+ AMATEUR RADIO? by Ed Ewell, K7DXV
Associate Editor for Training - ewell@e-isco.com
What is this amateur doing in this operation? Let’s look at what
amateur is in the dictionary. An amateur is one who is a lover, one who
cultivates a particular pursuit, study, or science, without pursuing it
professionally - Webster's Dictionary.
This means that those who do the transmitting and receiving do it for the
enjoyment. Similar to the skilled athletes who compete for no monetary
rewards. The term is not related to the ability, or intelligence level of
those involved.
The term "professional" means those who do the transmitting
(and maybe receiving) do it for pay. You will have among your group of people
those {added} who were professionals or still are. They have become volunteers
to do something that they love to do.
It is very important when working with volunteers to respect who they
are, and always have plenty of activities that will be fun to do, or that some
one will love to do. Keep anger, frustration, confusion, and politics out
of your activities or you will not have many volunteers.
When any one does a job, task, or is on an operation, the first thing you
ask is what are my resources? A good planner will use the most resources
with common skills, or equipment, and plan to use all of the skills by making
the operation’s plan include all of the resources. Most important you will
want to use the greatest number with the most common equipment.
EMCOMM operations would not be very successful if you only use one mode
with a only few available operators that are familiar with it. The mission
is to meet the objective, or goal.
I would not be able to build a house only using shingles, or only
2X4’s? I definitely could not build the house with out a plan. With out
a lot of volunteers, (resources) you can not have any amateur radio operation be
successful. The more volunteers, the more skills you have as resources.
I am a (retired) professional. I do not receive a check in the
mail, but I do communications because I love to operate my transmitter and
receiver and this makes me an amateur. 73 K7DXV