Ideas for crisis response services

http://www.informationweek.com/news/services/disaster_recovery/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=222301454

This article talks about the relief efforts in Haiti, and how tech-savvy volunteers are utilizing their skills in the recovery. I think that this group, called CrisisCommons, has some good ideas about using technology in disaster recovery efforts. While ARES groups wouldn't necessarily have the skills to provide these types of offerings (Web site exchanges for supplies, language translation applications for iPhones, etc), perhaps there is some way to partner with groups like this to utilize our radio equipment and expertise to facilitate these services on the ground. Keep each group focused on their own strengths, but by working together, teams of volunteers could provide much more than simple voice communications. Modern-day technology necessitates the use of some pretty hefty data transfer rates, and ham radio operators need to start thinking about how they can offer that to agencies and other volunteer groups when normal infrastructure is unavailable.

Microsoft's Disaster response team

Here's an article about how Microsoft has their own corporate disaster response team who travel to disaster sites, and help with getting technology up and running for the responders and agencies on the ground.

http://www.infoworld.com/t/government-use-it/microsoft-brings-tech-help-in-disasters-902

Granted, their support and the services they offer will be very MS-centric (things like Sharepoint and Groove collaboration software), but this is a great idea for an ARES group -- prepare a small server infrastructure in advance of a disaster with the type of tools your served agencies would find useful. Then you can establish an HSMM link between locations (for example, between the EOC and a field location) to facilitate the transfer of application data and voice traffic as well.

Interesting article about spectrum allocation

This article talks about the rapidly growing demand for broadband wireless spectrum, because of the growth in mobile devices, like smart phones.  While it doesn't specifically make reference to any amateur bands, it's not hard to imagine that sometime in the near future, this 'landgrab' will have an impact on Hams around the world.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091227/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_spectrum_shortage

Radio usage is only growing, in some cases, exponentially.  With the billions spent on commercial infrastructure, it's hard to envision a scenario where all of that equipment can fail.  But we know it does, and those are the times when Ham operators step up to fill the need!

Welcome to my site!

My name is Mike Conklin, FCC call sign KC2SWV, a General-class Ham radio operator.  I received my license in February 2008, with the sole intention of using my new skills and radio equipment with the local ARES group.

While I did attend several monthly meeting, the demands of work and family life have prevented me from participating as much lately as I would have liked.  I'm hoping to make more time available to Ham radio in 2010, and this blog is one way to start.

I think the hobby is in the midst of a real crisis, though.  While numbers may have grown in recent years, with the elimination of Morse code requirements by the FCC, the average age of licensees certainly isn't getting any younger, now estimated to be over 60 years old.  So while the hobby itself may not be dying, the sad reality of it is that its participants are.  There was a time when ham radio operators had the exclusive ability to communicate with anyone in the world, but that's no longer the case.  The relevance of this aspect of the hobby has been lost for years, if not decades.  It's difficult to convince any younger, tech-savvy person that this is an 'exciting' part of the hobby -- for them, it's commonplace, and there many easier ways to go about doing it.  

So where should ham radio be heading?  I think that the convergence of radio and the Internet is the most important place to start.  Already 802.11 technology is nearly ubiquitous in homes today, and those radios share frequency bands with Ham radio allocations.  The HSMM working group was an attempt by the ARRL to look to the future, and although it is now disbanded, many good things came out of that effort.  It's important that we as operators continue with the experimentation in this area, even if the ARRL is not willing to move into the 21st century.

The innovation in ham radio has not stopped.  Hams continue to push the boundaries of technology, and still serve a vital purpose in times of emergency.  But I think we can still do better with the types of services we provide to served agencies like the Amercian Red Cross.  Voice communications are still crucial, but in today's world, so is email, video chat, Web applications, and other commonplace technology that are critical to the operation of an organization.