 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||
|
|
 Previous: ARRL Gets Federal Grant to Tell Amateur Radio's Story to Communities |  Next: QRP Community: Rigs and Reviews |
Volusia County ARES/RACES EC Fred Magliacane, KF4VRS, at the county's EOC. |
Mike Glennon, KB4JHU, from Tennessee, checks in with the Volusia County EOC from the ice distribution area. [Gary Pearce, KN4AQ/Amateur Radio/Video News Photos]
|
Hurricane Frances--still in her prime on September 2--as seen from the International Space Station some 230 miles above Earth. [NASA Photo] |
NEWINGTON, CT, Sep 8, 2004--As Florida recovers from Hurricane Frances, Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) and Radio Amateur Emergency Service (RACES) members throughout the state are continuing to support communication for shelters, local emergency operation centers (EOCs) and anywhere else they're needed. From Palm Beach County, Southern Florida Assistant SM Jeff Beals, WA4AW, reports that ARES/RACES activated September 2, prior to Frances' making landfall.
"Over 50 amateurs assisted with communications support during the Frances operation," Beals said. "Some positions were manned by their operators for the first 36 hours before relief was available."
Amateur Radio communicators covered 22 shelters, eight hospitals and a Special Care Unit at the South Florida Fairgrounds. Beals worked with Palm Beach County EC Dave Messenger and County RACES Officer Mark Filla, KS4VT, at the county's EOC. He said Palm Beach County remains in the recovery stage, and many areas still are without commercial power or telephone service.
Over the holiday weekend, Messinger told ARRL that power remained out to much of Palm Beach County. While a number of the shelters have closed, he indicated shelter communicators were needed at those still open. He said ARES was been working with the American Red Cross, which set up distribution points to aid hurricane victims.
Farther up Florida's east coast in Volusia County, ARES/RACES was active in the Daytona Beach area. Mike Glennon, KB4JHU, came from Tullahoma, Tennessee, with his communications trailer to pitch in. Gary Pearce, KN4AQ, of Amateur Radio//Video News, reports that seven hams from Tennessee and Georgia turned out to relieve exhausted Florida locals.
"Mike was stationed at one of five assistance centers in the county where residents could pick up ice and supplies," Pearce said, adding that Volusia County ARES/RACES EC Fred Magliacane, KF4VRS, managed to keep going despite very little sleep during the activation. Pearce said stalled traffic and flooded highways impeded transportation throughout those parts of the state he managed to visit.
In Clay County, southwest of Jacksonville in northern Florida, Vern Ferris, W4NEK, reports that his ARES team was providing communication for shelters in Clay County shelters over the weekend and until the evening of September 6, when telephone service was restored. The American Red Cross was operating one shelter, and Clay County was operating another, he said.
In comments posted on the ARRL mentor reflector, Kevin Rock, KD5ONS, in Oregon said he believes there's still a role for CW in emergency situations. "I took one piece of CW traffic from an amateur working 3 W into a very temporary antenna from within the eye of Frances on Sunday," he remarked. "NTS training was very helpful for both of us. The noise level was high but we got the H&W [health-and-welfare] traffic into the system."
On the same forum, Gary Johansan, WD4NKA, in Deltona, Florida, said even Hiram Percy Maxim would be impressed by the "old fashioned hamming" he monitored on the emergency nets. His family evacuated to Orlando, and he's still awaiting the restoration of electrical power. He said cell phones were useless in large areas of Volusia County until well after Frances left the peninsula.
"Ham Radio may be a lot of things," Johanson said, "but one thing the twin storms have proven to us on the peninsula is this: Ham radio is absolutely relevant." Johanson said Amateur Radio's response and recovery activities also have demonstrated ham radio's value to emergency management officials, medical personnel and shelter staffers.
In Georgia, SEC Mike Boatright, KO4WX, says Amateur Radio operators assisting the Georgia Emergency Management Agency at the state operations center stood down September 7.
"It is important to note that the effects of former Hurricane Frances are still being felt in Georgia, and the possibility of severe weather still exists," he said in a message to Georgia SM Susan Swiderski, AF4FO, and ARRL. He noted National Weather Service information pointing to strong storm cells in several counties. "In addition," he noted, "shelters are open in some areas."
Boatright urged Georgia ARES teams to continue satisfy the needs of served agencies, develop longer-term staffing plans and implement communications systems as the state enters the recovery phase.
The Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) secured its Hurricane Frances operations after a brief activation on Labor Day, said Assistant Net Manager Bobby Graves, KB5HAV. But, the net, which meets on 14.325 MHz, has periodically reactivated in anticipation of Hurricane Ivan. The HWN works with WX4NHC at the National Hurricane Center to relay ground-level weather data to forecasters from Amateur Radio volunteers in the storm's track. Some of the many Hurricane Frances weather updates mentioned Amateur Radio and included information obtained via the HWN and WX4NHC.
Over the holiday weekend, Graves noted that September got off to a busy start for HWN after Frances became a threat to land, and the net had to activate on September 1.
During six days of activation for Hurricane Frances, the HWN received reports from the Turks and Caicos Islands, most of the Bahamas and Florida, Graves said. "Some stations were operating on makeshift antennas, some barely off the ground and running low power to conserve energy as they were on battery backup," he recounted.
"We had one station whose dipole broke and had one leg on the ground. With our thanks to the many people monitoring and helping to keep a clear frequency, this stations were able to heard, receive their weather information, plus give them updated weather for their area and to give them some sort of moral support."
Graves said Amateur Radio provided a critical communication mainstay for the Bahamas as Hurricane Frances blasted through the islands. He said the HWN also got valuable reports from EOCs and stations up and down the Florida coast line and as for inland as Orlando.
The Hurricane Watch Net Web site offers access to the latest weather forecasts as well as storm graphics.
The Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN) has been active for the past several days on 14.265 MHz handling emergency and health-and-welfare traffic. SATERN also accepts H&W inquiries via its Web site.
NASA teams this week surveyed Kennedy Space Center (KSC) for damage from Hurricane Frances. The space agency said its initial assessments show KSC weathered the storm fairly well with no injuries nor damage to the space shuttles Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour.
"Our initial feeling is we dodged a real bullet," said Kennedy Space Center Director Jim Kennedy. "Even though this was the worst storm ever to hit KSC, I feel very fortunate." KSC reopened today.
The most serious damage reported was to the center's landmark Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), and to the facility that manufactures space shuttle thermal protection system tiles and blankets.
NASA says damage to the facility and its effect on the space shuttle return-to-flight effort was not yet known. The building housing International Space Station hardware and modules appears to be in good shape.
| Previous: ARRL Gets Federal Grant to Tell Amateur Radio's Story to Communities | Next: QRP Community: Rigs and Reviews |
