US hams to set-up medical emergency comms on Christmas Island

A pair of United States hams are heading off to Christmas Island on a mission to establish medical emergency communications on that remote island.

Making the almost 8000 mile trek are Texas businessman Carlton Smith, KE5EUL and 2006 Radio Amateur of the Year Gordon West, WB6NOA. West says it’s a voyage well worth making:

West: "We found out from those on the island that they needed eyeglasses. They needed medical supplies, and they needed a lot of medical type equipment for their small hospital and their outlying clinics. As a humanitarian effort, another friend and I are going over there to help them to set up their communications, as well as to add to what medical supplies they already have on hand."

West and Smith will depart on Monday, October 2nd and should be on the island by the 3rd in United States time zones. The pair will set up a new non-ham radio, solar powered short range radio communications system to link the atoll's only small hospital to three very remote clinics on the Island. They will also put in a High Frequency SSB system operating from the same hospital to Fanning Atoll and Washington Island. Both are several hundred miles to the North. Smith says that these system will fill a critical communications need:

Smith: "Gordon and I are going to install radios -- SSB Marine radios -- at the very small hospital on Christmas Island and the three outlying medical clinics as well as in a recently donated ambulance so that the nurses on this island at the various clinics can communicate with the doctor at the small hospital."

In addition to the radio gear, Smith and West will also be taking with them close to a thousand pounds of medical supplies and reading glasses that will be distributed to the residents. Providing assistance to the residents of Christmas Island has been an ongoing project for Smith. It began after a cruise he was on made an unscheduled stop at the atoll:

Smith: "About two years ago, my wife and I happened to visit Christmas Island and learned that they were very isolated and quite medically needy. Their central government often does not supply them with any medicines. There are 9000 people living on these three isolated islands of Christmas Island, Fanning Island and Washington Island -- all within a couple hundred miles of one another, but these three islands are collectively isloated from the rest of their country. The capital is Tarawa which is over 2000 miles away. So these three islands are very isolated and only visited by a government supply ship once every three or four months."

So Smith decided to get his ham radio license as a means of assisting in communications to the island group. In doing so he met West and invited him to join the project. Gordon tells Amateur Radio Newsline that this is work he has done before. In fact, it was a part of his life at a very young age:

West: "Well, I grew up with my parents aboard a boat off Mexico long before Mexico even had phone lines to some of the places we went. I am used to working with those in need of supplies and communications. So this is taking me back probably 50 years from when I was working down in Mexico to now be able to work for this country."

While their primary mission is humanitarian work, West and Smith hope to find time to get on the ham bands and hand out some contacts. They will be there for a week and have been given permission to operate T32GW by the Telecommunications Authority of Kiribati. Ham needing a T32 QSL or a contact for the Islands On The Air awards program should keep an ear open for the two operators during evening hours on 14.275. That’s when they will likely be looking for statewide contacts.

West tells Newsline that he will also explore the Pacific tropo ducting VHF/UHF paths that were first observed years ago. He will be on 144.170 MHz , upper sideband , listening for beacon reception of the KH6HME beacon several thousands miles to the North . QSL your contacts with WB6NOA and KE5EUL at their respective callbook address.

Source: ARNewsline™

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