Volunteering and Emergency Communications

Being back in the hobby was fun, but it's better with others.  Since I'm not much of a rag chewer sort of guy and I do prefer to volunteer for a reason.  I investigated, and ultimately joined, the local ARES group (http://clayares.org/).  Turn out to be a wonderful bunch of guys.  Some of the equipment decisions being made are to support being able to interact and support ARES emergency operations.

I also rejoined Navy MARS.  I had originally become a member of Navy MARS back in 1987 in Puerto Rick and maintained pretty much continuous membership up until the 2006 timeframe.  At that point, work and family made it nearly impossible to meet my obligations so I let the membership slide.

Several of the Clay ARES group were members of MARS and it made me re-examine where I was.  I determined that i had the time and space so I re-volunteered and became a member of MARS again.  That is also driving a LOT of my equipment/operating decisions since the April 2014 time frame.  It's sort of like coming home after being away for a long time.  It's familiar and you know the neighborhood, but there have been some changes that need to be dealt with.

 This time around there is a very large emphasis on digital communications that was not in my earlier MARS experiences.  Then RTTY was a pretty exotic thing for members, now RTTY seems to be a dinosaur.  It's all about learning new skills.