Another month, another CERT meeting with a new question for the hive mind!
Our CERT doesn't have a good solution right now for group notifications. What we're looking for is some type of app or service which would allow for group text message/notification and/or mass phone call (ability to record a message and then blast it out to a distribution list). We are a non-profit, so any services which offer discounted rate (free would be great!) for this would be best.
We had set something up on GroupMe in the past, but drifted away from it for some reason (the CERT commander couldn't remember why we weren't using it any more when we talked tonight). It might be an option to go back to using that and I'd like to hear from people who have had experience with it. Right now notifications are done via email / post on Facebook and then start making phone calls to everyone on the list.
Any suggestions for how to address this?
Why not just group everyone's number into one group on your phone (or someone's phone) and just SMS the group that way? It's what I do with the staff from here. They get added to my forum staff group and when I have something to send I can send it to one or all. No special app is required.
Quote from: NT2C on January 12, 2022, 08:24:32 PM
Why not just group everyone's number into one group on your phone (or someone's phone) and just SMS the group that way? It's what I do with the staff from here. They get added to my forum staff group and when I have something to send I can send it to one or all. No special app is required.
A quick Google search shows SMS group size limits vary from phone to phone, but is usually either 10 or 30. Technically we have a roster of around 50-60 people, but not all of them are active. We probably have 15 who are regulars and another 10-15 who help out occasionally. An SMS limit of 10 people would obviously be too few, but 30 might work.
The preference would be for an actual group messaging service though, so that we could include everyone, just in case some inactive members decide to jump in and help out. It would also give us the option to include work phones, spouse phones, other organizations (selected first responders, Police Explorers, etc.) in the distribution, just to make sure that we reach everyone.
Quote from: EBuff75 on January 12, 2022, 08:39:08 PM
Quote from: NT2C on January 12, 2022, 08:24:32 PM
Why not just group everyone's number into one group on your phone (or someone's phone) and just SMS the group that way? It's what I do with the staff from here. They get added to my forum staff group and when I have something to send I can send it to one or all. No special app is required.
A quick Google search shows SMS group size limits vary from phone to phone, but is usually either 10 or 30. Technically we have a roster of around 50-60 people, but not all of them are active. We probably have 15 who are regulars and another 10-15 who help out occasionally. An SMS limit of 10 people would obviously be too few, but 30 might work.
The preference would be for an actual group messaging service though, so that we could include everyone, just in case some inactive members decide to jump in and help out. It would also give us the option to include work phones, spouse phones, other organizations (selected first responders, Police Explorers, etc.) in the distribution, just to make sure that we reach everyone.
Simply use multiple groups and nest them. If you can't have a group within a group (never tried it) then it's still easy to cut and paste the same message to two or three additional groups.
Use this as an interim measure until you can find an SMS broadcast host/platform.
What about something like the Remind system the schools use?
The problem with texting is that somebody always replies to everybody about something unrelated, or someone changes their phone number but people keep replying to the old groups so they don't get the new messages.
Quote from: CG on January 13, 2022, 06:54:15 AM
What about something like the Remind system the schools use?
The problem with texting is that somebody always replies to everybody about something unrelated, or someone changes their phone number but people keep replying to the old groups so they don't get the new messages.
I'm not really familiar with Remind, but from their website, it looks like designed for schools and education. Do they let other organizations use it? Also, we're really only looking for text messaging; we don't need ability to share photos, files, react to things, etc. This isn't intended as anything other than the ability to do a text-message blast.
Quote from: EBuff75 on January 14, 2022, 02:10:49 PM
Quote from: CG on January 13, 2022, 06:54:15 AM
What about something like the Remind system the schools use?
The problem with texting is that somebody always replies to everybody about something unrelated, or someone changes their phone number but people keep replying to the old groups so they don't get the new messages.
