[GreenKeys] WLO On the AIR

[Mike]

Hi group,
Perhaps getting HF added to local emcom centers might be a club activity. Even invite them to be part of a field day activity in some fashion, having designated operators from the club as control ops.

As Randy would say, just my .02

Mike N9ODM

Sent from my iPhone

On Aug 17, 2011, at 10:03, NICKTUSA at aol.com wrote:

> Fellow Greenkeyers:
> 
> When I talked Rene into hosting an on-air version of ITTY, it was done  for 
> two reasons: so we could actually use our mechanical machines as  intended 
> and, secondarily, to help Rene secure a broader awareness of WLO  throughout 
> the land based and maritime community.
> 
> It is no big secret that the growth of satcoms on ships has hurt  maritime 
> shore stations like WLO.  If ships are using satcoms, they aren't  using 
> HF-SSB phone patches or even HF email.  Mariners continue to do  HF radio 
> checks, but as Rene often quips: "I can't cash a radio  check!"
> 
> Yet, HF radio is still important. In disaster situations, wired as  well as 
> cellular telephony often fails; if the telephony and cable  infrastructures 
> are damaged then the Internet is gone as well.  Satcoms  have relatively 
> limited voice bandwidth availability and they quickly get  overwhelmed.  But, 
> what about HF?? 
> 
> WLO was the de-facto communications support for the US Coast Guard after  
> Hurricane Katrina.  All of those Coast Guard helicopters that were  seen 
> picking up stranded people from rooftops in flooded South Louisiana were  being 
> directed by WLO operators, using WLO facilities.  The Coast Guard's  radio 
> systems were inoperable at that time, so WLO certainly filled a vital role  
> and saved lives. Once the dust settled, Rene got the idea for petitioning  
> the FCC to allow WLO to provide disaster communications to land based public  
> safety operations (police, fire EOCs, 911 Centers etc) since by law maritime 
> stations could only communicate with ships.  Rene was granted a rule 
> waiver  that now allows land-based HF radio support.
> 
> The best way to help Rene and WLO is to contact your local emergency  
> management agencies and urge them to subscribe to his emergency HF radio  
> service.  Go to the WLO website, _www.shipcom.com_ (http://www.shipcom.com)  for 
> more details.  Over  the past 64 years, WLO has never been QRT...wounded, 
> perhaps, but  operational.
> 
> The more paying clients Rene gains, the longer WLO and WLO-RTTY  will 
> remain viable.   It takes money to maintain a 24/7/365  manned radio watch and to 
> keep one-hundred 5KW transmitters ready to roll. So,  please pass the word 
> along.  
> 
> There is no justifiable reason why an inexpensive HF radio  capability 
> should not be installed into every emergency operations  center...just in case.
> 
> 73  Nick  K5EF
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In a message dated 8/17/2011 7:31:39 A.M. Central Daylight Time,  
> kmd at xplornet.ca writes:
> 
> Group,
> 
> Can't tell you how good this news is. Finally, the  Real Mccoy!
> 
> Question, how is WLO being funded? Are they set up to take  donations? We
> want to insure they stay on the air for a very very long  time.
> 
> Keith  ve3ts
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