Me and EmComm: Knowing Where I Fit
Me and EmComm:
Knowing Where I Fit
I enjoy the many rabbit holes amateur radio offers. Talking around the world, experimenting with antennas, figuring out APRS, and discovering what another little radio can do all have their place at my desk.
But emergency communications is a major reason I am here.
I enjoy the many rabbit holes amateur radio offers. Talking around the world, experimenting with antennas, figuring out APRS, and discovering what another little radio can do all have their place at my desk.
But emergency communications is a major reason I am here.
My years in the Coast Guard, the Coast Guard Auxiliary, and New York City’s Community Emergency Response Team program shaped how I think about service. During my time with CERT, including serving as Brooklyn Borough Coordinator and working shifts in the Emergency Operations Center, I became familiar with NYC Emergency Management’s procedures and the importance of coordinating a response.
That experience follows me into amateur radio. When I think about being useful in an emergency, one question comes before the equipment:
Who will I be working for, and where do I fit?
Wanting to help is a beginning. I want to understand how that willingness becomes a useful, dependable contribution.
Lessons We Carry Forward
This week in September marks twenty-five years since Sep 11, 2001. Here in New York, the lessons of that day carry enormous weight. The 9/11 Commission documented serious problems with interagency communications, command, and coordination. Remembering the courage of the people who responded also means taking those lessons seriously. (9/11 Commission Report, executive summary)
To me, one of those lessons is that communications requires people and organizations to know how to work together. A working radio is part of that. So are established relationships, clear responsibilities, and a shared plan.
Emergency management helps connect the larger needs of a community with the agencies and resources responding to an incident. NYC’s Emergency Operations Center brings those organizations together to share information, coordinate efforts, and support resource needs. Incident command directs the tactical response on the ground; the EOC supports that response and coordinates the broader picture. (NYC Emergency Management’s EOC overview; FEMA’s explanation of EOC functions)
Understanding that relationship matters to me as a volunteer. I need to know how my assignment fits into it.
Knowing My Place in ICS
The Incident Command System, or ICS, gives responders a common structure for organizing their work. Two of its principles are particularly practical: each person reports to one designated supervisor, and supervisors need a manageable number of people reporting to them. That is unity of command and span of control in everyday terms. It helps keep responsibilities clear and instructions from competing with one another. (FEMA’s NIMS management principles)
For my own EmComm involvement, I see myself as a communications resource. In the traditional ICS structure, that points toward the Communications Unit within Logistics. My actual assignment and reporting relationship would come through the organization activating me and the plan for that incident.
I want to know that arrangement ahead of time. Who is the organization serving? Who activates us? Who gives me my assignment? What communications need am I expected to support?
Those are questions worth bringing to an EmComm meeting before we start discussing which radio to buy.
Learn the System, Join the Team
For someone interested in getting involved, my advice begins with learning ICS. FEMA’s introductory ICS-100 and IS-700 courses provide a foundation in incident command and the broader National Incident Management System. Your organization can tell you what additional training it requires for the role you hope to fill. (FEMA’s training overview)
Then join an emergency communications organization serving your community. Get to know the people. Learn whom they support and how they operate. Train with them, participate in nets, and take part in exercises.
A certificate is a useful beginning. Practice is where I find out whether I can apply what I have learned.
Can I copy a message accurately? Can I pass it clearly without adding my own interpretation? Can I follow net control, keep a useful log, and ask for clarification when I need it? Can I set up my equipment away from the comfort of my desk and make it work?
A drill gives me a chance to discover a problem while there is still time to fix it. That includes problems with my own assumptions.
Build What You Can Sustain
The equipment matters, of course. I am a ham. I can happily spend an evening discussing antennas.
But I also live with a budget, and I think we need to say that out loud more often when we talk about preparedness. Amateur radio is a hobby, and those of us volunteering our time bring different financial resources, physical abilities, and family responsibilities.
I want to build capabilities I can afford and sustain. That means understanding the likely assignment, testing what I already own, identifying actual gaps, and planning purchases over time.
A practical field setup includes more than the radio itself. Power, a usable antenna, the right cables, and a way to hear and take notes all deserve attention. So does knowing how long I can operate with what I bring.
The useful question is: “What can I reliably do with this equipment?”
My station has limitations. So do I. Knowing them helps me make commitments I can keep. I would rather tell a coordinator exactly what I can provide, and for how long, than promise something I have never tested.
Know the Plan Before the Call
Then there is the part of preparedness that belongs beside every packed go bag: knowing what happens when the call comes.
Before an emergency, I want answers to these questions:
How will I receive an activation notice, and what is the agreed backup if normal communications fail?
Where do I report or check in, and who will supervise me?
Which frequencies, modes, and procedures does the local communications plan call for?
What equipment and personal supplies am I expected to bring?
What is my assignment, how long can I support it, and how do I get relieved and check out?
I also need to make sure my household is taken care of before I commit to helping elsewhere.
My family knows the plan: when there is an emergency, they go inland and I go to work. Knowing ahead of time how we will each respond is part of what makes it possible for me to serve.
Having a radio and a packed bag does not give me an assignment. FEMA’s guidance is clear that resources should deploy through established requests and dispatch procedures; unrequested arrivals can add to the incident’s workload and accountability problems. (FEMA’s dispatch and deployment guidance)
For me, that means learning the activation plan, following it, and resisting the urge to head toward an incident simply because I want to help. Sometimes the useful thing will be to report to an assigned location. Sometimes it may be to operate from home, monitor a designated net, or remain available until requested.
The plan and the people responsible for the response determine that.
There is plenty left for me to learn. My previous service gives me a foundation, and amateur radio gives me new tools and people to learn from. I want to bring those together into something my community can count on.
That is what EmComm means to me: learn the system, join the team, train and drill, build capabilities within my means, and know where I am expected to fit.
Be an asset to the response. Be someone the team can count on.