I'm not really familiar with Remind, but from their website, it looks like designed for schools and education. Do they let other organizations use it? Also, we're really only looking for text messaging; we don't need ability to share photos, files, react to things, etc. This isn't intended as anything other than the ability to do a text-message blast.
I saw something in there that sounded like they might let other non-profits use it. The only other programs I know are church specific.
Telegram. Its an amazing app. Very popular.
Facebook Messenger works well. But its facebook...
Quote from: Moab on January 14, 2022, 11:37:46 PM
Telegram. Its an amazing app. Very popular.
Facebook Messenger works well. But its facebook...
Unfortunately, neither of those would be an option, as only about half of the group uses Facebook and we have some who don't have smartphones. That's why we're looking for something which can work via text messaging or possibly recorded voice calls as well. Its fine if it can do more than that, but the minimum requirement would be something that will work for people who have "dumb phones." I
_think_ that everyone has a cell phone, but I'm not even sure about that, which is where the ability to record a message and then blast it out to the team would be useful.
The main concern is for the messaging to be a push to our members. We're not necessarily expecting that people will respond back, but we need to be able to reach out to them if there is a need for our team to mobilize.
Have you tried Discord?
Quote from: Anianna on January 15, 2022, 02:29:45 PM
Have you tried Discord?
Discord is an online chat/discussion service (voice/video/text), not something which could be used to send text messages to flip phones. I've used it with other groups (such as ZS and NaNoWriMo), but it wouldn't work for this situation.
Quote from: EBuff75 on January 15, 2022, 02:49:44 PM
Quote from: Anianna on January 15, 2022, 02:29:45 PM
Have you tried Discord?
Discord is an online chat/discussion service (voice/video/text), not something which could be used to send text messages to flip phones. I've used it with other groups (such as ZS and NaNoWriMo), but it wouldn't work for this situation.
I didn't realize flip phones were involved.
Quote from: Anianna on January 15, 2022, 04:11:07 PM
Quote from: EBuff75 on January 15, 2022, 02:49:44 PM
Quote from: Anianna on January 15, 2022, 02:29:45 PM
Have you tried Discord?
Discord is an online chat/discussion service (voice/video/text), not something which could be used to send text messages to flip phones. I've used it with other groups (such as ZS and NaNoWriMo), but it wouldn't work for this situation.
I didn't realize flip phones were involved.
Ya. Whats the deal with flip phones?
Quote from: Moab on January 16, 2022, 12:02:09 AM
Quote from: Anianna on January 15, 2022, 04:11:07 PM
Quote from: EBuff75 on January 15, 2022, 02:49:44 PM
Quote from: Anianna on January 15, 2022, 02:29:45 PM
Have you tried Discord?
Discord is an online chat/discussion service (voice/video/text), not something which could be used to send text messages to flip phones. I've used it with other groups (such as ZS and NaNoWriMo), but it wouldn't work for this situation.
I didn't realize flip phones were involved.
Ya. Whats the deal with flip phones?
Well, at almost 47, I'm one of the younger members. That could have something to do with it...
There is an app that will do what you want, and it's free, however it doesn't work with flip phones since those are considered to be as outdated as 56K modems and 5 1/2 inch floppy drives in the current tech dominated communications space.
If most people are using smart phones from the last 3 years or so, I'd go with Slack (https://slack.com/ (https://slack.com/)) it's free to use up to a certain point and will send push notifications to your phone, but it's not gonna do a damn thing for the old school flip phones especially since most of them should be reaching End of Life anyway.
I understand your limitations ebuff. Some folks are hard to change. But in this day and age. You could find a smart phone that is decades ahead of a flip phone for fairly cheap. Especially if you consider an off brand android. Im talking sub $100(?). Maybe even cheaper. Even a Samsung Galaxy from 3 or 4 years ago. Must go for cheap. But i think you could find even nicer off brand models.
Im all for using simple outdated tech for solving problems. Seriously i am. I even love mind excercises revolving around that idea. I cant tell u how many projects like this ive worked on. I used to make self contained tracking units out of old garmin 12cx gps units and a motorcycle battery. Lol.
