Cool article I found today. https://interestingengineering.com/...works-go-down-amateur-radio-operators-step-up
Too bad the author conflated ham radio with CB, FRS, and MURS. Also that she incorrectly states that: "...ham is the only way to listen to and talk to local emergency services." [emphasis added] Which would lead her readers to believe --erroneously-- that hams can transmit directly to first responders (e.g. police, fire, EMS, etc) directly on their frequencies.
As an ARO (Amateur Radio Operator) for the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management, I can tell you that yes, our Neighborhood Emergency Teams do indeed become the backup 911 system in the event of a major disaster if phones/911 are down. We have HAMs that are deployed to all local fire stations, and relay all calls for assistance to the emergency communications center, in order to dispatch emergency services to locations in need. Teams call the ARO via FRS/GMRS, and the ARO at the fire station then relays the info via 2 meter to the ECC.
For sure, amateur radio operators can --and do-- play an important part in emergency communications. But we don't --as the article erroneously infers-- communicate directly with emergency services (e.g. police, fire, EMS, etc.) by transmitting on public service frequencies ... which you confirm in your post.
If a story about amateur radio can contain so much inaccurate information what does that say about the accuracy of many other stories in the media?
Typical main stream media journalism--written by someone pretending they know what they are talking about. It appeared to me that the writer knew just enough about the subject matter to be dangerous. They say the best liars mix their lies in with the truth, and that seems to be the case here. Too bad, it soured what could have been an exceptional article about ham radio. "Ham-fisted"? Really?! Oh brother!
