Is the Ham Communicator Obsolete?

Ouch – that hurt!

More and more events are finding that the “I only talk on the radio” type volunteer is becoming obsolete. With the advent of numerous other forms of communication more and more events are seeking volunteers (primary function) with ham radio skills (secondary). These events empower the volunteer to more than only relaying information by radio to represent the event and becoming a part of the trouble solving team.

In my downriver race, the hams are event volunteer with communication as primary, but they are insured as any other volunteer.

In my SAG operation, only half the volunteers are hams! Granted, we have some cool tools like mobile hotspots and back-bone long distance communication available while non-hams are on 50w DMR simplex mobile radios.

However, for the average event I coordinate, the “I only talk on the radio” ham volunteer is obsolete and the volunteer with ham radio license and skill is gold!