Emergency Communications

Emergency Communications

Presented by Robert Petty

Ward Emergency Preparedness SpecialistChatfield Ward

---Stake Emergency Communications Specialist

Columbine Colorado Stake

17MAR2009

Emergencies Happen

Emergency Management

Mitigation Preparedness Response Recovery

What is “Communication”?

Communication is commonly defined as "the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs..."

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communication]

What is an “Emergency”?

“An emergency is a situation which poses an immediate risk to life, health, property or environment”

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency]

What then is Emergency Communication?

The imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs during a situation which poses an immediate risk to health, life, property or environment

When do you use it?

Before hand... > Let people know your plans (trip, hike,

camping, itinerary, etc.)> Let people know your emergency plan

Checking on others> Home and Visiting Teaching Route> Block Captain? Checking on your families> You might be asked by someone to check

on otherscont...

When do you use it?

Notifying people you are safe> Family, Work, School, etc

Calling for Help or Assistance> Fire, Police, EMS -- 911 for emergencies!> Home or Visiting Teachers

Communication before a disaster is the most important.

Establish a plan. Maintain (update) the plan when necessary.

The plan is a "living" document. It will change as you and your family change.

Test the plan, verify that family members know where to meet and who to call.

Share the plan with your immediate family members, your emergency contacts and anyone else who should know it.

Events that can cause outages:

1-Way (Receive) Communications

Radio:NOAA / Shortwave / AM / FM / Sirius & XM

TV:** Digital Only effective June 2009 **Major consideration. Analog TVs require DTV receiver box.

Smoke Signals

Traditional Phone and Radio Services

Considerations with POTS

Many POTS systems rely on old and fragile Copper and Fiber relays

Due to decreasing demand Phone Companies are moving to other technologies (VoIP)

Many homes don't have wired phones, many homes that are wired use VoIP instead of POTS

Many homes use Wireless phones that require AC power

What's VoIP?

Voice over IP Phone service using computer protocols

(TCP/IP) over an internet connection. Requires:

> Working Internet connection> Working Modem / Router> Working VoIP interface> A/C Power!

Considerations for Cellular Phone Service

Very limited capacity Fragile infrastructure during earthquakes SMS can work when Voice does not Non-existent or extremely limited

Emergency Power "People have to remember that this is a

commercial service, it was never designed to be an emergency network. And it just doesn't make business sense for carriers to try to build it that way." - Charles Golvin, Forrester Research

Considerations with Commercial 2-way Radio

New systems use Digital trunking requiring working repeaters and digital radios

Engineered for specific capacity Limited audience (only same system subscribers) Limited emergency power

Considerations for Unlicensed 2-way Radio

Unlicensed Civilian radio services such as:> CB Radio> FRS> GMRS> 49 Mhz “intercom radios”Have limited RF power, limiting the range of the radio from blocks to a few miles.

Considerations forAmateur (Ham) Radio

Requires FCC License Requires basic knowledge of Radio

Communications, Electronics and safety precautions

UHF Range is up to 30 miles VHF Range is up to 50 miles HF Range is up to 504,000 miles (honest!) Repeater mode extends distance Simplex mode is point to point

Handouts

¼ Page Family Plan Ready.gov Family Plan Events Impacting Communication Systems Alternatives for Communications What do Amateur Radio Operators Do... Ham Radio Getting Through