This page brings together the thoughts and views of the EMRG Team Leader, Peter Gamble (VE3BQP), based on many years of experiences and thought about the role of Amateur Radio as an Emergency Communications resource and through recent comments made in ARES e-mail list discussions. The page is provided to people as required to help develop the discussion to revitalize Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Role.
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1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Opportunities 1.2 Missing Opportunities Today 1.3 Living On Legend 1.4 One Size Does Not Fit All 1.5 Group Oscillation 1.6 Understanding Our Role 1.7 The Need To Be Transparent |
4.0 RAC and ARRL
4.1 ARES Only 4.2 Attitude 4.3 ARRL - Starting To Change * |
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2.0 EMERGENCY RESPONSE LAYERS
2.1 Starting From The Top 2.2 Matching Amateur Radio To Emergency Response 2.3 Aligning Expectations With Requirements * |
5.0 CHALLENGES and HURDLES
5.1 Fragmentation 5.2 What's In A Name 5.3 Message Handling 5.4 Civilian Vs Military Model 5.5 Amateur Attitude 5.6 Getting Enough People 5.7 Buildings and Terrain * |
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3.0 EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
3.1 Government 3.2 Amateur Radio Interface 3.3 Making Decisions 3.4 Emergency Vs Disaster - Big Vs Small 3.5 First 24 to 48 Hours Critical * |
6.0 IDEAS and SUGGESTIONS
6.1 Tactical Message Form 6.2 Possible Technical Solutions * * |
The concept of Amateur radio as an Emergency Communications resource has developed over a long period of time, based on a mix of National, Regional and local requirements, viewed from a Governmental and Amateur radio perspective. This web page is intended to document information, concepts and ideas based on the belief that there is a growing gap between what is required or expected for emergency communications and what Amateur radio is providing.
Amateur radio struggles for acceptance as an emergency communications resource, because expectations are not aligned with requirements. We fight to be integrated into and respected by the First Response organizations, but they resist, not because they don't care, not because they don't like us, they resist because they do not see a role for us. This error in direction is fully endorsed by many levels of Government, Amateur "experts", the ARRL and RAC, through their statements or lack of clarification. Many amateurs are bitter and many locations are left without effective volunteer communications solutions because we struggle to get to where we are not required, into the First Response area.
There are many opportunities for Amateur radio to be a critical resource, a sought after resource, a respected resource, in many emergencies even if telecommunications has not failed or is not overloaded. We need to focus on developing the role where there is a match between what we provide and who we work with. The tasks and organizations involved in establishment of shelters, checking on people in their homes, citizen patrols etc., provides a great fit with who we are and what we can provide. This would include Red Cross, People Services (Social Services), Health, Salvation Army etc. I see this as the greatest opportunity because these organizations typically lack telecom skills, don't have a radio system and need to communicate with diverse locations. We have the opportunity to be their telecom experts, both under normal and failure conditions.
Over time we will prove ourselves as committed, dependable and useful. This will open doors for other opportunities in which we may be able to provide more specialty applications for first response support. We are just volunteers, no better than anyone who volunteers for the Salvation Army, Red Cross or Saint John Ambulance. We must EARN respect!
We are failing to meet the needs of organizations we claim to support today, because we do not have the relationship or technical solutions in place. The National Red Cross - ARES agreement is an important statement of cooperation between the two groups, but neither group has any resources at a National level to do anything more than sign paper. Implementation of the agreement must be done at a local level, but neither organization (Red Cross, ARES) has moved to effectively implement the relationship locally.
In an impromptu survey of ARES groups in Ontario, most groups do not have a working relationship with their local Red Cross group. Some have agreements, but most Red Cross groups will not allow ARES groups to handle the primary pieces of data, Registration and Inquiry. We had an agreement in Ottawa with the Red Cross, only to find out later that they associated ARES with HF, Province wide or National communications. They would not have thought to call us to communicate across the City. That has now changed, but it takes time, work and dedication, it's not easy.
In most discussions about radio operation, people describe the importance of having two people, one operator and one logger at each location. But how many groups act on this to ensure they have the technical capability to do this? Simple headphone amplifiers will allow each person to adjust the volume to their level, which is important for hours of listening. Microphone mixers allow more than one microphone, so the two people can both operate the radio without the need to sit side by side and pass the microphone back and forth. Why is it that people spend great effort building equipment for disaster site deployment, but spend little or no time preparing to operate from a shelter?