But flip phones are a bit like using smoke signals at this point. U might be better served trying to find a deal on cheap simple smart phones.
The only other thing i can think of is Textline. Its a text software utility. That allows you to connect with customers via text. Its a very good program. They may have an android version too. But at least one person - the info hub lets say, the one putting out the messages - has to run an android smart phone.
If u just need this as a sort of broadcast system. Maybe you could develop a system where one or only a few of you have smart phones. And you guys do the broadcasting of info to all the other phones? Like even if u had the only smart phone. You could use textline or telegram on it to manage all the texts that go out to your members. The flipphones will of course not be able to text back.
But wait. (Thinking here. It takes a minute. Old hard drive and all. Lol.) I think they could text back with textline. But agin u need one android smart phone to make it work.
https://www.textline.com/
If u had one android smart phone running textline it could broadcast to all the others. And i cant think of a reason why tjey coukdnt text back to the main nroadcaster or main android smart phone running the text software.
Here it is for android.
https://www.textline.com/blog/textline-android-app-released#:~:text=The%20official%20Textline%20Android%20app,conversations%2C%20and%20even%20send%20announcements.
OneCallNow has plans starting at $20, I don't know what kind of plans they have...
https://www.onsolve.com/platform-products/critical-communications/one-call-now/
Old school for the win?
If you're just going to have 1 person send it out (ie. a Secretary) what about creating an email group. and send it from an internet connected mail service.
Most phones have (or at least had, I havent used it in forever) an email address (even the old flip phones) that look similar to:
5555551212@sms.somecellservice.com
that can be used to send texts out without having a phone yourself. This might be a free option. If you BCC all the phone addresses any replies should only come back to the originator of the message.
Pros - Free.
cons - Will take a little time to setup to figure out everyones email address.
this looks like an easy breakdown:
https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/how-to-send-a-text-from-your-email-account/
Quote from: SCBrian on January 17, 2022, 09:50:50 AM
Old school for the win?
If you're just going to have 1 person send it out (ie. a Secretary) what about creating an email group. and send it from an internet connected mail service.
Most phones have (or at least had, I havent used it in forever) an email address (even the old flip phones) that look similar to:
5555551212@sms.somecellservice.com
that can be used to send texts out without having a phone yourself. This might be a free option. If you BCC all the phone addresses any replies should only come back to the originator of the message.
Pros - Free.
cons - Will take a little time to setup to figure out everyones email address.
this looks like an easy breakdown:
https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/how-to-send-a-text-from-your-email-account/
Two cons:
Email is far from "instant", and can take 30 minutes or more to route. Two, if you BCC you protect everyone's email, but then the person sending the emails gets stuck responding to every reply, tying them up at a time they might be needed for other things and slowing the spread of what might be valuable information.
How about this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DumgHz56IjI
I was not familiar with this at all and am just learning about it now so I can't answer questions you might have, but it sounds like it might be the perfect answer to your problem.
More:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwTy_-Y-A5o
Quote from: NT2C on January 28, 2022, 03:22:37 AM
How about this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DumgHz56IjI (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DumgHz56IjI)
I was not familiar with this at all and am just learning about it now so I can't answer questions you might have, but it sounds like it might be the perfect answer to your problem.
More:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwTy_-Y-A5o (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwTy_-Y-A5o)
That's interesting (to me), but way too technical for what we're looking at. We're not worried about how to communicate if the grid goes down, just a simple way to do normal communications for the group. If the grid goes down and we aren't able to send texts or make calls, nobody is going to show up to help out anyway as they'll all be focused on their own families and immediate neighbors anyway.
