[W2CRA] Amateur Radio on Katrina on Weather Channel

[Rich]

*Katrina documentary to air* (Aug 23, 2006) -- The documentary 
"Postmark: Katrina" will air on _The Weather Channel_ 
<http://www.weather.com/> Sunday and Monday, August 27 and 28, at 8 PM 
Eastern and Pacific Time as part of the cable network's/ Storm Stories/ 
series. The hourlong program, produced by ARRL Member Les Rayburn, N1LF, 
focuses on the restoration of mail service to the US Gulf Coast in the 
wake of the devastating storm and mentions Amateur Radio's role in the 
storm response and recovery effort. Rayburn and his crew were embedded 
for six weeks with US Postal Inspection Service officers within hours of 
Katrina's landfall. "In our documentary, there is some brief Amateur 
Radio voice traffic depicted, along with a graphic explaining how 
repeaters work, and even some Morse code," Rayburn told ARRL. "Our 
missions took us to Waveland, Biloxi, New Orleans, Bay St Louis and on 
to Houston. When not on duty filming, I also conducted mobile HF 
missions for the National Communications System SHARES program, keeping 
in contact with their watch desk on 20 meters." In addition to the 
August 27-28 airings, Rayburn expects the program to air at other times 
in the coming weeks. "We were proud to tell the story of how the US 
Postal Service worked tirelessly to restore mail to the affected area, 
and also to aid in the recovery using our amateur HF station," he says.

- Rich  W2HN