The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) is the national association for amateur radio, connecting hams around the U.S. with news, information and resources.

Source: Amateur Radio Volunteers on Call during Major Puerto Rico Power Outage (http://www.arrl.org/amateur-radio-volunteers-on-call-during-major-puerto-rico-outage).

Accessed on 24 September 2016, 00:15 hrs, UTC.

Reporter:  ARRL.

Please click link to read the full story.

Comment:

Here’s a cautionary tale from our amateur radio friends in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico–stay prepared, train for emergencies, and render assistance.

Amateur Radio operators in Puerto Rico swung into action Wednesday, 21 September 2016 when the Aguirre Central Power Generator failed, leaving approximately 1.5 million residents without power.  The outage was so serious that the Governor of Puerto Rico declared a state of emergency.

The VHF/UHF-linked repeater system of the ARRL-affiliated club, Federacion de Radio Aficionades de Puerto Rico (FRA) swung into action, keeping authorities appraised of traffic jams, emergency requests, damage reports, and situation reports.

The HF station of Antonio Santiago (KP4IA) relayed vital information to a variety of 20, 40, and 75 meter nets.

As of late Friday, 23 September 2016, power had been restored to about 950,000 customers.  Amateur radio operators remain on call for further action should that be necessary.

Hawaii amateur radio operators will have a chance to test their own capabilities during a disaster by participating in the Third Annual Simulated Emergency Test (SET) on Saturday, 01 October 2016, from 0900-1200 hours, Hawaii Time.  All amateur radio operators in Hawaii are encouraged to participate.  For details, call Clement Jung (KH7HO), the Pacific Section Emergency Coordinator at 808-663-8163.

Please send your amateur radio-related news items to me at: kh6jrm@arrl.net. I’ll make sure they’re sent to our local media.

Until next time,

Aloha es 73 de Russ (KH6JRM).

ARRL PIO (Hawaii Island).