Ham radio operators are now officially part of Canada’s national emergency response.

The Expositor sat down with Radio Amateurs of Canada president, Alan Boyd of Little Current to discuss important changes to the way the organization works with emergency services, especially in the far North.

Mr. Boyd is probably best known as the former Manitoulin OPP detachment community services officer where he met most Island youth in the classroom, but over those years he was also a dedicated amateur shortwave radio operator, having qualified for his licence in 1986.

“Next year will be my 40th year being licenced,” said Mr. Boyd, who is president of the Manitoulin Amateur Radio Club. That organization serves Manitoulin and the North Shore and maintains seven repeaters on the Island.

Over those years of being an amateur radio aficionado, Mr. Boyd the Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC), taking on ever greater responsibilities over the years, most recently being elected president of that organization. There are some 80,000 licenced operators in Canada, with around 6,000 belonging to the RAC.

While being part of the local organization, Mr. Boyd was not only able to socialize and work with fellow hobbyists (they can often be found holding meetings at various restaurants across Manitoulin), he also became involved in some very serious work in the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) program.

ARES is a corps of trained amateur radio operator volunteers who are organized to assist in public service and emergency communications and is sponsored by the Radio Amateurs of Canada. Since the 1930s, ARES members across the globe have provided vital communications links when disasters have knocked out most communications. From hurricanes, floods and terrorist attacks, they have provided links for emergency services and the public. During the Katrina hurricane, more than a thousand volunteers assisted the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army and individuals in the relief efforts. Here on Manitoulin, their services were important during the 2016 microburst and amateur radio operators were standing by to assist when the spectre of Y2K threatened global turmoil.

“When communications fail, we are there to assist,” confirmed Mr. Boyd.

Part of the challenge faced by emergency services first responders is that each of them operate on different radio frequencies. Mr. Boyd gave an example of when he was a police officer in need of an ambulance for an individual. “I could see an ambulance just down the street, but I would have to call my dispatcher, who would then contact the Northeast Region office, who would then contact the EMS dispatcher,” he said. “It would be like that old kid’s game of telegraph.”

But there were also issues in the collaboration with local and national emergency services, primarily among those issues being the word “volunteer” in their name which was poorly understood by police and other emergency services, Mr. Boyd explained. “We found it wasn’t very effective with first responders. They considered the word ‘volunteer’ was something of an oxymoron when it came to dealing with emergencies.”

To that end, the program is changing its name to Auxiliary Communications Service (ACS).

ACS will “assume the original function of ARES, but its focus will shift to recognize that disaster response management and telecommunication standards are now mandated by Canadian federal, provincial and territorial legislation and regulations and by international agreements.”

While the focus of non-government organizations will continue to be disaster relief operations, the role of the new ACS will be to “provide certified communications operators to supplement communications for local emergency management groups and non-government organizations and provide backup radio operators when required. ACS teams are in essence an integrated unpaid member of the sponsoring agency.”

Those teams might be working locally, as they do now, or become part of a team inserted into a disaster zone to set up communications.

While being “unpaid” the costs of deployment and equipment being sent into a disaster zone will be covered by the sponsors and the operators being inserted will have received standardized training that will enhance their integration with the relief teams efforts.

RAC will provide “a foundational guideline of best practices for training to meet the obligations of today’s disaster response management teams. This training program is in development with the education/training committee directed by the National Training Coordinator Peggy Foley.”

Another important aspect of the ACS approach is that amateur radio operators living in the community being struck by disaster may well be out of commission—equipment destroyed and/or other concerns. “We have families ourselves, and they must be our first priority,” said Mr. Boyd.

So, having trained teams that can come in with equipment designed to deal with the challenges of a disaster is a big step forward for emergency communications.

The program is still being set up and local ARES groups that are functioning well in their areas are still in place in the interim, noted Mr. Boyd, but when it comes to emergency communications, especially in Northern Ontario, the future looks brighter thanks to the efforts of a dedicated group of radio operators.

Mr. Boyd also serves as deputy mayor of Northeastern Manitoulin and the Islands.

Source: https://www.manitoulin.com/ham-radio-operators-officially-now-a-part-of-national-emergency-response/