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Ham radio comms post Katrina and Rita
Amateur Radio operators are now assisting in the clean-up efforts following
two hurricanes. This as Rita follows Katrina into the Gulf states. Amateur
Radio Newsline's Mark Abramowicz, NT3V, has the latest:
As Texas Gov. Rick Perry put it, some areas of his state "really
got whacked" while others "dodged a bullet" delivered by
Hurricane Rita. The same might be said for Louisiana, where some coastal
towns sustained severe
damage and flooding while others further inland were spared.
As the cleanup continues and the restoration work progresses in the hurricane
disaster zones of Rita and Katrina, amateur radio will continue to play
a large role in the communications and relief effort.
Jeff Clark, K8JAC, a homeland security planner for Kanawha County in Charleston,
West Virginia, spent a week in the New Orleans area in early September,
just after Katrina hit. He was there to provide communications support
for his county sheriff department's SWAT team which was assisting
in security operations.
Clark is back at work now, but he says the devastation he saw will stay
with him for a long time.
"It's really surreal in certain areas there it defies description,
really," he recalls. "You know, you see those images on TV but
you can't smell those images and that's the first thing that struck me.
"It's surreal, it is surreal. There are areas of New Orleans, I don't
know how they're going to rebuild all those homes. St. Bernard's Parish
is virtually gone."
Clark says he and the SWAT team worked in the town of Gretna, in Jefferson
Parish, just across the Mississippi River from downtown New Orleans. But
they toured the devastation in New Orleans as part of their assignment.
Clark says living conditions for the visiting West Virginia delegation
were pretty spartan, but they were prepared and brought most of the supplies
they needed with them.
"Things were pretty austere and pretty rugged but we made due just
fine," Clark says. "One of the interesting points was there
was absolutely no commerce during most of the time we were there.
"You couldn't buy gas or fuel south of Meridien, Mississippi. And,
no convenience stores, no Wal Marts, no Home Depots, nothing was open.
As a matter of fact I took a fair amount of cash with me, I didn't spend
a dime the whole week."
Clark says amateur radio was still working to provide health-and-welfare
communications and other traffic as needed. As to his own take on the
future for New Orleans:
"In order to get everything ramped up, back to where it was, I'm
not sure that that will ever take place," Clark says. "At the
very least, it'll take years to get neighborhoods rebuilt and consequently,
you know because the people that live in the New Orleans area were employed
there.
"They're part of the economic base and that will take even longer
to get back up to speed. It's unfortunately going to be a long road back
for the greater New Orleans area."
Last week, we spoke with Joe Tomasone, AB2M, the ham behind creation of
the database for radio operators interested in working in the hurricane
disaster zone. He told us how inspired he was by the posting in the forum
section of his website from a ham in a wheelchair.
Well, Amateur Radio Newsline - with Joe's help - found that ham. He's
Troy Scoville KC8QLR. Troy is from St. Petersburg, Florida and is active
in the Pinellas County emergency communications and net control for a
number of nets there.
Scoville tells us his wheelchair is not an obstacle and he volunteered
to go with a group of operators from Pinellas being deployed to Hancock
County, Mississippi's Emergency Operations Center.
He says the first crew was reluctant to take him because of the extent
of the devastation there. But Scoville says he's has heard from the operators
and found he would be able to get around and do what he can if needed.
"I did get to see some pictures from some of the people that deployed
in my area," Scoville says. "It showed the ground was pretty
well nice at the base camp where they were set up at at the Hancock County
EOC.
"And, I was told that it was wheelchair accessible, so at that particular
time it seemed like things had gotten better in the area and it would
be okay for a wheelchair to get through."
Scoville says he has been in a wheelchair most of his life because of
Spina Bifida, which has left him paralyzed from the waist down. However,
he says he has full upper body strength and is very mobile in his wheelchair.
"I might not be a good person for a first-responder, being in a wheelchair,
you know, I don't want to go into a disaster area where I'm in real danger,"
Scoville says. "But maybe as a relief operator, I'd be good as a
second team member or a third team being deployed in there to relieve
the other guys, the grunts that go in first and put up the antennas and
get
radio communications set up."
Troy Scoville is an inspiration to us all. His courage and determination
might give us pause to reflect on the contributions every ham - regardless
or age or disability - can make in times of need.
Mark Abramowicz, NT3V. Amateur Radio Newsline
Experts say that the post storm clean-up effort could continue for some
time as will the need for Amateur Radio emergency communications efforts.
Source: AR Newsline
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