[LeArc] ARLB003 Hams help out during OK telephone emergency

[Tony Coniglio]

> SB QST @ ARL $ARLB003
> ARLB003 Hams help out during OK telephone emergency
> 
> ZCZC AG03
> QST de W1AW  
> ARRL Bulletin 3  ARLB003
> >From ARRL Headquarters  
> Newington CT  January 3, 2003
> To all radio amateurs 
> 
> SB QST ARL ARLB003
> ARLB003 Hams help out during OK telephone emergency
> 
> Hams responded with emergency communication when Broken Arrow, OK, a
> town of 75,000, experienced a citywide telephone outage on December
> 23. A request went out for amateurs to assist with emergency effort
> at the local Emergency Operations Center and three area hospitals.
> 
> Several hams from the Broken Arrow Amateur Radio Club responded to
> the call, staffing positions at the Broken Arrow EOC and three
> hospital emergency rooms.
> 
> The operation lasted about five hours, with messages between the
> EOCs and hospitals being passed. Lines of communications were also
> opened with the Oklahoma State Department of Civil Emergency
> Management in Oklahoma City via the HF amateur station in the Broken
> Arrow EOC.
> 
> The trouble with the phone system was created by the loss of SS7
> signaling, a digital protocol for call routing. Unable to route a
> call out of the local exchange, Broken Arrow phone customers could
> not call outside the city limits. As a result, the City of Broken
> Arrow implemented its Telecommunications Failure Plan.
> NNNN
> /EX