[Elecraft] Emergency Nets (was: Dropping the Code Test)

[Matt Osborn]

I was monitoring the emergency net on 80 meters the other day when a
group of old boys started up their regular net about 2k down and
started bleeding all over the e. net.

I went down to see who they were and tuned in just in time to hear
some guy from the e. net break in and ask them to move down a couple
of more k as they were causing interference.  The old boys were pretty
indignant at first, explaining how they always used this frequency and
how there was another net about 4k up. "Why did you pick such busy
place" he said, "Never heard of such a thing" said another, "but we'll
move down".

I thought they were pretty nice guys, giving up their regular slot and
all.  They sure had no idea of the emergency net though.

On Sun, 4 Sep 2005 23:18:53 -0500, "Craig Rairdin"
<craigr at laridian.com> wrote:

>> As a new guy, Tom, I was surprised to discover that despite poor 
>> band conditions, the hurricane emergency nets are all using phone.  
>? Does the availability of power make the difference?
>
>On a related note, I've monitored several of the nets on 40M and 75M each
>night this week and I've yet to hear any real traffic. The closest we came
>was a guy who called in saying he had access to a survivor list. When asked
>about it he told them it was at www.cnn.com. He then had to spell it
>phonetically several times -- apparently nobody on the net had ever heard of
>CNN.
>
>There was a story on Fox News tonight about a ham who relayed a message all
>over the place from someone needing evacuation, only to have the last
>recipient get on the phone and call the Louisiana State Police, who solved
>the problem. Why the Red Cross in Tulsa, who initiated the message, didn't
>just make that phone call instead of involving a ham operator was never
>explained.
>
>Is Katrina the final proof that the Amateur Radio "Service" in the US has
>outlived its public service raison d'etre? Or am I just on the wrong freqs?
>
>Always the devil's advocate --
>
>Craig
>NZ0R
>K1 #1966
>K2/100 #4941
>
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