Amateur radio-based emergency communications exists to support the management of emergency resources. That management involves decisions by authorities who work in a specialized environment, and need certain types of information. While amateur radio operators should focus on being good communicators, they can be more effective when understanding the structural and cultural context of that emergency response, as well as the kinds of information needed. This includes understanding the unique jargon and lexicon of emergency service providers, and understanding what information is critical, and what non-essential traffic becomes "noise".

Amateur radio operators have tended to focus on (and be enamored with) technology rather than the content of formal traffic. They tend not to tolerate a quiet frequency. Many hams are used to rag chewing.

In an emergency situation, the myth that "a ham with a kilowatt can do anything" really doesn't hold true. Effective and useful amateur communication in a crisis requires that each ham have experience in the particular network, and with the particular subject matter.

This talk focuses upon the semantics of emergency communication rather than the technology. The message (to annoy McLuhan) is more important than the medium.

Michael Scofield (N6OKG) is a former Assistant Emergency Coordinator for Orange County Hospital Disaster Communication (ARES). He is active in the City of Loma Linda RACES. He is an Assistant Professor of Health Information Management at Loma Linda University. He has lectured in his primary discipline of information management to audiences all over the U.S., in the U.K. and Australia. He has spoken to over 20 amateur radio audiences on this topic as well as frequency re-use and propagation.

Michael last spoke to the Pasadena Radio Club in August 2008, on the use of Geographic Information Systems (he was working with ESRI in Redlands) in siting repeaters and predicting coverage over terrain.