[Ham-News] Amateur Radio Newsline 1343 - May 9, 2003

[ham-news-admin at mailman.qth.net]

Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1343  - May 9, 2003

The following is a Q-S-T.  Ham radio provides aid as tornadoes rip
across mid America, a record session for the VEC testing system and the
FCC opens the filing period on 'Broadband over Power Line
communications.  All this and more on Amateur Radio Newsline report
number 1343 coming your way right now.

**

RESCUE RADIO:  TORNADOES SWEEP THE NATIONS MID-REGION

Ham radio has again come to the aid of America.  This time as a series
of killer tornadoes rip across the Central and South-Eastern states.  We
have the details in this report:

--
Blackouts, water shortages and desperate searches for the missing. This
is the situation confronting tornado battered residents of the central
United States as the death toll rises to 40 from the most violent
weather in four years.

Beginning on Sunday the 4th and continuing through most of the week,
swarms of violent thunderstorms and tornadoes crashed through the United
States midsection. They caused devastation in three states and are
spawning problems in several others.

Kansas, Missouri and Tennessee suffered the worst damage in the initial
Sunday onslaught. Kansas listed seven people killed, Missouri had
seventeen fatalities and Tennessee sixteen. The storms also disrupted
electrical power and telephone service with debris from fallen
structures blocking roads in some areas.

One of the hardest hit areas was Madison County, Tennessee where ten
people were killed. There, power blackouts were widespread and it was
not known when telephone service can be restored. Several of the regions
A-R-E-S groups were reported activated as was the Missouri Traffic Net
operating near 3 point 960 MHz in the 75 meter band.

In Missouri, ARRL Section Emergency Coordinator, Don Moore, K-M-Zero-R,
reports that amateur operators are continuing damage assessment duties.
An ARRL bulletin says that the Amateur Radio Emergency Service, Radio
Amateur Civil Emergency Service and SKYWARN groups were active across
the affected area. Hams are also assisting the American Red Cross and
Salvation Army relief operations.

A bit to the West, in Kansas, Section Manager Ron Cowan, K-B-Zero-D-T-I,
says that one tornado touched down in Leavenworth County. It remained on
the ground before crossing the border into Missouri. There the storm
brought havoc to Platte and Clay counties before falling apart just
North-East of Kansas City. But during its trek, Wyandotte and
Leavenworth Counties sustained severe damage. Cowan says that homes were
destroyed and utilities knocked out along the twisters path.

The tornadoes were believed to be a part of a huge weather system that
rolled across the Midwest and parts of the South. It also spawned
twisters in Arkansas, South Dakota and Nebraska. Storms on Tuesday and
Wednesday accounted for funnel cloud sightings in Alabama, Illinois and
here in Louisiana. In all, nine states are affected and the National
Weather Service credited ham radio operators with dozens of storm
related reports over the weekend and they are continuing into the week.

As we go to air, hundreds of people are still being housed in temporary
shelters where Amateur Radio volunteers have become an important
ingredient in relief efforts.

This is obviously an ongoing story and we will have an update in next
week's Amateur Radio Newsline report.