Emergency managers and other responders to emergencies and disasters are sometimes hesitant to work with amateur radio operators. Often they're concerned about the vague notion of professionalism, appearance and conduct in person and on the air. In some cases they've heard recreational operation and are worried all operation is like what they've seen. In other cases the hams themselves have conflated recreational operating with public service. In the U.S., AUXCOMM is not a generic label: it means something specific as set forth by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Function is driven by agency need, not by the opinions and interests of the amateur operators. Capability needs to be demonstrated by performance in drills and larger exercises. The operation should look and sound professional. In Ohio we've been working on developing this capability, along with 5 MHz operation that can (and sometimes does) include interoperation with U.S. Government stations, in what is now known as the BLACK SWAN Net. I was recording a session of the net that had voice control, movement of bulletins with MFSK64 and FLAMP, fills provided by a relay station, and station to station traffic relay. It was a good combination of things that seemed to make a good demonstration of how amateur radio operators can work consistent with AUXCOMM principles, agency needs, and emergency manager requirements.
