FYI - Circulating letter from the pacific northwest.

There is an email regarding a local decision in Washington State area that is circulating widely in the amateur community. It states that there is a "National change in Strategy" wrt Ham operations in Red Cross. I have already heard from my CEO and from the coordinator of the Upcoming National Exercise that they are not aware of any such change in strategy, or even a discussion.

The MOU is in place and we value our ARES partnership highly, and have no intention of changing our internal or external connection with the ARRL, Affiliated Clubs, or ARES in TX. As covered in the MOU we encourage joint membership, and our ARES / Red Cross volunteers are some of the best and most frequently deployed that we have. Also the May - pre hurricane season - exercise was one of the most successful that we have ever had, and built my confidence that if we had a communications outage or overload, you guys would be there for us and the people of TX.

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We might want to follow up with national ARC, before we commit ourselves to a position change or to public/member comments on the Dieffenbach email. Dieffenbach may be rogue.

One could almost see the writing on the wall here, as I was very surprised that I didn't hear of one single ARES activation that occurred in Oregon as a result of the extensive wildfires recently. My question was answered when a news article I saw one evening on television highlighted the brand new state owned high-tech emergency comms van in use, complete with portable commercial repeaters they deployed to fill in communications holes where their normal repeaters and cell towers/IT infrastructure failed. I also heard that both Verizon and ATT ("First Net") emergency communication systems were deployed, but I don't know by whom, or where.

They simply didn't need any ARES help with communications. I'll be interested to see how Mr. Gilbert responds to this, the ARES paradigm is shifting. Hams use Katrina as an example of why we are needed, but don't realize that governmental communications infrastructure has certainly been beefed up as a result of that one event, and commercial interests in EmComm, such as AT&T's FirstNet have now come into play.

On 10/26/2020 1:33 PM Mark J Tharp <kb7hdx@gmail.com> wrote:

This was sent to the area Red Cross volunteers that may or may not also be ARES volunteers.

Anyone else run into this?

Mr. Gilbert was also included in the original email.

Mark, HDX

From: Dieffenbach, Alex <alex.dieffenbach@redcross.org>
Sent: Monday, October 26, 2020 10:49 AM
To:

Subject: HAM Radio Strategy

Dear Northwest Region HAM Radio Operators,

Thank you for the time and talent you have dedicated to our Northwest Region HAM Radio program. Over the years, you have diligently performed weekly checks, welcomed new members into the fold and made available critical communications support. We are profoundly grateful for your efforts and teamwork.

I am writing to you today to share some news regarding strategic direction that impacts our HAM radio program. National has determined that HAM radio will no longer be part of our communication strategy. This decision was not made lightly and came on the heels of numerous discussions, research and debate. I am very proud and thankful for all of the hard work, energy and passion that the Northwest Region HAM Team has contributed to our mission over the years. Our HAM volunteers are amongst the best and most passionate volunteers serving in our Region. It is my sincere hope that all of you will continue to volunteer for the Red Cross in different areas moving forward.

As I mentioned, this decision was not made lightly and I would like to share some reasons why we are moving in this new direction:

For the vast majority of our responses, we have not had to rely on amateur radio to supplement our communications strategy.
Innovations in technology have made it much more likely that alternative forms of communication will be available, and have been available, during disaster responses.
In case emergency HAM resources are necessary, the Red Cross has MOU’s in place with ARES and would request radio operators to support Red Cross activities.
It became clear that maintaining our HAM Teams and equipment was cost prohibitive in terms of likeliness of engaging these resources.
The new Real Estate Strategy has greatly reduced the availability of space and key electronics necessary to continue the program.

There is no doubt, that we are a stronger Region because of our HAM volunteers and, as mentioned above, it is my sincere hope that we can find a place for you to continue to serve our mission. If you are unable to continue to volunteer with us and share your talent and passion in another Red Cross endeavor, please accept my deepest appreciation for the work you have done on behalf of communities in need.

I would also like to announce that anyone interested in attending a virtual “Town hall” on this topic is invited to join us on November 5^th at 4 PM. At this meeting, we plan to share the timeline, discuss the equipment plan and answer any questions you may have. Please be on the lookout for a meeting invitation coming soon.

Thank you, again, to all of you, our HAM Team Members across the Region.

Alex R. Dieffenbach | CEO

American Red Cross Northwest Region

1900 25^th Avenue South, Seattle, WA 98144

(206)726.3570 (O) (206)245.8554 (C)

alex.dieffenbach@redcross.org

CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.