Public service communication has been a traditional responsibility of the amateur radio Service since 1913. In today's amateur radio, disaster work is a highly organized and worthwhile part of day-to-day operation, implemented principally through the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) and the National Traffic System (NTS), both sponsored by ARRL. The Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES), independent nets and other amateur public service groups are also a part of ARRL-recognized Amateur Radio public service efforts. Volunteers must have a valid FCC amateur radio license to be the control operator for an amateur radio station.

Amateur radio operators in the community are available to handle public service communications. Amateur (AKA, slang term of "ham" ) radio, what once started as a hobby has been expanded into a nationwide network that provides communications for the Civil Air Patrol, Department of Emergency Services, Department of Civil Defense, the Red Cross, and other groups participating in emergency situations. Amateur radio operators have traditionally been on the scene of major disasters such as floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes. This dedicated group of volunteers provides disaster relief information in the form of health and welfare messages during time of disaster. Locally, this can be anything from reporting an injury accident to provide communications during the May '80 eruption, when normal channels are overloaded or otherwise compromised.

For personal emergency preparedness you my consider researching emergency sites on line. One site here the Author found appears to be reasonable.

The Author and President of SRG would like to see improvement in the area of communications and emergency operations in the Northeastern Counties (highlighted in the map). That's including Pend Oreille, Stevens and Ferry Counties, which have a great wilderness and recreational areas. Along with the great activities sometimes accidents or other bad things happen. Efforts are being made to educate all interested people in radio systems (amateur or other type) to respond in a timely manor for these emergencies. Check these Agencies for futhur information on them:

Spokane Repeater Group endorses and supports public service and is capable of providing wide area coverage in eastern Washington for real emergencies and "hobby" electronic type or general subject discussions among amateur operators. Just read over the " FAQ " for information concerning use of the repeater. When understood, the operation will go smoothly. Don't rely with on-line publications or other second-hand information. Too often, EM people appear to be in a "hurry" because of being busy with other tasks and don't take the time to just get on the repeater for chatting.

Tip: Operations will work best if you, the primary contact and your people helping you become "regular" users on the System and get to know both SRG administrative people and the general group.

This section describes possible involvement with the amateur radio operators to the extent of emergency support for the hospitals. Therefore a description of their operations and radio system may be helpful to be aware of.

Hospitals around the area have 2-way radio systems on VHF. The acronym, H.E.A.R. means Hospital Emergency Administration Radio. Way back in the 1970's this consisted of a base station housing two receivers and one 2-frequency transmitter. This base station normally would be located near the roof top of that hospital to provide the best coverage. The station was controlled with tone remote consoles, normally in or nearby the "ER". (emergency room). An ambulance in route to a hospital could communicate with the ER to give them early information on a patient, thus saving precious time. The hospital could communicate with other hospitals in the local area as well. The "area" channel was normally used for the ambulances, while the "region" channel was normally used for hospital to hospital communication. The purpose of the dual-receivers so both channels could be monitored at the same time without the delay found in conventional multi-frequency scanners.

State of Washington, RCW, Title 70, part 168.015 defines Emergency communications and medical service. The Department of Health implemented a UHF radio system. Being a second system for hospitals, it was designed and setup on several remote mountain tops sites. This consisted of a repeater, with mobiles and in some cases, portables able to communicate with this remote repeater. In addition, presently, most the UHF repeaters are linked together on a microwave channel maintained by the State of Washington. The system is identified with a long acronym of "WHEERS". The acronym stands for Washington Hospital Emergency and EMS Radio System. A consulting firm in Seattle originally administrated the setup and. The Author drew up a simple block diagram of it's infrastructure to help the installer and users to understand it:

Washington State ARES Web site

Three versions of the state map and divided into Regions. The basic difference is the color assignment. The left two are enlargeable by clicking on them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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