News Release
Radio hams set stage as storms play out
The volunteers "behind the curtain" make the actors look good
Newington, Ct Sept. 3, 2008 -- Dubbed as the most “fail-safe” form of interoperable communications in the world, Amateur Radio and its legions of volunteers swung into action in advance of Hurricane Gustav to provide communications support for government agencies and other volunteer response groups in areas affected by Hurricane Gustav. Those preparations may be a dress rehearsal for the parade of impending storms marching across the Atlantic – Hannah, Ike and Josephine. Emergency workers know that the fastest way to turn a crisis into a disaster is to lose communications, and the hams work in the background to make sure that does not happen for many emergency response groups.
Many of America’s 650,000 licensed Amateur Radio – or “Ham” - volunteer operators have been positioned in shelters and emergency management centers in Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas to coordinate vital public safety communications in areas where landlines, cell phones and the internet went down or were overloaded. In Georgia, ham radio operators stationed at welcome centers at the Georgia-Alabama border greeted evacuees and radioed ahead to shelters in the Atlanta area where they could be assigned. Hams are also aiding evacuated families in contacting relatives and in the coordination of needed supplies. Hams also worked with the National Weather Service in outlying areas though the Skywarn program in reporting conditions below the service's radar levels. In Mississippi, the hams tracked tornadoes that surfaced during Gustav’s
rage. Although electricity has been restored to shelters outside the immediate strike zone, ham radio operators are remaining to provide the most reliable means of communications into areas where thousands are still without power.
While Gulf Coast regional Amateur Radio volunteers are managing the demands for communications in the aftermath of Gustav, other volunteer operators are gearing up for the potential onslaught of storms Hanna, Ike and Josephine. Regional plans are taking shape and local Amateur Radio leadership is planning for equipment and personnel that will be needed to respond when the next storm hits - most likely along the Southeastern coast of the US in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. “It’s part of our century old mission of ongoing vigilance and preparation”, said Dave Sumner, Executive Vice President of ARRL, the national association for Amateur Radio based in Newington, Connecticut. All the ham radio operators are FCC licensed volunteers, donating their time and equipment without compensation. Their Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) program provides background communications services to many government and non-profit response organizations. In addition to their public service, Amateur Radio operators experiment with new technologies and have added those technologies, such as digital radio and hybrid radio-internet modes, to their emergency communications capabilities. Ham radio operators are constantly testing their equipment and operating skills to ensure that they are ready when communications systems are damaged or destroyed during disasters.
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Allen Pitts, W1AGP
Media and Public Relations Manager
(860) 594-0328
apitts@arrl.org
Page last modified: 09:27 AM, 04 Sep 2008 ET
Page author: w1agp@arrl.org
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