[HamWAN PSDR] Oregon and Washington HamWAN

[Scott J. Burrows]

Hello, 

I'm curious, do the PSDR folks in Seattle have a plan for integrating both Oregon and Washington into their existing HamWAN network?   I have talked to folks within Washington State about their costing estimates and deployment strategies of their HamWAN initiative.  The proposed effort discussed deploying HamWAN technology both for the Northern and Southern routes of the state.  Earlier this month, the Clark County ARES/RACES group submitted a "2019 Grant Request Proposal" to the Clark Regional Emergency Service Agency to build out a prototype client station at the county EOC.  Also, the folks in Oregon have secured a large grant (possibly $30,000 dollar) for HamWAN and will be discussing HamWAN deployments this year.  They are organizing teams for fund raising, network administration, site installation, mentorship, and strategic planning.

Much of the talk in the IRC group has been about technical suggestions for minor technical problems.  I have not encountered any serious discussions about large implementation efforts in expanding the HamWAN network, although perhaps that is occurring via another method.  The Memphis, Tampa Bay, and British Columbia seem to be small regional implementations in distant states/provinces.  However, I have not seen any serious discussions about statewide strategic and tactical implementations of HamWAN (i.e. Washington and Oregon). 

In my experience, technology folks get fixated on the nuts-and-bolts of the network technology and forget about strategic leadership, management, and formal documentation.  Much of the PSDR website has not been updated in years.  I regularly hear comments at digital meetings where folks are interested in HamWAN, but are waiting for more specific information.  This makes large scale deployments extremely difficult if you have to email the HamWAN Network Operations folks every day, assuming they have time to respond.  

I understand that the HamWAN folks in Seattle are busy with day jobs and unable to respond immediately to all questions.  However, if the PSDR leadership team was to reach out to the larger audience, I am sure they will find many talented folks to help with most aspect of HamWAN.   

Hopefully this message will not be considered slamming the HamWAN folks in Seattle.  Please don't 
shoot the messenger.  The technical folks (Tom Hayward and Nigel Vander Houwen) 
have been extremely responsive and helpful.  I respect the vision and work that 
PSDR volunteers have done to date.  If you talk to your customer base, you 
might be surprised the help you may get.

Thanks

Scott, N7DOD  
  
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