HRN 307, EmEx 9: CERT (and a Survey)

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CERT - Community Emergency Response Team - is a FEMA program that trains and utilizes citizens in local communities in assisting emergency responders. It's not just communications, but it is a natural for a ham radio tie-in, and that's happening with CERT groups around the country.

Jeff McGrath N1SC is a new ham and very energetic CERT volunteer in Lehi UT, just south of Salt Lake City. He talks to David and Gary about all that he does.

Toward the end of the conversation, we get into the ARRL's petition asking members for comment on a possible new entry-level class of license.

HRN 306: HamCation Update with Peter Meijers AI4KM

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The 2017 Orlando HamCation was a great success, thanks only in part to perfect Florida weather, but mostly to the effort of the Orlando ARC volunteers, let by Chairman Peter Meijers AI4KM.

With a Dayton-like attendance of over 17,000, Peter takes a victory lap in this short conversation.

HRN 305, EmComm EXTRA #8: Former FEMA Fugate

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Craig Fugate KK4INZ was FEMA Administator for the entire Obama presidency. Now (for the moment, anyway) a private citizen... and ham... he's looking forward to attending his local radio club meeting.

But his interest and commitment to both Amateur Radio and EmComm continues. In this episode he talks with David and Gary about what hams will need to do in the future to remain a valuable public service asset in emergencies.

You may notice with apt irony that Gary's Internet service failed in the middle of the conversation (a flaky 'tap' in the Spectrum/Time Warner pedestal down the block). Gary switched to his phone's 'hot spot', which reached his preset data cap and shut the conversation down again. He persuaded Arvin to cough up the funds to buy a little more bandwidth from Google Fi.