Ham Radio activates following Hawaii quake

Ham radio did activate following a powerful earthquake and repeated aftershocks shook Hawaii on Sunday, October 15th.

According to the U.S. Geological Service, the 6.6 magnitude trembler struck off the west coast of the island state at 7:07 a.m. local time, with strong shaking felt as far as 150 miles away on the island of Oahu.

The quake knocked out power and some telephones across the city of Honolulu and across Oahu, where most of the state's 1.28 million residents live. There were no reports of fatalities or serious injuries but there were scattered reports of damage. This included Kona Hospital and the Royal Kona Resort on Hawaii.

Gordon West, WB6NOA, just back from Christmas Island was monitoring the bands just after the trembler occurred.
He said that one of the Haewaii based emergency networks did activate on 20 meters but secured operations after it was ascertained that long distance phone service to the mainland had not been all that adversely affected.

Also, the Honolulu Star Bulletin contained words of praise for hams coming from its readers. One named Paul Perretta wrote -- and we quote:

"Just 30 secs after Sunday's tremor, radio hams on all islands activated their HF and VHF nets to pass information and coordinate with Civil Defense, the Red Cross, hospitals and others."

Perretta said that radio amateurs used low-power, hand-held and mobile VHF transceivers and High Frequency short-wave transceivers on emergency power supplies to communicate. Also that they once again demonstrated their value much as they did during Hurricane Iniki.

Other reports say that with many phones out, the state-wide interlinked repeater network was pressed into action to assist in the aftermath of the quake. Details on which groups provide what services are still sketchy.

After assessing damage from the air, Governor Linda Lingle did issue a state-wide disaster declaration. Victor Sardina, a geophysicist at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said that the earthquake was not strong enough to trigger a tsunami warning.

Source: ARNewsline™, WB6NOA, others

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