Start of Em-Comm in Amateur Radio

[NE1LL]

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/11/06/hilltop-teen-was-first-to-transmit-from-home-radio-during-disaster.html

After much research and pitching this story to many reporters it was finally published. Most people had heard the story based on the Modern Electrics [now Popular Science] article from April 1913. Local news accounts had Herbert Akerberg as the one in the disaster sending information to The Ohio State University station. Sadly the OSU club has totally lost this part of history. Often they state they started in 1924 and 1926. With the aniversary of this event coming up in four months Herbert Akerberg should be honored for his work and ambition.

[KC2UGV]

Wow, that was pretty cool... And to think, it was all done without a reflective vest :P

[NE1LL]

Wow, that was pretty cool... And to think, it was all done without a reflective vest :P

Didn't have a license, none required until September of 1913. This was also the year before the ARRL started. Akerberg went on to design the CBS Radio network and then the CBS T.V. Network.

[NQ6U]

Wow, that was pretty cool... And to think, it was all done without a reflective vest :P

Or even an HT or a Ford Crown Vic with 40 antennas and a light bar on it.

[kb2vxa]

Maybe a Model T with a fifth spark coil?

[NA4BH]

Maybe a Model T with a fifth spark coil?


I LOLed

[VE7DCW]

Or even an HT or a Ford Crown Vic with 40 antennas and a light bar on it.

Yup...... this is what makes or breaks the whac..... err...... we're not supposed to call them whackers.....but gosh darn this ain't QRZ!!!! :neener:

[AE1PT]

Yup...... this is what makes or breaks the whac..... err...... we're not supposed to call them whackers.....but gosh darn this ain't QRZ!!!! :neener:

Don't matter. I still wrote it down in my notebook... :clap:

[NE1LL]

Boy did this ever get off topic. BTW here is the official website for Whacker: http://www.whackerusa.com/ I'm not against lights, vests or "badging". They have their place, just don't use them in a narsassistic way. At 15 years of age I'm sure Akerberg simply made or verified the conditions at the time. No "sun shine" reports here. With nearly 100 dead I'm sure some family members were happy to hear their loved ones were O.K.

I agree Em-Comm needs a major change with that focus being on attitude. A good start is to require training and certification for leadership. Look at the ARRL FSD 98, not one question on experience or training. Next is a policy on when and how to represent yourself as an Em-Comm member. No one cares at the grocery if you have an ARES/RACES/Skywarn sign.

[WØTKX]

Of course the thread got off track... It's the Island Way! ;)

The best way is to do a good job when asked, and be humble about it. Like UnderDog as ShoeShine Boy. Humble and loveable.

I've done NOAA weather reports in the past, and was a Civil Defense storm watcher as a kid before SkyWarn existed. Don't do any of it now in Ham Radio, but I might now that I live in the foothills west of Denver. ARES groups here are very involved in fire watch efforts, some groups are less narcissistic. I have no patience for that.

My workplace has trained me in the Incident Command structure, and sometimes I need to step up when I'm the first one on an accident scene. Such is the life of a highway worker, even if the gig is in electronic traffic control and such. I do have wacker lights on my work truck.

Whacker Knot is a funny title, because I like the mythology of the Gordian Knot. :lol:

[kb2vxa]

"A good start is to require training and certification for leadership."

In the shelter I encountered CERT, Community Emergency Action Team, a goof place to start. http://www.citizencorps.gov/cert/ IMO it's more like certification for followship, there is no I in team.

[n2ize]

I avoid the emergency arena altogether. I leave em work to the professionals and I just stay out of the way and stick to my profession.

[NE1LL]

True Em-Comm in Amateur Radio isn't entirely what you think. 90% should be health & wealthfare and just general conditions. Next is just the comfort to the public knowing they can get a message out. Before cell phones AR had the large point of just having that security. To think you are going to take over first responder communications is just not there. Getting basic information on conditions and power outages is good to keep these issues from tying up normal communications. On the weather spotters, I question the guy that is always out there for the excitement yet doesn't participate in CoCoRaHS? Participation truly has an infinite number of levels.

[n2ize]

During the recent hurricane and afterwards we lost electric (for 5 days) and with that we lost VOIP phone, internet, etc. The cell phone service started to become spotty. It would work at times and then would go down for a time. I have a vhf handheld and I was relieved to know that most of the local vhf repeaters stayed up. Some were in operation but quiet, others had emergency nets. It was a relief to know that if things got really bad and all other options were down that I could still get through on ol 'fashioned frequency modulated vhf.

[kb2vxa]

Same communications breakdown here with the expected exception. I was in the shelter but when I came home my landlord told me he used my land-line immediately after the storm passed when everything else was in the dumper. Can't say anything for ham, he doesn't have a license. (;->)