[EAS] In The Dark

[Bill Ruck]

The West Marin Disaster Council (WMDC) has its own GMRS system and it 
has been in use for years.  The west coast of Marin feels that the east 
coast doesn't care about them so they've banded together to support each 
other after floods, land slides, road closures, and now power outages. 
The WMDC has the full support of the local (mostly volunteer) fire 
departments.

The advantage of GMRS is that there is no test to get a license.

The local amateur radio community has unfortunately demonstrated little 
utility other than drinking coffee and eating doughnuts.

Today the most effective form of mass communication around here is 
RADIO.  When you've been evacuated and living in your car you still have 
a radio in the car.  Land POTS lines and cell phones are not as useful 
today as you might have thought.

The local Point Reyes Station KWMR is the local source of information to 
West Marin and is working closely with the WMDC.  This is an excellent 
model for community emergency information.

The FCC has not updated their Communications Status Report yet.

Bill Ruck
Curmudgeon
San Francisco

On 10/29/2019 8:55 AM, Dale Lamm wrote:
> Will be interesting to see if there's a bump in applications for an amateur radio license in the affected areas.
>