Our group is extremely non-technical / non-gearhead. If I were to mention an 18650 battery, I would guess that less than half of them would even know what that is (seriously, we have people who use use old Krypton bulb, D-cell flashlights and think that they're just fine). To give some perspective on how bad it can be - a few years ago when we did an outdoor training exercise on a cold, rainy day in a swampy area, we had people show up in loafers and sweatshirts because they don't have rain gear or decent boots... We've talked about putting together a list of minimum requirements for clothing and gear, but we're afraid that half the group might leave if we did something like that.
I've been passing along some of the communication suggestions to our CERT commander and my next step is to try to push us to create an official communications plan (I'm planning to write up something before our next meeting in 2 weeks as a draft). I'm a documentation sort of guy (go figure - I'm a project manager for a software company) and the fact that we don't have this sort of stuff already, stored in an online file storage area with personnel lists, SOPs, maps, forms, etc. for the group to use is quite annoying. Just setting up a folder in Google Drive would take care of this!
*grumble, growl* *climbs down from soapbox*
Quote from: EBuff75 on January 28, 2022, 12:30:39 PM
Quote from: NT2C on January 28, 2022, 03:22:37 AM
How about this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DumgHz56IjI (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DumgHz56IjI)
I was not familiar with this at all and am just learning about it now so I can't answer questions you might have, but it sounds like it might be the perfect answer to your problem.
More:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwTy_-Y-A5o (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwTy_-Y-A5o)
That's interesting (to me), but way too technical for what we're looking at. We're not worried about how to communicate if the grid goes down, just a simple way to do normal communications for the group. If the grid goes down and we aren't able to send texts or make calls, nobody is going to show up to help out anyway as they'll all be focused on their own families and immediate neighbors anyway.
Our group is extremely non-technical / non-gearhead. If I were to mention an 18650 battery, I would guess that less than half of them would even know what that is (seriously, we have people who use use old Krypton bulb, D-cell flashlights and think that they're just fine). To give some perspective on how bad it can be - a few years ago when we did an outdoor training exercise on a cold, rainy day in a swampy area, we had people show up in loafers and sweatshirts because they don't have rain gear or decent boots... We've talked about putting together a list of minimum requirements for clothing and gear, but we're afraid that half the group might leave if we did something like that.
I've been passing along some of the communication suggestions to our CERT commander and my next step is to try to push us to create an official communications plan (I'm planning to write up something before our next meeting in 2 weeks as a draft). I'm a documentation sort of guy (go figure - I'm a project manager for a software company) and the fact that we don't have this sort of stuff already, stored in an online file storage area with personnel lists, SOPs, maps, forms, etc. for the group to use is quite annoying. Just setting up a folder in Google Drive would take care of this!
*grumble, growl* *climbs down from soapbox*
How many people in your group?
Have u considered a questioniere (i cant spell that word right now) asking what type of phone and/or computer they use.
Maybe a simple phone tree is the answer. Remember those from back in the day? Say you have 4 squads. One guy calls the leader of each squad. And they convey that message to their respective squad members. And let each squad leader decide which type of comm is best for their group ie text, phone call, email or whatever.
I wonder if u can search the wayback machine for comm tactics from 1999? Lol.
Heres a list of text blast apps for android. If u had one android phone u could send texts to your entire group. Regardless of what kind of phone each person had.
https://www.makeuseof.com/android-apps-sms-bulk/
Quote from: EBuff75 on January 28, 2022, 12:30:39 PM
That's interesting (to me), but way too technical for what we're looking at. We're not worried about how to communicate if the grid goes down, just a simple way to do normal communications for the group. If the grid goes down and we aren't able to send texts or make calls, nobody is going to show up to help out anyway as they'll all be focused on their own families and immediate neighbors anyway.
Our group is extremely non-technical / non-gearhead. If I were to mention an 18650 battery, I would guess that less than half of them would even know what that is (seriously, we have people who use use old Krypton bulb, D-cell flashlights and think that they're just fine). To give some perspective on how bad it can be - a few years ago when we did an outdoor training exercise on a cold, rainy day in a swampy area, we had people show up in loafers and sweatshirts because they don't have rain gear or decent boots... We've talked about putting together a list of minimum requirements for clothing and gear, but we're afraid that half the group might leave if we did something like that.
