[PBARC] Recognition

[E. Glenn Wolf, Jr.]

Its nice for others to notice what Hams can do in emergencies. 73 Mike
kb5wbh




 David Huddleston
 Chief Information Officer
 Arkansas Dept. of Emergency Management
 P.O. Box 758
 Conway, AR 72033
 501-730-9750

 -----Original Message-----
 From: Maxwell, David
 Sent: Thursday, August 21, 2003 11:49 AM
 To: Division Manager - ADEM
 Subject: info

Just as David H. has been telling us the Ham's saved the day.

August 19, Associated Press

Ham radio operators step into the breach when technology failed.=20
When technology failed on a massive scale last week, some old-fashioned
broadcasting stepped into the breach as ham radio operators took to the
airwaves to reach emergency workers. For millions of people in the =
Northeast
and Midwest last week's massive blackout took access to e-mail and the
Internet with it. Landline and cellular telephones were jammed by a =
crush of
calls. But the ham radio, which came into being in the World War I era,
connected=20
firefighters and police departments, Red Cross  workers and other =
emergency
personnel during the most extensive blackout in the Northeast since =
1977.
Ham operators are not dependent on a server or cell tower, and with =
battery
backup can operate when grids fail. "When everything else fails, the ham
radio is still there," said Allen Pitts, a ham Operator in New Britain. =
"You
can't knock out that system." The radios are operated by a network of
volunteers organized by the Newington-based American Radio Relay League. =
Ham
radio's importance won renewed recognition after the terrorist attacks =
of
September 11, 2001. The organization won a federal Homeland Security =
grant
of nearly $182,000 to train amateur radio operators in emergency =
operations
to help during terrorist attacks.=20

Source:

http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/state/hc-19021723.apds.m0797.b=
c