Amateur radio earning praise and respect in Hurricane Katrina relief

Amateur Radio is continuing to earn praise and respect as the Hurricane Katrina relief effort moves forward.

Donated Amateur Radio equipment and supplies arriving at the American Red Cross Hurricane Katrina relief staging
area in Montgomery, Alabama, have been turned around as quickly as possible to accompany volunteers into the field.

A team headed by Alabama ARRL Section Manager Greg Sarratt, W4OZK, now has been on duty for some three
weeks, overseeing Amateur Radio volunteer intake and registration and trying to satisfy the ever-changing requirements of the Red Cross and other served agencies.

"The American Red Cross and other served agencies are very thankful and appreciative that we are helping them out," Sarratt said this week. "I have talked with several ARC folks who said they could not operate without us!"

ARES and MARS member Matt Hackman, KB1FUP, was among a Rhode Island contingent processed through the Montgomery marshaling center. The New England volunteers were able to take advantage of the newly donated handheld
transceivers, HF transceivers and antennas for use in and around Ocean Springs, Mississippi. Hackman said Red Cross personnel were using VHF simplex to keep in contact with each shelter.

"We still have no potable public water and no land-line telephones," Hackman said this week, adding that cell phone service was intermittent. "I hope I am helping in some small way," he went on to say. "People further west still have no power, no water - even for flushing toilets - and the emergency workers are in tents with no washing facilities, living on MREs. I have it good."

Sarratt said his staging area has been slowing down the pipeline of available Amateur Radio volunteers because the need for operators is decreasing. He reports the Montgomery marshaling center has registered more than 100 Amateur Radio volunteers. Those still in the pipeline will replace
operators already on the ground in affected areas when they rotate out, he said. Sarratt rescinded an urgent call for operators put out over the September 10-11 weekend.

The best estimate is that some 1000 Amateur Radio volunteers have helped out or are still serving in hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast communities and at evacuee centers there and in other states. While prospective volunteers have
been told to stand by for now, that situation could change as restricted areas are reopened and as replacement operators are needed.

Amateur Radio has been the primary means of contact with the outside world for shelters that still lack reliable communication. An HF station at the Montgomery Red Cross staging area, N4AP, has been frequenting 3.965 and
7.280 MHz to keep in touch with other Red Cross shelters and kitchens throughout the region.

"We have deployed many great Amateur Radio operators to the field," Sarratt remarked. "Guys have traveled from all over the USA on their own dime to do the right thing and help others. I'm very proud of them." Sarratt said several "shining stars" in the field have made the volunteer effort work well and "kept Amateur Radio looking great."

ARRL Louisiana Acting Section Emergency Coordinator Al Oubre, K5DPG, reports that telephone and cell service around the state is slowly being restored, and Louisiana does not need additional help at this time. A Red Cross
marshaling center remains open in Covington. Oubre said when St Bernard and Jefferson parishes dry out sufficiently, the Red Cross will then be able to move into that area and set up support services. At that point, he anticipates that more Amateur Radio volunteers may be needed.

Radio amateurs from Florida have been helping at the temporary Hancock County, Mississippi, emergency operations center at Stennis Airport. The county lost its EOC in the hurricane. Randy Pierce, AG4UU, said radio amateurs are serving as communicators and dispatchers for all the services at the EOC - including the fire department and emergency medical services. County officials and agencies have been very complimentary about Amateur Radio, he said.

South Texas Section Emergency Coordinator Jerry Reimer, KK5CA, reports Amateur Radio is continuing to support sheltering operations at the Houston Astrodome, but other shelters in Houston have closed or been consolidated.

In Rains County, Texas, some 60 miles east of Dallas, ARES/RACES member T.W. Ivey, K5IJT, reported his team has been keeping in contact with the county EOC via VHF repeater.

In Tullahoma, Tennessee, Jimmy Floyd, NQ4U, has been among a group of operators helping to staff a communications/command center for an operation housing 170 evacuees. "We have also been active in communicating with other shelters on HF and attempting to locate family and friends of the evacuees," Floyd said.

Amateur Radio operators concluded a shelter support operation at Oklahoma's Camp Gruber. "We were the communications backbone between responding agencies," said Mark Conklin, N7XYO. "We also passed tons of traffic,
ranging from requests for water and food, supplies and bedding. In fact, Amateur Radio was the 911 system on Camp Gruber for many days."

Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN) Liaison Officer Jeff Schneller, N2HPO, says TSA canteens are holding with their present complement of ham radio volunteers and may not rotate them out of service.
"As operators need to leave, we may just scale down," he told ARRL. "We thank all those who are assisting and were willing to assist." He also thanked the American Red Cross for referring radio operators to SATERN.

SATERN volunteers Steve Hicks, N5AC, and John Beadles, N5OOM, are supporting a canteen operation in Waveland. "We drove up and down several streets, and everyone we talked to said they had not had a hot meal in a while," Hicks said in a PACTOR dispatch to Schneller. Hicks said they continue to ask about H&W traffic, "but based on what we have seen, I think it unlikely that we will have any traffic to run."

SATERN has continued monitoring 7.288 MHz and 3.965 MHz each half hour throughout the day and evening. In addition, the SATERN Net activates daily at 1400 UTC on 14.265 MHz.

Jim Aylward, KC8PD, just returned to Ohio this week from volunteering in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. "Even though we all prepare for events we hope never occur, the hams I worked with from all over the country demonstrated that 'When all else fails, Amateur Radio is there' is a lot more than a slogan," he said. "It was the reality for thousands of people who needed effective emergency communication.

When my shelter manager, who had never worked with hams before, told me that I had been a godsend, I was moved."

Source: ARRL Letter - courtesy of The American Radio Relay League

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