We are living on our legend to some extent and if we do not change, we will be of less assistance over time, making amateur radio eventually a solution of last resort. Agencies will be forced to develop alternative strategies to ensure they have a suitable backup solution if normal communications fails. This page is critical about some aspects of amateur radio emergency communications, but that is not meant to imply that amateur radio is a failure or that amateur radio cannot be a vibrant successful solution. We are where we are as a result of Amateur and Government action and inaction on these topics. However as amateurs we can show leadership in defining the areas that need to change and helping drive that change.
Not all amateurs share my views, Many believe that Amateur radio is a vibrant, functional emergency communications resource as implemented today, so they feel this discussion is not required. Some hams believe that;
There are many variations across Canada, based on the Province we live in and the size of our local community in terms of population and land area. Each area will have slightly different views and requirements which open or close some doors. However there are many areas that are common across Canada. It is the commonalties we need to organize first and build local variations on top of the common structure. This will allow for the greatest sharing of information and ideas and provides an interface for utilizing volunteers from outside our area in an emergency.
For years, the volunteer amateur radio group in Ottawa was known for its starts and stops. Someone would put on a push to get things moving and when they stopped pushing, everything stopped moving. Then the same person, or someone else would come along and the cycle (oscillation) continued.
The same problem appears to exist across North America, at least to some level. Watching e-mail lists for several years in the US and Canada, there are constant notes from someone saying. "I am looking for advice, we just formed an ARES group in our area after years of having nothing", Our EC just quit, moved, got tired, etc. and I am trying to keep our group going, any suggestions".
It appears that most groups exist due to the efforts of a few (1 or 2 in many cases) who put in the time to build relationships and make contacts. Local amateurs "sign up" and wait for direction. People will come out for meetings and training and exercises, but most amateurs are waiting for "them" to organize it. The few people doing the work become frustrated, develop additional family commitments or have work related changes, which cause them to step down or reduce their effort. Once this happens, the groups seem to go into a dormant state, where all activity stops, or they meet, but there is no one doing the organization, so nothing effectively happens.
The Group Oscillation interacts with the Misconceptions of our role, so the few people organizing things are caught fighting needless battles trying to get the attention of First Response leaders or in other cases, they have little help in developing solutions for required deployment such as shelters or other buildings.
This is a complicated problem, but it gets back to defining our role and having amateurs and government understand and support the role. From there, we can direct our energy towards positive development. There are other things we need to work on as well, including leadership, so we can delegate more and bring more interaction within the group. Many people wait to be told what to do, but once you get them on side, they will take the project and see it to completion.
In thinking about "What Is Our Role", we are trying to look at something that is never discussed, leaving it open to interpretation and assumption, which is why we are here discussing it now. The Federal Government, through the Emergency Preparedness Collage in Arnprior promotes amateur radio as a "Valuable" resource and does a bit of demonstration using Amateur radio as part of the training exercise. Provincial emergency measures staff also promote amateur radio as a valuable resource. So now the Municipal Emergency Planners know that Amateur radio is a great resource to have.
The Municipal planner and the local Amateur group sign an agreement and the Amateur radio resource is in place. Everyone now waits for something to happen. The Emergency planner is assuming that the Amateurs know what to do and are prepared, while the amateurs are assuming the Emergency planner will be telling them what to do. In the absence of discussion between the Emergency Planner and Amateur radio operators, amateurs develop their own perspective, which includes when and how they feel they should be used. Expectations are not aligned, so they will not be met and another emergency planner is labeled as incompetent and uncaring.
Based on discussions I have had with Federal, Provincial and Municipal emergency planners, I feel none of them could describe the role of amateur radio in an emergency (This means more than just "Provide Backup Communications"). It has become a check list item, along with bottled water, the Red Cross, blankets and batteries. This is not because they don't care, but Amateur radio is not one of their biggest issues and we have done a great job promoting how ready we are, so they assume everything is OK.
I also don't expect any level of Government to take the bull by the horns and drive this, so it is up to Amateur radio to define our role and then work to educate various levels of government. In this process they will provide feedback, which can be taken in to help define our role and to ensure we have agreement and understanding from everyone, Amateur and Government, as to what our role is in an emergency. This will ensure that expectations are aligned between groups, which means success and happiness.
