Hartford, CT (PRWEB) May 3, 2006 — The Midland Radio Corporation, REACT International, the DC Emergency Radio Network, and NationalSOS.com have jointly announced their support for the National SOS Radio Network — www.NationalSOS.com — a free communications network based on the estimated 100 million FRS-compatible radios already in the hands of the public… and growing by up to 12 million radios per year.
This idea first surfaced after hurricane Katrina. I wrote about it in October 2005, but I haven’t heard much additional news until I noticed this press release. Having REACT and Midland supporting this idea will certainly help, but it is still not clear where this will head, if anywhere.
73, Bob K0NR
The Personal Radio Association (PRA) has expressed strong opposition to the National SOS Radio Network (use of FRS radios for emergency communications). See this web site for their position: http://www.popularwireless.com/pra/opinion.html
And here is an article from Mobile Radio Technology (MRT) magazine: http://mrtmag.com/mag/radio_national_sos_gains/index.html
Here’s some more on FRS radios for emcomm. I stumbled across an organization called EMCOM.
http://www.emcomus.org
They see FRS as a communications tool for during emergencies. There is a very optimistic channel plan listed on the web site:
http://emcomus.org/commwp.html
A “channel plan” is developed to limit the amount of communications for each purpose, based on using 3-4 channels, thus leaving (or coordinating) channels for use by adjacent neighborhoods for their own communications.
* Channel 2 – Emergency messages to be relayed to the neighborhood coordinator, or designated communications coordinators (there should always be a backup communicator designated in case the primary assignee is incapacitated.
* Channel 8 – Intra/Inter Family Communications
* Channel 9 – Neighborhood light search and rescue efforts
* Channel 10 – Evacuation/Relief/Health/Welfare efforts
* Channel 5 – Secondary Emergency Message Channel – Assigned to one side of the neighborhood that is close to another neighborhood using Channel 5 as their primary Emergency channel. This should only be used when one cannot reach their primary neighborhood coordinator(s).
* Channel 6 – Secondary Emergency Message Channel – Assigned to the other side of the neighborhood that is close to another neighborhood using Channel 6 as their primary Emergency channel. This should only be used when one cannot reach their primary neighborhood coordinator(s).
This is where I have to say “enough”. For such a channel plan to be successful, it requires a high level of discipline by all radio users. This is a challenge for a licensed service but is a joke for an unlicensed service such as FRS.
In retrospect, it is clear to me that the FCC missed an opportunity to make something really powerful out of FRS / GMRS. Instead, they just shoved the FRS frequencies between and on top of the GMRS frequencies, hoping for the best. Another example of crappy spectrum planning.