AR-1 DMAT

Today is the quarterly meeting of the @AR1DMAT and I am enjoying the cameraderie of a great team and learning from the multiple training sessions.

Right now learning about prevention of Trench Foot - a real need to know for all backpackers and /PM operators and Rapid Deployment Amateur Radio operators #RADAROPS since it prevents pain and incredible infections / gangrene.

The Amateur's Code

The Amateur's Code

by Paul M. Segal, W9EEA (1928)

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The Radio Amateur is:
CONSIDERATE	never knowingly operating in such a way as to lessen the pleasure of others.
LOYAL	offering loyalty, encouragement and support to other amateurs, local clubs and the American Radio Relay League, through which Amateur Radio in the United States is represented nationally and internationally.
PROGRESSIVE	with knowledge abreast of science, a well built and efficient station, and operation beyond reproach.
FRIENDLY	with slow and patient operation when requested, friendly advice and counsel to the beginner, kindly assistance, co-operation and consideration for the interests of others. These are the hallmarks of the amateur spirit.
BALANCED	Radio is an avocation, never interfering with duties owed to family, job, school or community.
PATRIOTIC	with station and skill always ready for service to country and community.

Amateur Radio for hospitals - a valuable resource

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2014/05/19/ham-radio-old-technology-gets-new-respect/

Brief article generally describing value of Amateur Radio operators within hospitals.

Maintaining Leadership Focus in Volunteer Emergency Organizations

Outstanding How-To article on how to manage Volunteer Emergency Organizations.
http://bigmedicine.ca/wordpress/2011/11/judy-esmond-options-maintaining-leadership-focus-in-volunteer-emergency-organizations/#sthash.VEClTRzS.dpuf

I especially want to point out the following paragraph of the article:

PEOPLE

1) Leaders should ensure that every step is made to make a newbie welcome. A ʺfather – figureʺ (utilising specific skills and abilities) can take the newbie under his or her wing for the first two or three meetings; making them feel at home and instil a sense of belonging. It is a common fact that if a newbie hasn’t made a friend within the first seven weeks, there is a strong possibility they won’t hang around much after that.

2) Home in on the skills, talents, abilities, attributes, etc of the newcomer and begin to utilize them ASAP.

3) If membership or team spirit appears to be waning, perhaps a change of leadership is needed? Leaders who hold the post for long periods can generate staleness. Fresh blood often introduces a fresh approach.

My comments to this are:

Regarding #1:
I specifically thank all the members of the ARES-Club (Arkansas Radio Emergency Services Club) for having made me feel welcome from the first moment onwards and for your continued elmering. It is not often that one meets HAMs like you.

Regarding #2:
I also thank you for having utilized my skill set from the beginning - it takes a confident and knowledgeable person to guide someone else, knowing how to apply their skill set and allowing them to gain leadership experience - and you did.

Regarding #3:
I certainly see no waning team spirit with the ARES-Club! Why is that? I believe it's because you practice the art of rotating responsibilities. That's exactly what a friend of mine, a US Navy Commander, suggested I practice with our Decon Unit where I work.


See more about "Maintaining Leadership Focus in Volunteer Emergency Organizations" at: http://bigmedicine.ca/wordpress/2011/11/judy-esmond-options-maintaining-leadership-focus-in-volunteer-emergency-organizations/#sthash.VEClTRzS.dpuf

How to install a grounding rod the easy way

http://youtu.be/-kpI8PFNYl4

Great little how-to video!

...and this one:

http://youtu.be/F0dyf-fibzg

Makes it look even easier!

US National Grid with current hazards

This map is truly worthy of your review. It presents the US National Grid (USNG) map service along with current hazards data from the USGS, Pacific Disaster Center and NOAA.

http://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=6337d027539c41bfa9206160fa7edded

For all those who believe that ALE is "a solution looking for a problem"...

There are a number of Amateur Radio operators (aka. "hams"), who believe that ALE is a solution in search of a problem. It is for those, that the following is written:

Executive Summary:

The automatic link establishment protocol (aka. "ALE") used for high frequency (HF) radios, is a vendor-independent protocol, which does exactly as it name implies. It automates the establishment of an HF link between two stations. Technical details are sufficiently documented and freely available on the Internet.

Experienced HF radio operators are fairly good at estimating which frequency (band) will likely result in good two-way reception between two stations at a fixed distance from one another at any given time of day.

If however, there are more than two stations who want to be able to communicate with each other without prearranging a schedule and who are at various distances from each other (e.g. 20miles, 200miles, 1000miles, 2000miles, 4000miles), then experience alone is not the solution. How is the radio operator to know who is wanting to contact him right now and that with 24/7 coverage? Since the other stations are at varying distances from him, which frequency should he be listing to? 

One could of course buy a dedicated transceiver for every frequency and band that one would need to cover, but the cost for such a setup is prohibitive and arguably impossible to accomplish for mobile and portable stations.

This is where ALE comes in and thus is indeed a solution which solves a real world problem and does so more efficiently (less bandwidth and less time consuming) than any "experienced" radio operator could.

73 de Marcus NX5MK