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 Previous: The K7VVV Solar Update |  Next: ISS Crew Comments Publicly on Columbia, Digs in for Possible Long Stay |
 Jeff Clark, K5NAC, has been serving as a net control station for the debris recovery operation in Nacogdoches County, Texas, where substantial shuttle debris has turned up. [AE5P Photo] |
NEWINGTON, CT, Feb 11, 2003--Ham radio support for the shuttle Columbia debris search and recovery effort in Nacogdoches County, Texas, will end Wednesday, February 12. Hams scheduled to arrive on that date or later are being asked not to travel to Nacogdoches, although some hams already on site may be asked to remain on for another day.
"To all who offered to assist and for those who were able to serve, thank you for being part of the solution!" said Jim Lawyer, AA5QX, a Dallas amateur who's been helping to organize the Nacogdoches search-and-recovery support. With rainy weather in the forecast, conditions in the search area were predicted to become muddy by mid-week.
Lawyer says as many as 400 US Forest Service personnel are scheduled to take over the support role hams had been filling in Nacogdoches. The federal personnel also will occupy the staging area at the Nacogdoches Exposition Center that hams had been using.
Hams have been using GPS and off-the-shelf computer mapping software to pin down and report the locations of debris items as they're sighted.
Nacogdoches County ARES Emergency Coordinator Kenneth Hughes, KK5BE, expressed his gratitude to all members of the amateur community who participated. "Thank you for all your help during our time in the national spotlight of this disaster of the shuttle," he said. "I am very proud of the local members who responded to service. Twelve days of operation is hard to keep all things going well."
Amateur
Radio support appears to still be needed for the search-and-recovery effort in
San Augustine County. Amateurs wishing to assist in San Augustine County were
being asked to contact South Texas ARRL Section Emergency Coordinator Bob Ehrhardt, W5ZX or Jerry Reimer, KK5CA.
 A piece of shuttle debris--most likely a ceramic tile--was located near a school in East Texas. [James Smith, KD5OXM, Photo] |
 Kevin Anderson, KD5CCH, passes traffic on the shuttle Columbia search-and-recovery effort to net control. [Jason Reina, N5SFA, Photo] |
Lawyer says state and local operations in Nacogdoches County were scheduled to wind down by Friday and possibly earlier. "Now that we know this, we have elected to stand down our participation at sundown this Wednesday," he said. "This will insure that we do not have hams rolling in just as the local teams are scaling way back in preparation of de-mobilizing."
According to Kevin Anderson, KD5CCH--a Nacogdoches amateur--the US Forest Service personnel "would be bringing in their own communications teams and mobile support equipment and should have no problem providing their own communication throughout the search area." He said "a limited number of hams" are being used in San Augustine County.
Anderson said amateurs assisting in the Nacogdoches area received thanks and appreciation from the incident commander for the communications support they have provided. He said the Texas Department of Public Safety also was downsizing its presence but planned to keep on some personnel to assist as team leaders for recovery operations. "Various other sate and federal agencies will also remain in the Nacogdoches vicinity in a support capacity," he said.
Anderson also said he was proud of the support East Texas amateurs were able to provide. "This has been a rather large team effort," he said. "Under the extremely complicated and sensitive circumstances in which we have operated, we came together and pulled off a rather huge task based on the scope of the operations which we were called upon to participate in and the type of services we were asked to provide."
"I feel this has
been one of Amateur Radio's greatest moments," Anderson concluded. "It has been
a truly remarkable experience to see the type of support and resources which
have come to help us, and we will be forever grateful for their dedication and
assistance."
| Previous: The K7VVV Solar Update | Next: ISS Crew Comments Publicly on Columbia, Digs in for Possible Long Stay |
