Watches, Warnings & Advisories for Sunflower Co.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Emergency Communications

K5JAW has been appointed by Mississippi ARRL Section Manger W5XX to serve as the amateur radio Emergency Coordinator (EC) for Bolivar, Leflore, Sunflower, and Washington counties until September 2014. 

Amateur radio operators are charged with the responsibility of providing emergency communications as a condition of our license privileges.  Specifically, rules Part 97.1(a) says: Recognition and enhancement of the value of the amateur service to the public as a voluntary noncommercial communication service, particularly with respect to providing emergency communications.

The amateur radio community provides this service through the Amateur Radio Emergency Services organization of the American Radio Relay League.  In the coming weeks, I'll be contacting the emergency management directors in Bolivar, Leflore, Sunflower and Washington counties to ascertain their interest in having amateur radio communications support.  Public safety communications systems have rapidly evolved in recent years, becoming more robust and highly technical.  Amateur radio has also become more technical, and in some cases, actually pioneered a number of new technologies that moved into the public safety field.  Amateur radio has not lost, however, the ability to quickly adapt and remain flexible in order to get the message through.

If you have an interest in becoming a licensed amateur radio operator, drop me an email k5jaw (at) arrl.net. We're hoping to offer training & licensing programs in the future as we develop these new programs.  Come join in!

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