[aprssig] ENOUGH ALREADY!

[Rich Garcia]

Everyone all of this armchair quarterbacking is getting a bit out of hand!
So far
the only person that I have seen that this does not apply to is Doug KD4MOJ
due to the
fact that his area and possibly the club he is a member of has taken an
active
role in the support efforts. I also know who Doug works for and his
involvement
with the state so he can speak from experience.

All this bickering is starting to really make me sick, everyone is crying
about this
or that but I have yet to see one instance of anyone making any comment or
effort
to ask about all the APRS users or even "plain ol'" amateurs that live in
the area
that have been left homeless and the others who have most probably lost
their lives!

Hurricane Katrina will be a good example in the future of a "worse case
scenario" to
train and design for but right now this is becoming more of a judgment and
quarterback
game at least on this list. I have lived through several floods in the NE
and several Hurricanes
here in the SE, those who are in "response mode" now are not reading a
mailing list! No
one in the effected area is listening they are responding in the way they
were trained or in any
way that they can. Things will change in the future but they are not going
to change now, I
have seen plenty of instances of where APRS would be VERY useful but fact is
that they
are in survival mode still almost 1 week later. The little bit of on-scene
amateur activity
right now is voice probably and it's what they need the MOST, other fancy
modes I am sure
will follow as time goes on.

Everyone please step back take a breath and think for a moment. I am sure we
have lost more
than just a few "brothers and sisters" from the ham community, I am sure
that those who survived
have lost either all of their possessions or darn close to it. Let's keep
them in our thoughts and
prayers during not only this RESCUE phase but also during the coming months
and years of
rebuilding.

Rich
K4GPS