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 Previous: Spectrum Defense Fund 2006: Protecting Amateur Radio's Ability to Respond | ![Next (later) Story](/images/sty-up.gif "Surfin': What I Did On My "Summer" Vacation"){kind=small} Next: Surfin': What I Did On My "Summer" Vacation |
NEWINGTON, CT, Oct 7, 2005--Amateur Radio volunteers in Jasper County, Texas, continue to support mass-feeding operations by The Salvation Army, which has been coordinating with other relief agencies to provide meals to residents displaced by Hurricane Rita. Amateur volunteers will meet with Salvation Army personnel this weekend to discuss the need for Amateur Radio support beyond this weekend. Meanwhile, ARRL Alabama SM Greg Sarratt, W4OZK--who's been handling the intake of American Red Cross volunteers in Montgomery, Alabama--has been visiting ARC shelters along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Shelters there are in the process of closing down. In Gulfport, Amateur Radio volunteers continue to support communication for the emergency operations center (EOC) in Harrison County, where they've been a mainstay since Hurricane Katrina struck in late August.
"If it hadn't been for Amateur Radio operators, we would not have had communications with other agencies," said Col Joe Spraggins of the Harrison County Emergency Management Agency. "Even with the advancements in our radio technology, ham radio saved the day! Thank you."
 (L-R) Rick Hardin, KB4BSA, Christy Hardin, KB7BSA, and Glover Hayden, W5BLV, at the Harrison County, Mississippi, EOC. [Ray Taber, WX5AAA, Photo] |
Christy Hardin, KB7BSA, a Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteer from Alabama who, with her husband Rick, KB4BSA, has been in the Gulf Coast twice following Hurricane Katrina says the Mississippi Coast Amateur Radio Association's 2-meter repeater never went off the air, even at the height of the storm. "Over the two weeks following the storm, hundreds of emergency messages as well as third-party interagency communications were handled," she told ARRL.
She had nothing but praise for those who have been
volunteering to maintain communication at the EOC 24/7 in some cases despite
having lost their own homes to the storm. "The storm came and went and left in
its wake the injured, the dead, the destruction which was to become the fabric
of nightmares," she said. "The four or five operators who worked around the
clock for nearly a month are the true heroes."
 The Harrison County EMA's Col Joe Spraggins (left) passes a message via W5SGL at the EOC serving Harrison, Hancock and Jackson counties in Mississippi. Glover Hayden, W5BLV, is at the controls. [Ray Taber, WX5AAA, Photo] |
 ARES DEC Tom Hammack, W4WLF, at the Harrison County EOC. He has been living in the EOC since the storm flooded and badly damaged his house. His son's home was flattened. "When relief operators are available, he has been spending days digging through the wreckage," said Bob Bell, N1OCM, another volunteer at the EOC in Gulfport. [Christy Hardin, KB7BSA, Photo] |
 (L-R) Joe Koester, W4NSA, Lou Linden, KI5TD, Jeff Hammer, N9NIC, and Ed Daszkiewicz, N0EPD, in the Red Cross operations center trailer in Gulfport, Mississippi. [Pete Tiffany, KT4BW, Photo] |
In particular, she cited ARES District Emergency Coordinator Tom Hammack, W4WLF, Ray Taber, WX5AAA, Glover Hayden, W5BLV, and John Moore, W5EG, for serving unselfishly on behalf of Mississippi Gulf Coast residents. An instructor for all three levels of the ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Communications course, Hardin says she was "thrilled to see it in action" as the EOC volunteers performed as true professionals. "This is why we train in emergency communications," she said. "This is why Amateur Radio is a vital part of any emergency plan."
South Texas ARRL Section Manager Ray Taylor, N5NAV, this week estimated upward of 60 Amateur Radio volunteers were on the ground in Texas, many supporting American Red Cross-sponsored and makeshift shelters scattered throughout the area. Ham radio volunteers are deployed in Beaumont and Orange. North Texas SEC Bill Swan, K5MWC, has been helping to recruit and schedule ARES members from his section to assist in the mass-care operations in Jasper County.
Taylor says radio amateurs in North Texas and Arkansas have been helping to cover net control shifts and to serve as relay stations for the West Gulf ARES Emergency Net on 7.285 MHz days/3.873 MHz evenings.
Scott Pederson, KI5DR, reports he just returned home from three days in Jasper County, Texas, working with John Wagner, WA5VBP, Charles Fletcher, N5BOY, and John Barber, N5JB. "I spent a couple of days with VHF and HF riding around in a Salvation Army truck," he reports. "Our job was to deliver hot meals to various locations around a three-county area with five Salvation Army trucks and also several Red Cross trucks working together." Ham radio, he says, helped to coordinate the delivery routes by the various agencies involved with an eye toward eliminating duplication. He said VHF FM simplex was okay for local work, but the West Gulf ARES Emergency Net was very reliable, although busy with traffic from Louisiana.
"Even though regular phones are working most of the time, it's really the hams that are the communicators of the group," he said. Our ability to understand the issues and express concerns and suggestions in a clear and concise manner has helped solve a variety of issues that crop up during the day.
Pederson also lauded the efforts of The Salvation Army, American Red Cross and Arkansas Methodist Men's volunteers. "Everyone is focused and cares deeply about their tasks," he said, "and things are happening at lightning speed throughout the day."
In Louisiana, SEC Gary Stratton, K5GLS, said earlier this
week that some 45 Amateur Radio volunteers remained on hurricane recovery duty
there. "Things are settling down," Stratton told ARRL.
| Previous: Spectrum Defense Fund 2006: Protecting Amateur Radio's Ability to Respond | Next: Surfin': What I Did On My "Summer" Vacation |
