Hi John,
OK I’ve read the brief that you gave me a few times & thought about it in
the context of writing a propsal for InterReg. Here are my initial thoughts
on the subect. I’m trying to outline the information that Ill require in a
structured way… taking into account how this information would be
presented in a proposal:
Social:
– I’d appreciate accurate figures on the number of Amateur Radio users and
their equipment specifications. Some analysis of the suitability of their
equipment for use in the AREN would be nice. If modification is required to
make their equipment suitable then I’d like you to outline this modification
process, the cost & any companies that could provide partial or complete
solutions.
– Some assessment of the complexity of system use, the amount of training
that would be required.
Legal:
Any legislation in Ireland or Europe that would require the use of an AREN.
What I suspect is that there’s some european communications directive just
sitting out there that will require greater preparation on the part of AREN.
This is particularly appropriate considering that most emergency services
are amateur. Therefore I suspect that there’s an legislative onus to have a
functioning AREN with defined coverage & operational parameters that can be
used by emergency services in a range of defined scenarios. Gee, I’m having
fun here john!
Economic:
– I’m sure that there are cost benefits in utilising an amateur maintained
network, especially if the readiness of the network and the availability and
maintenance of the equipment is specified by legislation covering the
assignemtn of operators to radio usage. I’m not talking about increasing the
license fees, just getting people to make a specified AREN commitment at the
time of license application. We can talk about this further as I’m sure that
you have some views on this matter.
– I need some precise figures on equipment costs, discounts, training (US,
europe, RAYNET estimates etc.)
– I need some idea of the management costs that I can charge. If they’re
high enough then I can find a very impressive administrator to figurehead
this particular project. I’m not sure that I’d act as the overall
administrator. I view myself more in the consultant role… (expensive
consultant of course)
Political:
– Has TSSG submitted any InterReg propsals in the past. What success have
they attained & why? Do we have any contacts within this programme so we
could “fly a kite” for this particular project?
– I’d like some nice juicy examples of devastation caused when such a system
wasn’t in place. Examples where loss of communications infrastructure
contributed to serious injury or death would be useful. Hhhmm, does that
sound too cynical?
– Information on all personnel assocaited with this project? Simply put, why
would I give you guys the money?
– Outline possible alliances that could be created by this project and give
me some idea why these would be beneficial to the long terms success of AREN
and inter-country communications & liaisons between emergency services.
Technological:
– Good sites which can bring me up to speed on Amateur Radio
– Information on all radio and communications licensing bodies in Ireland
and the UK…
– Information about the specific equipment that you propose to use for this
project and a justification of their utilisation in terms of technology and
cost-effectiveness.
– Any technical advances that will result from this project. These could be
purely based on cost efficiency e.g. the introduction of a cost effective
tracking facility for AREN services.
Anyway I hope to hear from you in the near future with answers to all these
questions 😉 BTW< I'll write the propsoal for you!
Sincerest regards,
…shane
//=============================
// Shane Dempsey
// Technical Director,
// Gaisan Technologies Ltd.
// e: sdempsey@gaisan.com
// u: http://www.gaisan.com
// t: +353 051 844810
//=============================