Mini-Tips – Part 8 August 23, 2006
Bob Kenyon – K8LJ
What is 'Emergency' and what is
'Priority' traffic?
Messages are prioritized as follows:
Emergency - A message having life-or-death urgency.
Priority - An important time-critical message.
Welfare - An inquiry as to the health and welfare of an individual in a
disaster area, or a message from a disaster victim to friends and family.
Routine - Any message not meeting the requirements for a higher precedence. From
ARECC Level I course book
Long Tone Zero
Long Tone Zero, sometimes called LiTZ, is a method of
notifying anyone listening that you have an emergency or priority situation. If
you have an urgent need to make contact and no one has responded to your voice
calls, try the following procedure. While pressing your transmit key, also
press and hold the zero button on your transceiver for a minimum of three
seconds. This will send a unique DTMF signal over the air. It's exactly the
same tone you hear on your telephone when you press its zero button. Alert ham
radio operators will know what it means, and even some repeaters have been
programmed to respond to it. From Gary Hoffman, KB0H
How well do you understand radio?
You diminish your effectiveness as an emergency communicator
if you don't really understand how radio works. If you are unable to reach
anyone from your assigned post it would help to know why. Raising your antenna
a few more feet will likely work better than trying to increase your power. We
encourage you to continue to educate yourself about radio. From Gary
Hoffman, KB0H
Even a CB radio can be useful
Many truck drivers have Citizens Band transceivers in their
vehicles. Upon arriving at the scene they may try calling for instructions on
CB channel 19. If you have a CB radio with you, you may be the only emergency
communications operator able to respond to them. From ARECC Level I course
book
I get it, I get it! Why do I have to
keep on training?
It has been said that in a crisis you don't rise to the
occasion, you fall to your level of training. Frequent training and practice
will help you to do your job automatically, and you'll be less likely to be
overwhelmed when you arrive at the scene of a disaster. From Jim Conley,
N0OBG