I've been passing along some of the communication suggestions to our CERT commander and my next step is to try to push us to create an official communications plan (I'm planning to write up something before our next meeting in 2 weeks as a draft). I'm a documentation sort of guy (go figure - I'm a project manager for a software company) and the fact that we don't have this sort of stuff already, stored in an online file storage area with personnel lists, SOPs, maps, forms, etc. for the group to use is quite annoying. Just setting up a folder in Google Drive would take care of this!
*grumble, growl* *climbs down from soapbox*
My thoughts on this was that you or some other person with the technical skills needed, assemble kits of these that include one in a proper case, a charger, QR code to get the phone app, etc. so that you can just issue a kit to each of the members at a short training session showing how it works and making sure everyone os setup. While this
could serve as disaster comms, in your application it works similar to giving everyone a walkie-talkie. At home, their kit can sit on top of the fridge or on a shelf, plugged into a USB phone charger, ready to take with them if needed.
While this might be a challenge for the least technical folks in your group, anyone who uses a smartphone should have the tech skills to use this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY6m6fS8bxU
Quote from: NT2C on January 28, 2022, 04:59:09 PM
Quote from: EBuff75 on January 28, 2022, 12:30:39 PM
That's interesting (to me), but way too technical for what we're looking at. We're not worried about how to communicate if the grid goes down, just a simple way to do normal communications for the group. If the grid goes down and we aren't able to send texts or make calls, nobody is going to show up to help out anyway as they'll all be focused on their own families and immediate neighbors anyway.
Our group is extremely non-technical / non-gearhead. If I were to mention an 18650 battery, I would guess that less than half of them would even know what that is (seriously, we have people who use use old Krypton bulb, D-cell flashlights and think that they're just fine). To give some perspective on how bad it can be - a few years ago when we did an outdoor training exercise on a cold, rainy day in a swampy area, we had people show up in loafers and sweatshirts because they don't have rain gear or decent boots... We've talked about putting together a list of minimum requirements for clothing and gear, but we're afraid that half the group might leave if we did something like that.
I've been passing along some of the communication suggestions to our CERT commander and my next step is to try to push us to create an official communications plan (I'm planning to write up something before our next meeting in 2 weeks as a draft). I'm a documentation sort of guy (go figure - I'm a project manager for a software company) and the fact that we don't have this sort of stuff already, stored in an online file storage area with personnel lists, SOPs, maps, forms, etc. for the group to use is quite annoying. Just setting up a folder in Google Drive would take care of this!
*grumble, growl* *climbs down from soapbox*
My thoughts on this was that you or some other person with the technical skills needed, assemble kits of these that include one in a proper case, a charger, QR code to get the phone app, etc. so that you can just issue a kit to each of the members at a short training session showing how it works and making sure everyone os setup. While this could serve as disaster comms, in your application it works similar to giving everyone a walkie-talkie. At home, their kit can sit on top of the fridge or on a shelf, plugged into a USB phone charger, ready to take with them if needed.
While this might be a challenge for the least technical folks in your group, anyone who uses a smartphone should have the tech skills to use this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY6m6fS8bxU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY6m6fS8bxU)
But part of the issue is that not everyone in our group has a smartphone or computer. I'm not even 100% sure that everyone has a cell phone! Right now we just use a combination of Facebook (which a little over half of the group uses) and email (which I think most of the group has). Both of those depend on the individual going out and checking, which not everyone does on a regular basis.
If we had a call-out right now, the CERT commander would likely use those same Facebook / email options, but might also start calling people individually if there was enough urgency that he couldn't rely on people going out there to check the normal communication channels.