The organizations that Amateur radio supports in an emergency, use phone, fax, e-mail and cell phones as their daily tools and they plan to use those same tools in an emergency. If phone lines fail and Amateur radio replaces the normal communications tools, there is a mismatch between what we typically provide and what users will expect. People expect to talk directly with people, not through a message form. E-mail and fax do not work on voice radio systems.
There are two issues;
The three standard user interfaces for information exchange are the telephone, the FAX machine and the PC with e-mail software. The challenge for Amateur radio, is to develop the interfaces to allow this. The background radio infrastructure does not need to change much. Conventional crystal radios can still be used, the enhancement is the user interface.
We are technical people and the solutions are not complex or costly. What it does take is the will and effort to develop these solutions. Here are some example projects related to this topic.
For the purpose of this discussion, Emergency Response is depicted as a pyramid, with First Response (Police, Fire, EMS) at the top and General Population Care at the bottom. This is not to imply anything is more or less important, but it does provide a pictorial representation to refer to. The purpose of the reference, is to discuss how Amateur radio fits in as a volunteer emergency communications resource.
Refers to Police, Fire, EMS, initial and ongoing response to an emergency.
There are opportunities where Amateur radio can supply communications as part of the First Response support;
There are several Internet e-mail lists related to Amateur emergency communications. There are stories of amateurs arrested by police, of being escorted from the emergency site, of not being allowed to set up their radio because it might interfere with the police or fire, the list is endless. These stories point out that emergency organizations don't understand, don't care, are incompetent, etc.
Most of the Amateur radio effort goes into preparing for direct support of First Responders, to be able to link them together when their complicated, poorly built, over utilized systems fail, even though they do not respond enthusiastically to the idea. This includes things like the need for coloured vests for visibility in a disaster area and the need for ID recognized by police and other first responders. Many amateurs are intent on creating some form of communications trucks or trailers for radio operations from the disaster area, just in case. This is not to be confused with locations where volunteers and officials have a relationship and part of that relationship is the need for an amateur communications capability that is mobile.
Direct support of First Response agencies is an area that has the least opportunities for Amateurs over time, that requires the highest level of inter-agency skills and has the least success rate, because it requires a very solid relationship with demonstrated commitment and skill.
Emergency Management exists at all levels of Government;
City: Emergency Measures Unit (EMU)
Province: Emergency Management Organization (EMO)
Federal: Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection and Emergency Preparedness (OCIPEP)
Responsible to facilitate problem solving and resource acquisition for emergency response. They bring the resources available at their level of government to solve problems related to the emergency or disaster. In Canada, Emergency Management has minimal field resources, who work as coordinators, not response workers or commanders.
In periods when there are no emergencies, they are responsible to manage planning and preparation, which includes maintaining resource contacts, preparing and reviewing emergency plans and initiating exercises to test plans.
Amateur radio interfaces to the local municipality, as one of the resources under Emergency Management. This should be the primary relationship between the Amateur radio group and the local Municipality. Ideally this includes Amateur radio being written into the Municipally emergency plan. Signed agreements and being written into the emergency plan is important, but the most important aspect is the relationship between the Amateur group and the members of the Emergency Management office. If the relationship does not exist, then being written into the plan will not ensure that Amateur radio is activated or that it is activated in a timely manner. People use what they know!!! Get to know your emergency planning office.
The following comments are from the Ontario ARES discussion and are copied here, because they make a great statement that I agree with.
"we need to understand that in an emergency, the civil power authority does not always have exactly the right resource for any given emergency situation. He must, as a function of his authority, apply risk analysis to each situation, in particular the use of a resource for which it was not intended. He will allocate a resource to best support the existing emergency. The use of non licensed personnel (trained or otherwise) to provide emergency communications is an obvious answer when licensed personnel, for whatever reason, are unavailable at the time. We don't have a choice in this matter unless we do not participate.
"When necessary, any rule that impedes the progress of the emergency team but does not compromise the safety of the team, may be disregarded for that specific emergency." This is not an all encompassing rational for an overall emergency, but rather for specific instances within emergencies in which the civil authority has utilized data to support the solution to a problem based on the risk analysis of the impact of the solution."
There are official definitions for Emergency Vs Disaster, but the two can and are often used interchangeably. The classic disaster response scenario that many Amateurs prepare for, is a disaster that impacts a lot of people, covers a large area and disrupts telecommunications within the area and into and out of the area. This scenario includes a declaration of a state of emergency and resources from outside the area coming in to help.
