‰  NOW 40 WPM  ‰  TEXT IS FROM SEPTEMBER 2007 QST  PAGES 50 AND 100  ‰
EMERGENCY SERVICE, AS THE FORMER AEC HAS BECOME EXCEL IN PROVIDING
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION WHERE AND WHEN IT IS NEEDED.  HURRICANE KATRINA WAS
A MAJOR TEST OF THEIR WORTH.  IT CERTAINLY WONT BE THE LAST.  THOUGH HIS
INTEREST IN AMATEUR RADIO GOES BACK TO H
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W1NHJ/365 W1RZ/336 W2EJG/334 W2FGY/345 W2MF/329 W2NRA/337 W2RIJ/334

COORDINATORS AROUND THE COUNTRY.  IN THE SPACE OF JUST THREE YEARS, A
SOPHISTICATED EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK ENTIRELY ORGANIZED AND
OPERATED BY HAMS HAD GROWN UP AND ASSUMED A CRITICALLY IMPORTANCE PLACE IN
THE NATIONS PUBLIC SERVICE.  HAMS LEAD THE WAY TO ADVANCE TECHNOLOGY THERE
WERE, OF COURSE, TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES BEHIND IT ALL, MUCH OF IT LED BY
AMATEURS.  BY THE MID 1920S, THE SPARK GAP HAD GIVEN WAY TO THE VACUUM TUBE
AND OPENED UP ENTIRELY NEW AREAS OF EXPLORATION.  OPERATION USING PORTABLE
EQUIPMENT BECAME VIABLE FOR THE AVERAGE HAM, AND THE PAGES OF QST
INCREASINGLY FEATURED CONSTRUCTION ARTICLES FOR PORTABLE TRANSMITTERS AND
RECEIVERS.  THE LINK BETWEEN PORTABLE OPERATION AND EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION
HAD LONG BEEN ESTABLISHED, AND WAS ENCOURAGED BY SUCH ARTICLES AS PORTABLE
RADIO IN WINTER BY RALPH C.  FOLKMAN, W8COX ASSOCIATE RADIO EDITOR FOR THE
CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER, IN THE JULY 1929 ISSUE OF QST.  THE FIRST AND WORST
BLIZZARD OF THE SEASON, HE WROTE, TRAINS LATE, TRAFFIC SLOWED, THERMOMETER
‰  FROM PAGE 100  ‰
N7TP/348 N7YX/328 N8AC/342 N8PCN/328 N9FN/331 N9SF/334 N9XX/340 NA2K/337
NA2U/334 NC6A/333 ND8L/332 NJ9K/330 NN9K/331 N01Q/336 OH1TX/349 OH2KQ/346
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THE AECS FIRST TEST MARCH 1936 PROVED TO BE THE FIRST REAL TEST OF THE AEC
WHEN FLOODING RAVAGED 14 STATES, LEAVING 500,000 PEOPLE HOMELESS AND 171
DEAD.  DESOTO DETAILED IT ALL IN HIS ARTICLE AMATEUR RADIO RISES TO
GREATEST EMERGENCY NEED OF ALL TIME IN THE MAY 1936 ISSUE OF QST.  THE
GROUP WHICH HAD ITS FIRST BAPTISM BY FIRE IN THIS CURRENT SITUATION, AND
WHICH SHOWED UP VERY WELL INDEED, HE WROTE, IS THE RECENTLY ORGANIZED A. R.
R. L. EMERGENCY CORPS.  THE CALL SIGNS OF 18 AEC STATIONS WERE LISTED
SEPARATELY IN THE MAGAZINE.  DESOTO FINISHED ON A PROPHETIC NOTE AMATEUR
RADIO HAS RE EMPHASIZED ITS STATUS AS AN ABSOLUTELY INDISPENSABLE FACILITY
OF MODERN CIVILIZATION, AND WE ARE NOW PROVIDED RENEWED CERTAINTY THAT THAT
STATUS WILL BE PRESERVED.  MEMBERSHIP IN THE AEC BLOSSOMED QUICKLY, AND A
SUPPORTING DIVISION WAS ESTABLISHED FOR THOSE AMATEURS WITHOUT BENEFIT OF
AN AUXILIARY POWER SOURCE.  QST EVEN REPORTED SOME AMATEUR OPINION AS TO
THE VALUE OF ESTABLISHING A PORTION OF THE 80 METER BAND AS A QRR CHANNEL.
AS 1938 BEGAN, HANDY WAS USING THE PAGES OF QST TO DISCUSS THE DEVELOPMENT
OF EMERGENCY OPERATING POLICIES AND THE APPOINTMENT OF EMERGENCY
‰  FROM PAGE 100  ‰
KR4DA/332 KR6C/330 KZ1Z/334 LA3IBA/334 LA4WJ/334 LA8SDA/334 LU5HN/340
N0JZ/336 N0RN/337 N2BIM/337 N2FY/340 N2VA/334 N3DV/328 N4QV/337 N4TD/328
N5UW/328 N6JN/337 N6KD/334 N6NT/333 N6QR/347 N6TV/334 N6ZS/346 N7MW/340
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