Clash between Chasers and Spotters

[TJ Whitt]

Add:
I personally avoid ham radio skywarn nets these days. Poor public image, growing nets with attitudes, slow reporting (depending on ham nets, and WFOs systems for accepting reports) it's quickly making ham obsolete. And before long...mobile internet will be more reliable than ham radio.

Ham radio will never be obsolete. What if severe weather took out cell towers and there wasn't any signal for cell phones nor mobile internet? Whats next in a spotter or chasers ammo to make reports? Ham radio is the tool to use. Even if ham radio repeater locations are taken out or power goes down, there is always simplex operations. It could be relayed from one operator to operator.

[TJ Whitt]

You know, if you hate ham radio so much, you don't have to wait for the ticket to expire. Feel free to turn it in at any time.

HAHAHAHAHA, so true and amen to that!

[Andrew Burnett]

Ham radio will never be obsolete. What if severe weather took out cell towers and there wasn't any signal for cell phones nor mobile internet? Whats next in a spotter or chasers ammo to make reports? Ham radio is the tool to use. Even if ham radio repeater locations are taken out or power goes down, there is always simplex operations. It could be relayed from one operator to operator.

And honestly what good does spotter info do at that point... it's too old to do any good.

[TJ Whitt]

And honestly what good does spotter info do at that point... it's too old to do any good.

Damage assesment, first aid/police, ultilties needed

[Jason Foster]

Ham radio will never be obsolete. What if severe weather took out cell towers and there wasn't any signal for cell phones nor mobile internet?

Repeaters can go down too. In fact, I'd trust companies like Verizon & Sprint to bring in more resources than ham radio at this point. They certainly have millions (or billions) more money to throw around than the cheapscape hams. Sprint has a sizable mobile fleet and already deployed down south. I'm sure Verizon and others are doing the same. Ham radio is obsolete, it's just where it's still valid currently in some situations. Certainly don't need to get rid of the hams if the cell folks haven upgraded the network yet. A good indication of the current situation is the recent severe weather in Alabama, Mississippi, etc. I haven't heard any major contributions by ham radio like in years (decades) past.

[TJ Whitt]

Repeaters can go down too. In fact, I'd trust companies like Verizon & Sprint to bring in more resources than ham radio at this point. Sprint has a sizable mobile fleet. I'm sure Verizon and others are doing the same. Ham radio is obsolete, it's just where it's valid currently in some situations. A good indication of the current situation is the recent severe weather in Alabama, Mississippi, etc. I haven't heard any major contributions by ham radio like in years (decades) past.

You failed to quote where I stated that repeaters can also go down and that simplex could be used for operations. There are also mobile command centers that can deploy portable repeater systems. I actually took part in a portable repeater setup for a disaster drill in a nearby city. Your outlook on the usage of ham radio during severe weather is skewed. Instead of trying to kill something, research more into it. ;-)

[Jason Foster]

You failed to quote where I stated that repeaters can also go down and that simplex could be used for operations. There are also mobile command centers that can deploy portable repeater systems. I actually took part in a portable repeater setup for a disaster drill in a nearby city. Your outlook on the usage of ham radio during severe weather is skewed. Instead of trying to kill something, research more into it. ;-)

Whoops...yeah, sorry, I missed that...I just saw the simplex bit and laughed (simplex by itself). Ham radio isn't a needed back up in that case because county, state and federal outlets already have their's in place. Even before my attendance at gathering in Rockville, MD (that had more mobile command units in one place than you'll see in a lifetime) they had everything from how to have intranets, remote deployable system to be able to connect to the internet, remote repeaters, etc. This was in 2006 no less!!! I can't imagine what they've done with the billions filter into homeland security by now.

I've been around it, talk to top people (I often get the chance to here the inside stuff simply thanks to the proximity to DC). Ham radio may have a valid role at times, but it's diminishing.

The bottomline is ham radio doesn't have the data capacity to meet the needs to communicate effectively in this day and age. Sure if the only roll you are try to justify is a few communications back and forth, fine. But the needs for EMs is way larger than the scope of ham radio was, is, or will be.

This could be to some degree the issues between spotters and chasers too. Perhaps those that are deeply envolved with the volunteer side of spotting, skywarn, races, etc. etc. feel the need to justify their position and value. Chasers generally don't care about all this EM stuff because...well, it's not related to chasing. This is why you see SN growing in popularity.

[Keith Hosman]

I thought this was the chasers vs. spotters fight thread not the pro vs. con amateur radio fight thread

[Jason Foster]

I thought this was the chasers vs. spotters fight thread not the pro vs. con amateur radio fight thread

It is part of the conversation IF you read all the posts.

[Keith Hosman]

It is part of the conversation IF you read all the posts.

hehe I know.. it was in jest.

Personally I have nothing against chasers or spotters, both groups are opposite sides of the same coin. Here locally from the EMA viewpoint we value both spotters and chasers, the more eyes on the sky the better as far as I am concerned.