Interoperability in large missions

[CommGeek]

I give up!   you guys just don't get it!   When EVERYONE ELSE can talk to all the players, we are the ONLY ones that cant talk, we have problems!

I am very familiar with the COM-L , I happen to be a COM-L instructor!   you can not even begin to compare a CAP CUL to a COM-L,  its like comparing a little league team to a pro team!

[wuzafuzz]

I give up!   you guys just don't get it!   When EVERYONE ELSE can talk to all the players, we are the ONLY ones that cant talk, we have problems!

I am very familiar with the COM-L , I happen to be a COM-L instructor!   you can not even begin to compare a CAP CUL to a COM-L,  its like comparing a little league team to a pro team!

We get it.  Some of us just disagree with some of your statements. Chill Dude.

I've participated in some real-world DR where CAP could barely talk to CAP.  We still made a valuable contribution to the overall effort.  Was that ideal?  Of course not.  Is there room for improvement?  Yes.  Do we have an epic fail if we ALL can't talk to everyone else?  No.

We need to do the best we can with the money and resources available to us.

[PHall]

I give up!   you guys just don't get it!   When EVERYONE ELSE can talk to all the players, we are the ONLY ones that cant talk, we have problems!

I am very familiar with the COM-L , I happen to be a COM-L instructor!   you can not even begin to compare a CAP CUL to a COM-L,  its like comparing a little league team to a pro team!

Maybe you should leave CAP. Wouldn't want you ruining your reputation by being associated with a bunch of amateurs who can't even talk to each other.

[CommGeek]

if we keep it up thats what the NON-CAP  types will label us as!

Bottom line is if we are going to play with the real guys, we need to act like them, and be equipped like them!

[arajca]

The thing is NOT EVERYONE ELSE can talk to everyone. In the big cities where the feds have dropped lots of money for interop, they're pretty good at it. Away from there, not so good, especially working across different bands. Many rural areas are real good at communicating between agencies since they are usually on the same channels and may even be part of multiple agencies, i.e. the fire chief (vol) is a capt (paid) on the sheriff's department. Many rural areas have improved their systems and operational capabilities to where CAP was several years ago, but still have a ways to go to get to where we are now. Not only in terms of equipment, but also capabilities, training, and planning.

The feds have finally realized that PLANNING and TRAINING are as important, if not more, than equipment. There are rural agencies that have been given several thousand dollars worth of equipment for "Interoperability" but have not been given any training. The equipment sits in the factory boxes, unused, because of this. No one figured on providing training during any times other than M-F, 8-5, which is typically when the volunteers are working. Then they are told the training would take 20+ hours.

Until comms stops being in the top ten serious issues at disasters (whcih it has been for the past 30+ years) even for paid agencies, quit whining about how CAP can't do what paid fire, police, ems, etc, departments can't do with budgets (and grants) significantly larger than CAP's budget.

BTW, despite it's flaws, CAP's system is not the retched mess you seem to think it is. I'm a retired vol fire fighter and I know the folks I ran with would have killed for a system as good as CAP's - and their system was one of the better non-metropolitan systems around.

[Slim]

We get it just fine.  In fact, I've been getting it for 25 years as a CAP communicator, almost 20 as a HAM, and 20 as a public safety professional out there doing it every day.  My experience working many incidents-both CAP and in my job-is that I don't need to be able to talk to the cops, or the FBI, or the critter cops, as long as I can talk to the dispatcher (in CAP's case, the MRO), incident commander, or whatever ICS title may be given to the head cheese in charge of me, who is responsible for my movements and activities.

if we keep it up thats what the NON-CAP  types will label us as!

Being called an amateur would be among the more mild titles if an untrained CAP communicator who doesn't speak the lingo, is given the task of trying to communicate with a public safety agency on their radio/frequency.  Been there, done that (I've been known to forget which radio I have in my hand from time to time, as has anyone else who gets paid to talk on radios for a living).

Bottom line is if we are going to play with the real guys, we need to act like them, and be equipped like them!

No, we don't need to act like them.  We need to act like what we are, a dedicated group of unpaid professionals trained perform certain tasks.  And, we are equipped like them.  While I find the EFJ radios (and even my personal stuff) to be a step back from the HAM gear we used to use, this equipment is the same grade/quality as the public safety professionals.  They're like bricks with a PHD button and a few other controls.