Ham Radio To The Rescue

The TV and RADIO is full of Hurricane KATRINA... We have all seen the devastation of the Gulfcoast, Florida and New Orleans. We watch the mobilization of Military, and Civil Authorities with great interest. We have all become quasi-experts from the talking-heads on TV.

I have been doing emergency communications since 1963, my first experience was the Anchorage, Alaska tsunami and quake. As a 16 year old, I was amazed that ham radio was
making such a difference, and I even got to stay home from school to operate my Red Cross Radio Station.

I could clearly see that civil authorities had failed in the storm area to do the level of planning that we do here in California for emergency communications. Even our under-funded VHF Ham Radio repeater system on local mountain tops has solar panels to power the radio if fire, snow or terrorism takes the power away.

I have listened to the short wave bands, and heard fellow hams passing traffic to aid the health and welfare of the displaced. I hear other fellow military ham radio operators (MARS) sending
various reports to update civil and military authorities on the situation at various locations.
The hams near to the effected areas do their best to help, those marooned in New Orleans in hospitals, civic buildings and locations of opportunity are saving their batteries, and selecting their words carefully. Voice and Data radio traffic is exchanged, information for rescuing
the radio operators is collected, lists of supplies, personnel, and situation reports are collected.
Clearly, lessons are to be learned.

The "amateur radio operators", Ham Radio, operate their networks, and individual stations
and seem to get the job done, when nobody else does. The zillion dollar cell phone, commercial radio, and high tech died when the power failed, or when they ran out of battery power in a few hours. The Hams resourcefulness is legendary...

Every emergency plan I have worked on for years usually involves the fact that when the power fails in our 12 volt communications batteries, that auto, boat and other 12 volt batteries will be
"borrowed", or recharged from vehicles, etc. Many of the handheld radios operate from AA rechargeable or alkaline batteries.. very common, and that is part of the plan too..

Often part of Amateur Radio Emergency Plans has to work around failed civil authority's communication failures, and provide them with links to the amateur communications system.
Back-ups to the back-ups are the order of the day.

The current KATRINA crisis seems to be product of poor or no plan from the local and state
authorities, and they could not even get how to invite FEDERAL authorities into the effort in time right. The federal government has mounted a historic effort, much of it not in view of the
television cameras. We are reminded that just because it is not in view of the TV camera, that does not mean it is not happening.

We have already heard stories of people receiving help while hanging on to rooftops indirectly from Ham Radio communications hundreds of miles away that are in contact with local authorities due to radio signal propagation.

Local Trinity County ARES ..amateur radio emergency service members practice the same
techniques used in the hurricane area, and use the same procedures during the CA forest fires that the flood victims benefit from.

Consider joining your local Amateur Radio Club, they will help you become licensed. Morse code is not necessary anymore.. you nolonger need to be a rocket scientist with pocket protector and a calculator... a few simple mulitiple guess questions and a ham radio license is yours!

Most of your local Trinity County Emergency Communicators are dinosaurs.. old geezers and geezerettes that move slow but deliberately during times of disaster. We have wireless BBS system that can be accessed from great distances. Last week I left a message on our Trinity Packet Radio System, with a low power radio , connected to a 42" piece of wire and a 1980s vintage laptop from South Sacramento. The technology is slow, it took about 30 seconds to get the message from mountain top to mountain top..but it made it!

We invite you to join us or other community service organizations like Red Cross,etc. in preparing for community disasters, and responding with others to the rescue.
You can visit http://www.trinitycam.com CLICK on HAM RADIO and learn more.