The Citizen reports if disaster strikes, there is a form of communication that can still get through, ham radio
Source: Ham radio: A last resort when phone lines fail (http://www.southgatearc.org/news/september/radio-ham-honored-for-emergency-preparedness.htm).
Accessed on 20 September 2016, 20:45 UTC.
Reporter: Southgate Amateur Radio Club News (UK).
Please click link to read the full story.
Comment:
I ran across this article today while I was searching for some antenna ideas.
The story of Bob Kyvig (WA0ROH), who provided the only communications out of his former hometown when 9/11 hit New York City back in 2001, is a classic example of what amateur radio operators due during emergencies. Kyvig told “The Citizen” newspaper that “The only communication out there on 9/11 was amateur radio…the telephone lines were jammed and no one was going in or out.” Kyvig even went door-to-door delivering health and welfare messages from Manhattan to his closed-off town.
Hawaii hams experience similar experiences when Hurricane Iniki roared through Kauai in 1992. I remembered when former Civil Defense Agency Administrator Harry Kim (now mayor-elect) borrowed a repeater from the Big Island Amateur Radio Club to establish basic communications on the Garden Island.
Stories such as this underline one of our prime reasons for our continued existence as radio amateurs–“Ham Radio: A last resort when phone lines fail.”
We can put some of this past knowledge to good use on Saturday, 01 October 2016, during the annual SET exercise. The exercise runs from 0900 to 1200 hours HST and will test our ability “to pass emergency and time sensitive traffic to the appropriate officials.” If you have questions regarding the SET program, please contact Clement Jung (KH7HO), the Pacific Section Emergency Coordinator, at 808-663-8163. You can also reach him by email–chmjung4@yahoo.com.
In other events, don’t forget the Big Island Ham Fest on 12 November 2016 at the Waimea Park Facility, Kawaihae Road, in Kamuela. The event runs from 0900 to 1400 hours HST. Among the featured speakers will be Joe Speroni (AH0A), our ARRL Pacific Section Manager. He will be discussing the ARRL and ARES in Hawaii. More details will be forthcoming. For more information on the Ham Fest, please contact Steven Milner at 808-881-3783.
If you have some amateur radio-related activities you wish publicized, please let me know. Please send your articles to: kh6jrm@arrl.net. Once I review them, I’ll send copies to our local newspapers and radio stations.
For the latest ARRL updates, please check the right hand sidebar.
Opinions expressed in this blog are mine unless otherwise stated.
Until next time,
Aloha es 73 de Russ (KH6JRM).