ÿþWhat Is EMCOMM?

Training tip for 4-26-06

Emergency communications (emcomm) is different from ordinary ham radio 
communications in several important ways:

  Emcomm involves both hams and non-hams. A lot of third-party traffic 
  is passed.
  
  Emcomm happens in real time and messages can't be delayed.

  Emcomm may involve several nets at once.

  Emcomm is unplanned and unscheduled; it often has to be organized
  on the fly.

  Emcomm operators may need to interact with several key organizations 
  simultaneously.

  Emcomm stations are often portable, make-shift, and transient; they 
  must be set up quickly and often moved.

  Emcomm involves teamwork and not competition.

  Emcomm operations may have no discernable end in sight and may last 
  for several days until normal communications are restored.

Emcomm nets can expand or reduce their capacity in a very short time 
to meet the needs of the emergency.

The job you're assigned will depend on the agency you serve as well 
as the nature of the emergency. You could be providing shelter 
communications for the American Red Cross, interagency communications 
for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, communications for the 
local hospital, search and rescue communications, Skywarn weather 
report communications for the National Weather Service, or any 
combination of the foregoing and lots of other scenarios.

While we're all proud of our skills as ham radio operators, our 
equipment, and our capabilities, we should never lose sight of 
the fact that our job is to use the best method to communicate and 
the best method may not always be radio. For example if an agency 
requests a shelter supply list to be forwarded to headquarters and 
the fax is still working, that may be the best method to use. Our job 
is to get the message through using the best means possible, whether 
it's ham radio, CB, Family Radio, GMRS, the telephone, fax, email, 
or the served agency's radio system.