[ARRL-OK] FROM the Washington Post

[Mark D. Conklin N7XYO]

Communications Networks Fail Disaster Area Residents

By Arshad Mohammed and Jonathan Krim
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, September 1, 2005; Page D01

Victims of Hurricane Katrina struggled to communicate with each other and
the rest of the world yesterday, using everything from text messages to
ham radio as most telephone service in New Orleans and coastal Mississippi
remained devastated.

>>>

Ham radio operators told of people dialing random numbers from their
weakening cell phones, hoping to get a signal and to reach anyone who
could send word that they needed help.

On Monday morning, Sybil Hayes of Broken Arrow, Okla., got word by cell
phone from relatives in New Orleans who said they were trapped in the
second floor of their home, with the first floor filled with water. Their
cell phone then died.

Hayes called the Red Cross in Tulsa, which put ham operator Ben Joplin to
work. Joplin, part of a community of ham radio operators who mobilize
during emergencies, was unable to reach any ham operators in the New
Orleans area.

But he spoke to a fellow ham in Portland, Ore., who found another operator
in Utah who was finally able to reach operators in Louisiana. The radio
operators in Louisiana got word to emergency personnel, who rescued more
than a dozen people in the house, including Hayes's 81-year-old aunt.

I was just so relieved," Hayes said.

Experts said it could be months before the full telecommunications network
is restored, especially in New Orleans. >>> more