California city incorporates hams in response
program
Urgent Communications
Glenn Bischoff
Thu, 2013-05-02 11:00
When a disaster strikes, amateur radio operators in the affected area are
quick to mobilize. The result is invaluable communications services at a
time when they are most needed. In some parts of the world, where the
first-responder infrastructure isn’t as robust as it is in the U.S., the
hams step into that role, as seen in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean
tsunami in 2004.
Within the U.S., the role of hams usually is to provide supportive
services, as they did in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy last October,
when hams helped the American Red Cross set up communications in numerous
ad-hoc shelters established across the region, where commercial
communications were rendered inoperable in many places.
It is not unusual for an informal connection to exist between
public-safety agencies and the local amateur-radio community; such a
connection helps the mobilization effort. But, in one southern California
city, a formal relationship was established, with the result being the
creation of the Peninsula Volunteer Alert Network, or PVAN.
Rancho Palos Verde is city of 42,000 inhabitants, located on the Pacific
Ocean just a few miles due west of Long Beach. It doesn’t have much
crime, but it is prone to natural disasters, such as earthquakes and
wildfires. Despite this, it never really occurred to anybody to formally
leverage ham radio until the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
“It dawned on us that there are a lot of big targets in our area. There
are refineries in San Pedro [an adjacent city], and lot of shipping goes
through there,” said PVAN Chairman Denzel Dyer. “We needed to prepare for
a big event.”
That realization led to a big idea: establish a way that the city’s
numerous neighborhood-watch groups could communicate with each other
during emergencies, with hams at the center of the strategy. The
150-member strong Palos Verde Amateur Radio Club was the logical place to
start. The goal was to ensure that every neighborhood-watch
organizationeach of which typically covers about 6 square blockshad a
ham in their midst. The PVAN, which started with 4-5 hams in November
2002, now has 86 members, all of them hams, according to Dyer. New PVAN
members go through a
training regimen that is coordinated by the city and participate in
at least one mock emergency drill each year.
The radio club not only convinced local sheriffs and fire officials that
this effort a good idea, but they also officials that amateur radio was
the best option, given the topology of the surrounding area, which
consists of numerous peaks and valleys.
“They asked about FRS (family radio service) and CB (citizens-band
radio), but amateur is the most reliable communications you can get,”
said Alan Soderberg, a PVAN board member.
Despite the fact that amateur-radio technology is highly reliable, the
topology still creates some challenges, because there are plenty of dead
spots. However,
Harris recently came to the rescue by donating a UHF digital mobile
repeater.
“One of our employees knew a PVAN member, and one thing led to another,”
said Steve Howard, a Harris regional
sales manager.
Though grateful for the repeater, Dyer noted that it’s not yet
operational. “Now we need a duplexer,” he
deadpanned.
Source URL:
http://urgentcomm.com/disaster-response/california-city-incorporates-hams-response-program