enthusiast who established a Douglas County communication system is recognized | The Register-Guard | Eugene, Oregon

ROSEBURG — Jerry Eifert and his band of amateur radio operators are good guys to have around in a sticky situation. When other communication systems fail, they’re the only ones who can send out an SOS.

“These guys are nuts, and I say that affectionately,” Douglas County’s emergency services director Wayne Stinson said. “They’ve taken an interest in public radio and have gone above and beyond.”

For the past 17 years, Eifert, 65, has overseen about 40 volunteers who are trained to broadcast reports in the event of emergencies such as floods, earthquakes, blizzards or windstorms.

“I love radio,” said Eifert, a retired Veterans Affairs hospital nurse. “I love the fact that I can serve my community.”



News: Last Seven Days | Oregon amateur radio operators ready for disasters: An enthusiast who established a Douglas County communication system is recognized | The Register-Guard | Eugene, Oregon

75 Years of Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES)

Yesterday the Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL) put out a press release detailing the events of their annual leadership conference in Southern Oregon last week. Excerpts from the press release:

...The Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES) is celebrating its 75thanniversary from September through December 2010. This program of the ARRL – the national association for Amateur Radio – has provided “ham radio” emergency communications for agencies such as the American Red Cross, Salvation Army, countless Emergency Operations Centers and other responders in the worst of times.

In Oregon ARES was honored by Governor Kulongoski for their emergency communication work during the 2007/2008 winter storms. For more information on Oregon ARES please visit arrloregon.org.

Visit the site for more information about amateur radio and how they provide emergency communications when everything else fails!

Governor's $250,000 Grant to Amateur Radio Goes Online as Oregon Hams Install New Winlink System

This month, Oregon ARES® members will complete the state-wide installation of Winlink, thanks to a $250,000 grant from Governor Ted Kulongoski. In 2007, the governor was impressed by the hams' ability to handle emergency communications when severe winter storms wreaked havoc on Oregon's North Coast and flooded the City of Vernonia, knocking out 911 services, Internet and phone service for an extended period of time.

The Oregon Office of Emergency Management said that during the storms, the radio operators were "tireless in their efforts to keep the systems connected." When even state police had difficulty reaching some of their own troops, ham radio worked, setting up networks so emergency officials could communicate and relaying lists of supplies needed in stricken areas.

"I'm going to tell you who the heroes were from the very beginning of this...the ham radio operators," the governor said at the time. "These people just came in and actually provided a tremendous communication link to us." Because of the service rendered by Amateur Radio operators in providing communications support, the governor allocated funds for the installation of a Winlink system to integrate Amateur Radio with the Internet.

The equipment will be installed in the Emergency Operating Center in each of Oregon's 36 counties. Once the monies were distributed, ARES® members researched and purchased the equipment that would be needed, formalized and signed contracts between the state, counties and ARES®, and allocated space to install the antennas and equipment within each EOC. The project is scheduled to be completed in time for the 2009 ARRL Simulated Emergency Test (SET) scheduled for October 3-4.

"Using Winlink equipment and other amateur equipment already in place at the EOCs, ARES® teams will have to quickly create a communications network, in some instances without depending on other infrastructure such as telephones or Internet," said ARRL Oregon Section Public Information Coordinator Steve Sanders, KE7JSS. "Many will not use commercial electric power. Despite these limitations, the ARES® teams should not only be able to quickly pass local messages, but also communicate with other regions of the country. The ability to pass information in and out of disaster areas is crucial to the effectiveness of emergency responders."

When Oregon's State Office of Emergency Management was activated on December 3, 2007, hams over the course of the next four days used Winlink to pass message traffic. "The Winlink system performed perfectly, and the ARES® team at the OEM was able to pass approximately 200 messages into and out of the State of Oregon Emergency Operations Center," said Marion County ARES Emergency Coordinator Dean Davis, N7XG. "The only mode of communications for several Oregon counties for the first two days of the storm was the Winlink system."