[MarinTeams] Wikipedia info on HAM

[Kate Danaher]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_radio_emergency_communications

[The link above provides additional links highlighting examples of use of
Ham in disasters.  Pf particular note is last paragraph/sentence below...]

Amateur radio emergency communications
>From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the New Zealand organization see Amateur Radio Emergency Communications.

In times of crisis and natural disasters, Amateur radio is often used as a
means of emergency communication when wireline, cell phones and other
conventional means of communications fail.

Unlike commercial systems, Amateur radio is not as dependent on terrestrial
facilities that can fail. It is dispersed throughout a community without
"choke points" such as cellular telephone sites that can be overloaded.
Amateur radio operators are experienced in improvising antennas and power
sources and most equipment today can be powered by an automobile battery.
Annual "Field Days" are held in many countries to practice these emergency
improvisational skills. Amateur radio operators can use hundreds of
frequencies and can quickly establish networks tying disparate agencies
together to enhance interoperability.

Recent examples include the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in
Manhattan, the 2003 North America blackout and Hurricane Katrina in
September, 2005, where amateur radio was used to coordinate disaster relief
activities when other systems failed.

On September 2, 2004, ham radio was used to inform weather forecasters with
information on Hurricane Frances live from the Bahamas. On December 26,
2004, an earthquake and resulting tsunami across the Indian Ocean wiped out
all communications with the Andaman Islands, except for a DX-pedition that
provided a means to coordinate relief efforts.

The largest disaster response by U.S. amateur radio operators was during
Hurricane Katrina which first made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane just
north of Miami, Florida on August 25, 2005, eventually strengthening to
Category 5. More than a thousand ham operators from all over the U.S.
converged on the Gulf Coast in an effort to provide emergency communications
assistance. Subsequent Congressional hearings highlighted the Amateur Radio
response as one of the few examples of what went right in the disaster
relief effort.