There are many Emergencies which impact smaller groups of people, cover smaller areas, are not declared as a state of emergency, but provide opportunities for amateur radio to provide assistance. For example (this is a real example) a large apartment building is struck by lightning and must be evacuated until the building can be inspected. Local communications may be out and shelters need to be established for the people to go to.
Another scenario is a Red Cross program (does not exist everywhere) called PPDA (P.. Personal Disaster Assistance). This program works with Fire and Police, to provide shelter for people who have been forced out of their home, typically because of fire. Many people have friends and family in the area, or the money to go to a hotel, but many do not. This Red Cross program will support in theory up to 50 people being displaced at one time. Normally there is only a couple families at most and cell phones work fine, but imagine trying to coordinate this for even 30 people using cell phones. Plus there is an issue with getting enough cell phones.
Waiting only for a declared state of emergency, may mean a long wait to ever be called, or lost time in a real disaster waiting for paper work to be completed.
Amateur radio can make its greatest impact in the first 24 to 48 hours of a disaster, as part of the chaos reduction, when information is first being gathered and decisions are being made in order to react to the disaster. The only systems available, are the ones the exist and are working.
Within 24 to 48 hours of a disaster, commercial backup systems will be deployed to replace or increase communications capabilities. Commercial radio providers will expand their systems and add temporary systems, but it will take 24 to 48 hours to identify the requirement, make arrangements and have equipment shipped into the area. For example, Ericsson Canada offered the use of their "Cell on Wheels" (COW) to the US on Sept 11. The last time the COW was used for disaster communications support was at the site of the Swiss Air crash in Peggy's Cove in 1999.
Amateur radio will still be required after 24 to 48 hours, and will be very useful supporting the humanitarian effort. It is in the first 24 to 48 hours where we have the opportunity to go beyond, to push our capabilities to the limit and to earn respect for a job well done in tough times.
It is important to understand that RAC is a few volunteers who work hard and rely on members of the Amateur community to provide input as "experts" on specific topics. Get the wrong expert and you get the wrong answer, but it is tough to sort the good from the bad, who claim to be good.
While ARES is the RAC/ARRL emergency communications program, I feel there is a significant loss by the failure to recognize and support all amateurs involved in emergency communications. For example there are many Red Cross groups who have their own communications group, which is primarily or entirely amateurs, but RAC does not recognize them in any documentation on emergency communications. There are also very good amateur emergency communications groups who are not part of ARES, but who represent amateur radio well.
Throughout ARRL and RAC documentation on ARES, there are aspects that I find misleading or offensive towards other agencies and the role of amateur radio in an emergency. One prime example is the RAC open letter to ECs. http://www.rac.ca/fieldorg/open.htm. The first two paragraphs are fine, but the third paragraph states;
"We have also been asked to emphasize the importance of securing the formal approval of your municipal council early in your relationship with the municipality. This should be in the form of a resolution by the municipal or county/district council appointing you as their Emergency Telecommunications Coordinator. The title may vary across the country, but your objective is the same. You must have that endorsement or you cannot hope to do an effective job for the municipality or community."
The first sentence is true, but the second sentence implies a task which the local municipality may wish to have you do, but it is not part of the role of Amateur radio. We are a voluntary resource, we are not part of the Municipal emergency management team. I feel this was input by someone who wanted to secure a title, so they can look important, but failed to see the real role of amateur radio.
There are several different references to emergency officials and the ease with which they are overwhelmed or intimidated by amateur radio. There is one about the amateur running up with multiple radios strapped on, all blaring away. In the RAC Open Letter, there is the following statement;
"Before you even get to the previous stage, you may have to work your charm on your municipal contact ... the Emergency Planner, who may be Chief Administrative Officer, the Fire or Police Chief. Some municipal administrators may feel threatened by an outside "manager" ... the ARES Emergency Coordinator. The RAC EC Manual does emphasize the critical need for the EC to recognize that concern."
The person responsible for emergency planning should not have great difficulty with amateur radio, if you are promoting communications for shelters, the Red Cross, local citizen patrols etc. They will be frightened, not intimidated when it is implied about the need for IDs so amateurs can get to the disaster core area, etc.
The ARRL has started the critical change in attitudes, in it's publication Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Course Level I. This book is very open in its statements about working with other Amateur radio groups, working with agencies and the need for training. The Level I Book is an excellent resource for all amateurs in the US and Canada. The other two books in the set; Level II and Level III do not yet address some of the changes required in HOW we operate, such as the limitations of the standard message form.
