Emergency Services using Ham Radio

[Guest ab2se]

After seeing the thread on who's a ham radio operator, I began to wonder how many FDs/EMS agencies are aware of the services Ham Radio can provide for them in an emergency. I don't know the situation in other counties but in Dutchess the 911 center has Ham Radio capibilities. So does Sharon Hospital. How many Chiefs are aware of this or know how to use the resourse? Do any depts. consider Ham Radio in their emergency procedures?

[OoO 24]

So what services can Ham Radio provide?

[JP59 41]

Amateur (Ham) radio provides communications every year for the New York City marathon. Hundreds of operators are involved in the marathon providing communications for every aspect of the marathon from operations to medical. We have also provided communications over the years for various local marathons, walkathons and have provided communications for the local hospitals during power outages. We have the equipment to communicate locally through VHF and UHF repeaters and the abillity to communicate nationally and worldwide. Amatuer radio has also provided vital communications during hurricanes, floods and other disasters.

[Guest]

Here's a good look at how we responded to the 9/11 attacks.

Ham Radio 9/11

[ny10570 745]

Amateur (Ham) radio provides communications every year for the New York City marathon. Hundreds of operators are involved in the marathon providing communications for every aspect of the marathon from operations to medical. We have also provided communications over the years for various local marathons, walkathons and have provided communications for the local hospitals during power outages. We have the equipment to communicate locally through VHF and UHF repeaters and the abillity to communicate nationally and worldwide. Amatuer radio has also provided vital communications during hurricanes, floods and other disasters.

What medical communications do Ham operators cover at the marathon?

[Patch6713 18]

Woodstock Fire Department is currently working on outfitting an emergency radio bank of all the town's frequencies and the applicable county/state frequencies and this is going to include a Ham radio. The plan is to use it if the other radio systems go down because Ulster 911 and some other offices have Ham capability and we could communicate in case of an emergency.

[trauma74 111]

Often times the HAMs have better equipment and repeaters than public safety. When public safety systems go down, the HAMs are there to put their systems to work.

[rvwscan 20]

Woodstock Fire Department is currently working on outfitting an emergency radio bank of all the town's frequencies and the applicable county/state frequencies and this is going to include a Ham radio. The plan is to use it if the other radio systems go down because Ulster 911 and some other offices have Ham capability and we could communicate in case of an emergency.

This would work only IF the operator was a LICENSED HAM. It is a violation of FCC Rules to operate on Amateur Radio frequencies if you don't have a license.

It may be a good idea to include the ham frequencies so you can monitor the activity, but transmitting is illegal unless you have a amateur radio license.

[NJMedic 96]

My full time job is hospital emergency management. We have 13 licensed operators at the hospital including those from EMS, Emergency Management, and other employees of the hospital that are physicians, techs, and nurses who also have FCC licenses that could be used during an emergency. Upon and beyond that we have a MOU with a neighboring town that would allow their RACES operators to operator our radios should it be needed and their skills were not needed in their own town. We have three radios in our EMS Communications Center. We also managed a four county grant that provided what we called "canned hams" to all hospitals and nursing homes in the region. The "canned ham" is basically a small Pelican style box with a 12v power supply, radio, 100ft of cable, and a mag-mount attenna. The radio could be operated from a vehicle or 110 via converter. The hospitals/nursing homes were encouraged to establish relationships with local RACES organizations to have qualified operators to maintain communications or have their staff obtain licensure to operator the radios.

Most county EOCs and the NJ State EOC have ham radio units in their facilities.

[Patch6713 18]

This would work only IF the operator was a LICENSED HAM. It is a violation of FCC Rules to operate on Amateur Radio frequencies if you don't have a license.

It may be a good idea to include the ham frequencies so you can monitor the activity, but transmitting is illegal unless you have a amateur radio license.

We have multiple Ham operators in the department that are going to be used when the system is needed. However, we will most likely never need to use the radio.

[Guest]

We have multiple Ham operators in the department that are going to be used when the system is needed. However, we will most likely never need to use the radio.

I'm sure this is what most homeowners think when installing a smoke detector... It's always good to have the resources necessary to do the job right.

[KC2OBW 1]

Dutchess 911 has a whole room for RACES, there are 4 kenwood dualband radios, a HF radio, and a 220 radio in there, its a really nice set up. I think they might even be putting some ham stuff in there comm vehicle (at least a HF radio, which is sitting in the radio room)