This is really intended for messages like "Don't forget we have a CERT meeting this Wednesday at 7pm" or "Reminder to sign up for CPR/AED training by tomorrow" or maybe something like "CERT ACTIVATION: Lost child, Hines Park, meet at Jaycees Hall by 2:30pm for search assignment; dress appropriately for 8-10hr deployment". Text messages, with the possibility of a voice recording as well, both of which could easily be distributed to a prepared list of recipients would be ideal.
Might be a long shot, but when your township police and fire dept switched to the statewide P25 public safety radio system they did maintain their old analog FM licenses with the FCC, and they might still maintain the repeater system they used to use. The licenses I found are:
WNRH687 - Police repeater pair on 460.125 MHz and 465.125
WPKN902 - Fire repeater pair 154.205 and 156.03
KK9851 - 155.865
Look up their license details here: wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/searchLicense.jsp
Maybe one would allow you the use of their old frequencies (and repeater, if still active) for official CERT communications? I'd bet their old handhelds are just collecting dust on a shelf somewhere too, but if they aren't willing to loan some to your team then there are some moderately priced part 90 approved radios available. If they're at least partially receptive to the idea, then proposing something like the old two tone paging (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_calling#Two-tone_sequential) system so the CERT commander can send activation or announcement messages to team members' radios would be typical public safety usage model that the fire dept at least will be familiar since they were probably using that same system 30 years ago.
Alternately, or as a fall back plan if they shoot the idea down, maybe they'd at least be willing to put in a good word for your team with their FCC license preparation company, Business Radio Licensing out of Laguna Niguel, CA (https://businessradiolicensing.com/), for a discounted rate or just to look over your own FCC application form (https://transition.fcc.gov/Forms/Form601/601.pdf) for completeness/accuracy so it will get approved if you submitted one. Helping out CERT volunteers is certainly a worthy cause.
Quote from: Crosscut on January 29, 2022, 06:59:53 AM
Might be a long shot, but when your township police and fire dept switched to the statewide P25 public safety radio system they did maintain their old analog FM licenses with the FCC, and they might still maintain the repeater system they used to use. The licenses I found are:
WNRH687 - Police repeater pair on 460.125 MHz and 465.125
WPKN902 - Fire repeater pair 154.205 and 156.03
KK9851 - 155.865
Look up their license details here: wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/searchLicense.jsp
Maybe one would allow you the use of their old frequencies (and repeater, if still active) for official CERT communications? I'd bet their old handhelds are just collecting dust on a shelf somewhere too, but if they aren't willing to loan some to your team then there are some moderately priced part 90 approved radios available. If they're at least partially receptive to the idea, then proposing something like the old two tone paging (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_calling#Two-tone_sequential) system so the CERT commander can send activation or announcement messages to team members' radios would be typical public safety usage model that the fire dept at least will be familiar since they were probably using that same system 30 years ago.
Alternately, or as a fall back plan if they shoot the idea down, maybe they'd at least be willing to put in a good word for your team with their FCC license preparation company, Business Radio Licensing out of Laguna Niguel, CA (https://businessradiolicensing.com/), for a discounted rate or just to look over your own FCC application form (https://transition.fcc.gov/Forms/Form601/601.pdf) for completeness/accuracy so it will get approved if you submitted one. Helping out CERT volunteers is certainly a worthy cause.
Actually, we already have their old frequencies and radios for our CERT to use (they even reprogrammed the radios to show "CERT" for the frequencies and added our local weather channel for good measure). One of the frequencies just functions as a sort of walkie-talkie frequency and doesn't have much better range than FRS does. The other does use their tower/repeater, so that's the one we generally use. Dispatch can monitor either one if they choose, but they don't bother to unless we're actually deployed.
However, the police were still quite protective of the radios (which are worth quite a bit of money, even if they are outdated) and as such, we had to agree to keep them secured. As such, they're locked up with the rest of our equipment until we sign them out for use during a deployment (and I mean that we personally sign out a specific radio and then return it and sign it back in when we're done). They also use huge charging banks (20-25 radios each) and don't have individual chargers that go with them, which would make for a significant expense to acquire.
