CERT - Community Emergency Response Team - is a FEMA program that trains and utilizes citizens in local communities in assisting emergency responders. It's not just communications, but it is a natural for a ham radio tie-in, and that's happening with CERT groups around the country. Jeff McGrath N1SC is a new ham and very energetic CERT volunteer in Lehi UT, just south of Salt Lake City. He talks to David and Gary about all that he does. Toward the end of the conversation, we get into the ARRL's survey asking members for comment on a possible new entry-level class of license. PLAY / DOWNLOAD THE AUDIO
If anyone is particularly interested in CERT or other emergency management work, and hasn't taken them yet, FEMA has a large number of free online courses. Please take a look at: https://training.fema.gov/is/crslist.aspx?all=true
Our local Law enforcement, Fire and EM claim they want citizens and Ham operators involvement but in reality, they point their finger to the door. I have discussed this with several of our local enforcement and they tell me they don't need or want us. So they need not knock on my door if something happens they can't communicate.
There are some places where amateur radio emcomm through CERT or other groups is welcomed and needed. Today, however, most public safety entities in the USA are self sufficient regarding communications. Their systems are redundant and target hardened.....they should be given the billions of dollars FEMA/DHS handed out for communications "interoperability" from 2004-2011
CERT teams are a completely separate group, and are just 1 of the Agencies that Hams help provide communications too. The problem with ANY volunteer group is you have to care for and feed (use) them. When the CERT program (and in many cases Hams) was in its heyday 20 years ago, the volunteers were 20 years younger and capable of being semi self sufficient. In the last 20 years CERT has been unused, un-drilled, and when Federal Money ran out, mostly unfunded, so there was almost no training. Fast forward to today. Many CERT teams have disbanded, and those that exist are more of a liability to their communities due to the ages of the volunteers. The problem is that the agencies that both groups serve have become very arrogant. They feel volunteers are a roadblock to getting their work done, and their systems will not fail. History shows these systems can and will fail. And they will fail at a very inopportune moment. Then the problems start. There will be no volunteers to bail them out, because the volunteers, not having been properly managed, will have gone elsewhere. Without cell phone and internet service, our public service agencies will be powerless. And this is a huge shame.
Some lessons must be learned the hard way, I fear. We are lucky enough here in SNJ to have a regional Medical Coordination Center that sees usefulness for amateur radio so they fund, train, and utilize appropriately.
I'm sure there are places in the USA that actually want CERT volunteers and actually use them. CA is likely one of those places. But experience here in north Texas is that they will gladly take federal funds to train you with, and they will treat you as if they will use you, but in reality they rarely, if ever, do. Don't waste your time with CERT in the DFW metropolitan area. Arlington is the worst I've seen. They only ask for CERT volunteers for non-emergency SH!T work that no one on a payroll wants to do. And as far as the EMCOMM goes, none of the agencies in this area need or want hams and their radios, with one big exception. The NWS appreciates the use of hams in storm monitoring and really does utilize us through RACES and ARES. But all the other agencies don't need us. Those agencies have way better communications capabilities than we do anyway. Why the heck would they want a bunch of idiot, mostly technician only rednecks cluttering up the air waves? They don't. I don't blame them. Most of those idiots are an embarrassment to older hams. Even the NWS gets upset with all the ill trained hams on occasion, but at least they are a bit more patient. EMCOMM sounds like a great idea, but in practice it is as useless as teats on a boar hog for anything other than severe weather. And MARS? That has the be the absolute most worthless waste of ham time. MARS and CERT are merely in place around here for public bragging. "Hey look folks we are using your fellow citizens." But in reality that could not be farther from the truth. Those are programs on paper only. Accountants for the agencies gladly boast the numbers so they can get more grant money, but that money goes for other purposes than CERT. It is little more than a SCAM.
They point their finger toward the door as they have no real idea of what amateur radio can do. They have been sold a bill of goods by communication systems like Motorola that their radio system will not fail and will work in all conditions. But in truth the systems do fail and go down. They try and say that these systems will work together with other agencies when in reality most of the time they can not. The main problem with these systems is that when the police Departments send people to communications conventions to look at different systems they send people that have no technical knowledge and are sold a bill of goods and wonder why they end up with all sorts of problems.
