[Asterisk-Users] civil emergency comms: Asterisk + HAM

[Chris Travers]

Michael D Schelin wrote:

> The two best forms of communications in a real disaster and one always 
> has been is #1 Ham radio. and #2 satellite telephone. Ham radio is 
> global and has proven time and time again to be the most reliable when 
> the infrastructer has been damaged.  The U.S government is the biggest 
> user of satellite telephones which is also becoming a valuable tool 
> again when the communications infrastructure is down.  It would be 
> nice If Asterisk could be used but in this case but it's useless.  
> People are displaced and most of the communications infrastructure for 
> the city is unusable.  I don't mean all of the telco's systems. It's 
> the flood that wiped out  most home and business systems.  For us, The 
> best thing that a provider can do is to have redundant servers in 
> different cities.  This should remind us all how fragile our lives are.

While I agree with your points, I think I was thinking along different 
lines.  Your points are useful particularly for mobile units.  This is 
important because you have to have some form of mobile communications 
when you are doing disaster relief.  I am not saying that my suggestion 
would relieve the need for Ham radio and Satellite telephone.  But 
rather that this would allow you to do relatively quick infrastructure 
building to fixed locations thus freeing up Ham operators to do what 
they need to do-- offer mobile communications.  The idea here would be 
that shelters, etc. could then use various line-of-site wireleass 
connections to set up Asterisk and that these would not have to be moved 
frequently.  Yes, it takes more electricity, but remember what I said 
about strategic reserves of fuel for generators?

I was largely reacting to Mark Phillips' point about Ham radios being in 
short supply in any sort of disaster.  The point is not to replace ham 
radio but rather to maximize the potential of what can be done with the 
existing number of operators.

Best Wishes,
Chris Travers
Metatron Technology Consulting
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