[ARRL-OK] AMATEUR RADIO EARNING PRAISE, RESPECT IN HURRICANE KATRINA RELIEF

[Mark D. Conklin N7XYO]

==>AMATEUR RADIO EARNING PRAISE, RESPECT IN HURRICANE KATRINA RELIEF

Amateur Radio is continuing to earn praise and respect as the Hurricane
Katrina relief effort moves forward. Donated Amateur Radio equipment and
supplies arriving at the American Red Cross Hurricane Katrina relief staging
area in Montgomery, Alabama, have been turned around as quickly as possible
to accompany volunteers into the field. A team headed by Alabama ARRL
Section Manager Greg Sarratt, W4OZK, now has been on duty for some three
weeks, overseeing Amateur Radio volunteer intake and registration and trying
to satisfy the ever-changing requirements of the Red Cross and other served
agencies.

"The American Red Cross and other served agencies are very thankful and
appreciative that we are helping them out," Sarratt said this week. "I have
talked with several ARC folks who said they could not operate without us!"

ARES and MARS member Matt Hackman, KB1FUP, was among a Rhode Island
contingent processed through the Montgomery marshaling center. The New
England volunteers were able to take advantage of the newly donated handheld
transceivers, HF transceivers and antennas for use in and around Ocean
Springs, Mississippi. Hackman said Red Cross personnel were using VHF
simplex to keep in contact with each shelter.

"We still have no potable public water and no land-line telephones," Hackman
said this week, adding that cell phone service was intermittent. "I hope I
am helping in some small way," he went on to say. "People further west still
have no power, no water--even for flushing toilets--and the emergency
workers are in tents with no washing facilities, living on MREs. I have it
good."

Sarratt said his staging area has been slowing down the pipeline of
available Amateur Radio volunteers because the need for operators is
decreasing. He reports the Montgomery marshaling center has registered more
than 100 Amateur Radio volunteers. Those still in the pipeline will replace
operators already on the ground in affected areas when they rotate out, he
said. Sarratt rescinded an urgent call for operators put out over the
September 10-11 weekend.

The best estimate is that some 1000 Amateur Radio volunteers have helped out
or are still serving in hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast communities and at
evacuee centers there and in other states. While prospective volunteers have
been told to stand by for now, that situation could change as restricted
areas are reopened and as replacement operators are needed.

Amateur Radio has been the primary means of contact with the outside world
for shelters that still lack reliable communication. An HF station at the
Montgomery Red Cross staging area, N4AP, has been frequenting 3.965 and
7.280 MHz to keep in touch with other Red Cross shelters and kitchens
throughout the region.

"We have deployed many great Amateur Radio operators to the field," Sarratt
remarked. "Guys have traveled from all over the USA on their own dime to do
the right thing and help others. I'm very proud of them." Sarratt said
several "shining stars" in the field have made the volunteer effort work
well and "kept Amateur Radio looking great."

ARRL Louisiana Acting Section Emergency Coordinator Al Oubre, K5DPG, reports
that telephone and cell service around the state is slowly being restored,
and Louisiana does not need additional help at this time. A Red Cross
marshaling center remains open in Covington. Oubre said when St Bernard and
Jefferson parishes dry out sufficiently, the Red Cross will then be able to
move into that area and set up support services. At that point, he
anticipates that more Amateur Radio volunteers may be needed.

Radio amateurs from Florida have been helping at the temporary Hancock
County, Mississippi, emergency operations center at Stennis Airport. The
county lost its EOC in the hurricane. Randy Pierce, AG4UU, said radio
amateurs are serving as communicators and dispatchers for all the services
at the EOC--including the fire department and emergency medical services.
County officials and agencies have been very complimentary about Amateur
Radio, he said.

South Texas Section Emergency Coordinator Jerry Reimer, KK5CA, reports
Amateur Radio is continuing to support sheltering operations at the Houston
Astrodome, but other shelters in Houston have closed or been consolidated.

In Rains County, Texas, some 60 miles east of Dallas, ARES/RACES member T.W.
Ivey, K5IJT, reported his team has been keeping in contact with the county
EOC via VHF repeater.

In Tullahoma, Tennessee, Jimmy Floyd, NQ4U, has been among a group of
operators helping to staff a communications/command center for an operation
housing 170 evacuees. "We have also been active in communicating with other
shelters on HF and attempting to locate family and friends of the evacuees,"
Floyd said.

Amateur Radio operators concluded a shelter support operation at Oklahoma's
Camp Gruber. "We were the communications backbone between responding
agencies," said Mark Conklin, N7XYO. "We also passed tons of traffic,
ranging from requests for water and food, supplies and bedding. In fact,
Amateur Radio was the 911 system on Camp Gruber for many days."

Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN) Liaison Officer Jeff
Schneller, N2HPO, says TSA canteens are holding with their present
complement of ham radio volunteers and may not rotate them out of service.
"As operators need to leave, we may just scale down," he told ARRL. "We
thank all those who are assisting and were willing to assist." He also
thanked the American Red Cross for referring radio operators to SATERN.

SATERN volunteers Steve Hicks, N5AC, and John Beadles, N5OOM, are supporting
a canteen operation in Waveland. "We drove up and down several streets, and
everyone we talked to said they had not had a hot meal in a while," Hicks
said in a PACTOR dispatch to Schneller. Hicks said they continue to ask
about H&W traffic, "but based on what we have seen, I think it unlikely that
we will have any traffic to run."

SATERN has continued monitoring 7.288 MHz and 3.965 MHz each half hour
throughout the day and evening. In addition, the SATERN Net activates daily
at 1400 UTC on 14.265 MHz.

Jim Aylward, KC8PD, just returned to Ohio this week from volunteering in
Ocean Springs, Mississippi. "Even though we all prepare for events we hope
never occur, the hams I worked with from all over the country demonstrated
that 'When all else fails, Amateur Radio is there' is a lot more than a
slogan," he said. "It was the reality for thousands of people who needed
effective emergency communication. When my shelter manager, who had never
worked with hams before, told me that I had been a godsend, I was moved."