I am a ham and also operated an ECRV for the RC. An ECRV is a Emergency Communications Response Vehicle. They cost upwards of $350,000 each and have some very sophisticated communications equipment. I responded to Katrina as well as several other large scale emergencies.

The skills I developed as a ham were essential to solving the problems encountered in emergencies. Without the ham world to teach me these skill I would have been less than successful.

Although many agencies have the big pockets to buy the best toys, they do not have the skilled reserves to operate them in a long severe emergency. Ham Radio provides this essential pool of technical support.

In "the old days" hams responded and brought their equipment because the agencies did not have the unique radios and infrastructure that the hams had. Now the agencies provide the equipment and infrastructure, but hams make up a large percentage of the volunteer (and professional) technical responders.

Almost all of the technical responders I encountered were hams. It is a different world than "the old days" but ham radio still provides a valuable technical pool of folks with skills that are not easily learned outside of the amateur community.

Nomad aka N1AHH


PS: The interested reader will find several postings regarding ham radio, Katrina and ECRV's by searching the forum for ECRV.