[aprssig] APRS Emergency Preparedness

[Robert Bruninga]

> All this discussion of special identifiers for stations 
> with exceptional UPS capabilities is moot:
> 
> In an emergency, when it is most necessary to identify 
> such stations, they will be conspicuous by the fact that 
> they will be the only stations beaconing anything at all!

I have to respectfully disagree with this philosophy that I have
seen now in several emails here.  The purpose of emergency
preparedness is to be prepared before the occurrence of an
emergency and to not wait and just see what happens in an
emergency.

The key to emergency preparedness is *practice* and in APRS, the
key to emergency preparedness is to not only -practice-, but
also -build- the network and inform the community.  For a
statiion that has made special efforts to be prepared, I think
that station should show it on APRS.

That's the fundamental concept of APRS.  Preparedness, and local
"situational awareness"...  The station symbol is an ideal way
to inform "at-a-glance" the expectations for that station.

Bob , WB4APR