The Amateur radio community is a resource pool, claimed by multiple groups as part of its resource base. There are a finite number of amateurs who are willing and able to respond in an emergency. Fragmentation by creating multiple overlapping, sometimes competing groups, creates an illusion of a large organization, which in reality is much smaller because each organization requires a management structure and many amateurs belong to multiple groups.
For example an Amateur radio club may views its membership as an "available resource" for emergency communications. In reality, there are many in the club who are not interested or are unable to participate due to personal health or family responsibilities. Other members of the club may be first responders who will be applied in that role in an emergency. Still other members are part of other organizations such as the Red Cross, who would deploy with those groups in an emergency. The actual number of amateurs who are available to deploy, is much smaller than the size of the club. Now that group may be further reduced by members who are also part of more than one Amateur Emergency specialty group, such as SATERN, Red Cross Communications, or local groups.
The groups and organizations that use Amateur radio do not understand these subtle differences. They assume that the Amateur community is one group, that will respond to provide the best service possible to help in an emergency. They also assume that there are no politics which will pit groups against each other, or negatively influence decisions made by Amateurs.
There is a lot of discussion about the down side of being called Amateurs. Many attribute the lack of interest in us as stemming from the word Amateur in our group names. Some groups use other names to avoid the word Amateur. Most external agencies or organizations attribute a high degree of regard for Amateur (Ham) Radio. In some cases, they may actually give us more credit than we are due. If we are a well organized group, providing solutions to real problems, the name is not a problem. In fact many of the groups will not even remember the group name.
For example, in Ottawa, we are well respected by the hospitals, but many of the emergency planners will not remember our group name. They know us as the volunteer radio group, which is made up of Amateur radio operators. I feel the discussion of the word Amateur is an excuse to explain why we are failing to get in with the First Responders, which I mentioned earlier, is not where we fit in.
The Federal Government, through the Emergency Preparedness Collage, promotes the use of formal message forms for emergency operations. Amateur radio through RAC/ARRL also promotes formal messages, through the use of the Radiogram format. However a recent survey of ARES groups in Ontario indicates that none of the municipalities they serve have a formal message form.
Formal messages are not a part of normal operations for Police, Fire, EMS, Public Works, Social Services, Transportation, etc. Adding them for emergency use only adds chaos. The use of UTC vs local time adds more confusion. In the military, people are trained as part of their job and the use of UTC is not an issue (I hope). However for volunteers or people who do not use it every day, it can add more error by demanding its use, rather than relying on local time.
Here are some comments or quotes taken from different sources, some amateur radio and some not. They are meant to get us thinking and point out that we are not alone in this.
http://firescope.oes.ca.gov
Under Documents, there are forms for almost everything, but NO message form.
"Really all we have to do is get the message to a station where the phones are still working. We don't have to get a message addressed to Denver to a ham in Denver to deliver."
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ARESONTARIO
http://www.reliefweb.int/library/dc1/dcc3.html#3.4.2
"A further problem is that amateur networks are designed to relay written messages from net to net until they arrive at their destination. It takes quite some minutes for even a simple message to be spoken over the air, written down, checked, and spoken again to the next net controller etc. until the message arrives at the addressee. If this requires, for example, four repetitions of the message, then it can take 20-30 minutes to ask a question and get a reply. Again, packet operation improves this situation."
http://www3.telus.net/mike_sankey/index.htm
"In 1989, then club President Farrel (Hoppy) Hopwood had a vision of being able to send text messages from our capital city, Victoria on Vancouver Island to the interior city of Kamloops during a state of emergency. Hoppy felt that the use of voice messaging was too slow and at times inaccurate. He felt that if a message could be typed and sent out as packet file to the receiving station at high speed and printed as a hard copy the number of messages sent could increase by six times."
I am personally not an advocate of using military style communications as a model for amateur emergency communications. This view is partly because of a few bad examples of ex military trying to re-create their military glory in a volunteer group and the fact that the military operates the way it does because its purpose demands it and it has people dedicated and trained for tasks. We are a civilian volunteer organization, so I believe we should model ourselves on the best we can find in that area. Our standards should be higher than the organizations we serve, with the lowest acceptable level of organization and discipline being equal to the organizations we serve. We must be well organized, trained and dedicated, but we will make mistakes, we will forget, because this is our volunteer activity, not our job.