Quote from: EBuff75 on January 29, 2022, 07:40:47 AM
Quote from: Crosscut on January 29, 2022, 06:59:53 AM
Might be a long shot, but when your township police and fire dept switched to the statewide P25 public safety radio system they did maintain their old analog FM licenses with the FCC, and they might still maintain the repeater system they used to use. The licenses I found are:
WNRH687 - Police repeater pair on 460.125 MHz and 465.125
WPKN902 - Fire repeater pair 154.205 and 156.03
KK9851 - 155.865
Look up their license details here: wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/searchLicense.jsp
Maybe one would allow you the use of their old frequencies (and repeater, if still active) for official CERT communications? I'd bet their old handhelds are just collecting dust on a shelf somewhere too, but if they aren't willing to loan some to your team then there are some moderately priced part 90 approved radios available. If they're at least partially receptive to the idea, then proposing something like the old two tone paging (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_calling#Two-tone_sequential) system so the CERT commander can send activation or announcement messages to team members' radios would be typical public safety usage model that the fire dept at least will be familiar since they were probably using that same system 30 years ago.
Alternately, or as a fall back plan if they shoot the idea down, maybe they'd at least be willing to put in a good word for your team with their FCC license preparation company, Business Radio Licensing out of Laguna Niguel, CA (https://businessradiolicensing.com/), for a discounted rate or just to look over your own FCC application form (https://transition.fcc.gov/Forms/Form601/601.pdf) for completeness/accuracy so it will get approved if you submitted one. Helping out CERT volunteers is certainly a worthy cause.
Actually, we already have their old frequencies and radios for our CERT to use (they even reprogrammed the radios to show "CERT" for the frequencies and added our local weather channel for good measure). One of the frequencies just functions as a sort of walkie-talkie frequency and doesn't have much better range than FRS does. The other does use their tower/repeater, so that's the one we generally use. Dispatch can monitor either one if they choose, but they don't bother to unless we're actually deployed.
However, the police were still quite protective of the radios (which are worth quite a bit of money, even if they are outdated) and as such, we had to agree to keep them secured. As such, they're locked up with the rest of our equipment until we sign them out for use during a deployment (and I mean that we personally sign out a specific radio and then return it and sign it back in when we're done). They also use huge charging banks (20-25 radios each) and don't have individual chargers that go with them, which would make for a significant expense to acquire.
Glad to hear that at least, I had family and still have friends that live in your township. I didn't go to school there, but a "R. U. High" T-shirt was one of my favorites back in the 80's. :greenguy:
Stating the obvious, but for initial activation and announcements only the commander would need to transmit if they had permission to do so. The rest of the team could get by with a scanner or HT used strictly as a monitor, and call or text (by phone) to confirm receipt of the message.
You need to poll everyone in your group and find out what they have.
Quote from: Moab on January 29, 2022, 10:04:52 AM
You need to poll everyone in your group and find out what they have.
And seriously consider weeding out some of the members whose ability level is negatively affecting the group's effectiveness. When he can't even consider adopting some types of basic tech because it'll be too difficult for some members to handle, or because their antiquated personal equipment isn't capable of it then those members are more liabilities than assets.
Quote from: NT2C on January 29, 2022, 02:15:23 PM
Quote from: Moab on January 29, 2022, 10:04:52 AM
You need to poll everyone in your group and find out what they have.
And seriously consider weeding out some of the members whose ability level is negatively affecting the group's effectiveness. When he can't even consider adopting some types of basic tech because it'll be too difficult for some members to handle, or because their antiquated personal equipment isn't capable of it then those members are more liabilities than assets.
I have to kind of agree here. If tjey have email tjey have computers. If they have computers why not smart phones? If they can handle email tjey can handle a smart phone.
And as repeated a few times inthis thread. Only one person has to have a smart phone in order to text all the outdated flip phones.