07-25-2002, 07:12 PM
As a amateur radio operator you have the ability to ease the mind of a mother, father, sister or brother of a perfect stranger half way around the world with your privileges and skills. What saddens me is the fact that the only thing I ever see ham radio operators doing is trying to be sudo-cops, firemen and any person in a position of authority just because they can use a radio. They do this because there exist, in letter form, agreements between the Salvation Army, the American Red Cross and the National Weather Service which amateur radio operators use as there cornerstone to get involved in outdated programs like Skywarn and A.R.E.S & R.A.C.E.S. The problem is that the American Amateur radio operator does not realize that corporate America, corporate organizations and the U.S. Government is using them.
How do they do that? Well, lets take May 3, 1999 in Oklahoma for example. The largest, most deadly and horrific tornado on record crossed the heart of Oklahoma. The damage was indescribable. The Salvation Army, American Red Cross and every able bodied Oklahoman pitched in to create the biggest relief effort ever assembled inside the state. The amateur radio operator was there, and these relief organizations were glad for it. If the hams would not have been there, who would N5FM, of the Salvation Army, have gotten to drive those Canteens equipped with 2 meter radios that were used to communicate the need for more Coke, buns and processed meats back to Salvation Army Headquarters in OKC? Who else was so easily motivated to do free work and be easily taken advantage of in the Salvation Army's misappropriation of equipment and personnel? On top of that, The Salvation Army refused Health & Welfare traffic right along with the American Red Cross.
My point is that we as Amateurs are pre-programmed before we get our tickets that our licsence will open up a world of making a difference and doing good public service work in programs like A.R.E.S and R.A.C.E.S. The brochures and books we studied never told us about the politics and power struggles that we would meet within our own circles. Nor did those books tell us about people and corporations that love to take advantage of us and our skills.
Inside the books that we studied to get our tickets, the authors always used the idea and concept of public service as a incentive to study hard and get out license. Once you get your ticket, you quickly realize that the public service that they were talking about has been replaced by certified Police officers and Boy Scout Explorers. There is nothing for the Ham to do inside public service for our neighborhoods, counties or states with the exception of Skywarn and MARS, A.R.E.S & R.A.C.E.S all of which are highly overrated, seldom used and greatly misunderstood. So where does that leave us? It's easy, but you wont like it. It leaves us with the ability to do something that Cops, Firemen and even the Salvation Army and American Red Cross can not do. We can broadcast messages around the world at will. All we have to do is key down a radio, and tune up a transceiver. We hold a Federal license and they don't.
Do you know what a blessing that is? For me it is a true blessing because I know that in my lifetime I will never achieve any kind of greatness. And if my station ever sends one message letting a worried mother, father or family member know that a relative or friend is doing well after a event like Oklahoma saw in 1999, then my station did something worth doing. And all this expenses, time and effort was worth it. That is why I became a Ham in the first place. I believe in the power of radio and the people behind it.
Hams today do not see things this way. I am not saying that my point of view is the only right one but, I am saying that my point of view is a good start in understanding the role of the Ham as a service to this great country. But before you can do that, you have to understand the amount of power you have at your disposal as a Ham radio operator and begin to take it seriously.
My understanding of Ham radio and what I perceive to be priority in my personal service to this country lead me to reinitialize digital communications inside Oklahoma by putting up the first dedicated Linux Server BBS. It is operational on 145.050 FM in Norman Oklahoma and is a gated to the Internet over static IP. This is all I have at the moment until I get a CLOVER system setup. Then I will begin forwarding to W0RLI directly.
It was my hope that I could stress the ever-growing importance of Health & Welfare Communications in Ham radio in this brief article, but I feel I have failed. So, I'll leave the reader with this... You don't have to be a miracle worker to move a message but you must have a clear understanding of why the smallest of things are in most circumstances the most important, and always the most rewarding. The more you understand and except your true role in public service as a Ham, the sooner you will find true enjoyment out of it while providing a great, and needed, service to your country.
73 KC7R UN
How do they do that? Well, lets take May 3, 1999 in Oklahoma for example. The largest, most deadly and horrific tornado on record crossed the heart of Oklahoma. The damage was indescribable. The Salvation Army, American Red Cross and every able bodied Oklahoman pitched in to create the biggest relief effort ever assembled inside the state. The amateur radio operator was there, and these relief organizations were glad for it. If the hams would not have been there, who would N5FM, of the Salvation Army, have gotten to drive those Canteens equipped with 2 meter radios that were used to communicate the need for more Coke, buns and processed meats back to Salvation Army Headquarters in OKC? Who else was so easily motivated to do free work and be easily taken advantage of in the Salvation Army's misappropriation of equipment and personnel? On top of that, The Salvation Army refused Health & Welfare traffic right along with the American Red Cross.
My point is that we as Amateurs are pre-programmed before we get our tickets that our licsence will open up a world of making a difference and doing good public service work in programs like A.R.E.S and R.A.C.E.S. The brochures and books we studied never told us about the politics and power struggles that we would meet within our own circles. Nor did those books tell us about people and corporations that love to take advantage of us and our skills.
Inside the books that we studied to get our tickets, the authors always used the idea and concept of public service as a incentive to study hard and get out license. Once you get your ticket, you quickly realize that the public service that they were talking about has been replaced by certified Police officers and Boy Scout Explorers. There is nothing for the Ham to do inside public service for our neighborhoods, counties or states with the exception of Skywarn and MARS, A.R.E.S & R.A.C.E.S all of which are highly overrated, seldom used and greatly misunderstood. So where does that leave us? It's easy, but you wont like it. It leaves us with the ability to do something that Cops, Firemen and even the Salvation Army and American Red Cross can not do. We can broadcast messages around the world at will. All we have to do is key down a radio, and tune up a transceiver. We hold a Federal license and they don't.
Do you know what a blessing that is? For me it is a true blessing because I know that in my lifetime I will never achieve any kind of greatness. And if my station ever sends one message letting a worried mother, father or family member know that a relative or friend is doing well after a event like Oklahoma saw in 1999, then my station did something worth doing. And all this expenses, time and effort was worth it. That is why I became a Ham in the first place. I believe in the power of radio and the people behind it.
Hams today do not see things this way. I am not saying that my point of view is the only right one but, I am saying that my point of view is a good start in understanding the role of the Ham as a service to this great country. But before you can do that, you have to understand the amount of power you have at your disposal as a Ham radio operator and begin to take it seriously.
My understanding of Ham radio and what I perceive to be priority in my personal service to this country lead me to reinitialize digital communications inside Oklahoma by putting up the first dedicated Linux Server BBS. It is operational on 145.050 FM in Norman Oklahoma and is a gated to the Internet over static IP. This is all I have at the moment until I get a CLOVER system setup. Then I will begin forwarding to W0RLI directly.
It was my hope that I could stress the ever-growing importance of Health & Welfare Communications in Ham radio in this brief article, but I feel I have failed. So, I'll leave the reader with this... You don't have to be a miracle worker to move a message but you must have a clear understanding of why the smallest of things are in most circumstances the most important, and always the most rewarding. The more you understand and except your true role in public service as a Ham, the sooner you will find true enjoyment out of it while providing a great, and needed, service to your country.
73 KC7R UN