The military operates on Command and Control, peoples lives are at stake, so orders must be followed because they are part of a larger picture. Civilian agencies operate on the Incident Management System (IMS), originally called Incident Command System (ICS). This is a team work approach and feedback from the field is a critical component. The fire fighter can advise against going into the building, because the fire is more advanced at that point than command understood at the time.
Some hams believe that;
There appears to be a large group of amateurs who have become "armchair experts", placing the normal abilities of amateur radio operators up with those of specialty units within First Response organizations. By minimizing the challenges and exaggerating the skill levels, these people have been able to convince themselves that doing nothing is the only choice, not an excuse.
Here are some "Amateur Myths" about volunteer emergency communications, some presented in various parts of this note.
The traditional model for Amateur radio operation in an emergency, requires 2 people per location, one operator and one logger/backup operator. If people work 9 hour shifts, 8 hours with 1 hour overlap, with 2 amateurs per location x 3 shifts of 9 hours per day = 6 amateurs per day per location. Doing some math for a simple evacuation:
EOC + Red Cross + NCS + 2 shelters = 30 amateurs per day
In a large scale response, there will be hundreds of amateurs required, which will also require a great deal of coordination. Tracking people who volunteer, where they are assigned and when and what to do with them when they are not working (Volunteers from out of town who don't go home at night, where do they eat, where do they sleep).
The alternative to requiring large numbers of hams, which raises the question of availability, is to prepare for the use of non amateurs in an emergency. This has implications regarding regulations and equipment. However if we evolve to being a communications provider, not a provider and message handler, then one amateur can maintain a system and meet the regulations, if agency non amateurs can send their own messages.
Radio communications is often difficult from inside with hand held radios or cell phones (especially from centre of the building). There are few entrances (difficult to step outside to use the radio) and no way to run cables outside to an antenna. Hospitals are most challenging due to limits on radio power inside the building.
There are two solutions which are usually proposed; Install a permanent antenna or install a temporary antenna when required and run the coax out a door or window. It is not always possible to identify all possible buildings and in many buildings the cost of installing a permanent antenna is quite high due to the cost of running (typically must be professionally installed) coax (must be fire rated or in a conduit) through multiple floors. There is also a problem with the volume of potential sites, where if they all had a permanent antenna, the cost would be high and there would need to be a work crew who did nothing but test antennas.
Running coax outside is not always possible due to the location of doors, type of ceiling, security, severe weather, etc. There are cost effective solutions that can be built, so they could be applied to any building, such as wireless remotes, cross band repeaters and telephone line remote consoles. These are solutions that can be transported to other areas to offer assistance if required.
Communities which are below or behind a major hill, making communications within the area and from the area back to the core of the City difficult. In Ottawa, West Carleton is an extreme example, with Fitzroy Harbour, Constance Bay and Carp all on different sides of hills, plus significant distance back to central Ottawa.
One solution for short tactical messages is to use a phone message book. The type shown below is in a spiral book with 4 per page and each one has a duplicate. These are made by a company called Blueline and are available at stationary stores. There are several choices, depending on the number of messages per book and some have serialized numbers in them, but they cost more. Unlike many of the phone message pads, these have room to write a short message and they come with a duplicate so you get an instant log.
I thought about these after we did an exercise, where we had messages coming into the EOC, that had to be passed on to someone else in the EOC. The radio operator was trying to rip up sheets of paper into strips, because the messages were short and it just seemed wasteful to use a full sheet of paper. I started looking around for something that was cheap and would provide a consistent size and format. When we were doing the messages freehand, sometimes the TO field was first, but other people tended to put it second.
You can number them sequentially if you want, or just use the time/date/author to track them. If it is a message that requires a response, just tick the CALL BACK box and when the response is sent, just tick the RETURNED CALL box. You can look back through the carbon copy pages, to make sure there are not outstanding messages waiting for a response. These are also cheap, so it is easy to have a supply or get people to buy a small one for their personal kit. I think it makes a cheap and easy solution!
Amateur radio must become more flexible and transparent as an emergency communications resource. There are many practical improvements that can be made using existing radio technology, but with an enhanced interface to the radio. These enhancements may be simple projects which allow multiple users on one radio or Packet networks that interface to internal networks for message routing. Some additional ideas are contained in Links To Potential Projects.