Posted on 08/17/2004 12:18:08 AM PDT by BurbankKarl
NEWINGTON, CT, Aug 16, 2004--An as-yet unknown number of Amateur Radio operators remain in emergency mode today as Florida recovers from the devastating blow landed August 13 by Hurricane Charley. Authorities ordered the evacuation of an estimated two million people ahead of the storm. Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) teams have been supporting relief agencies and--with phone systems overloaded or out of service--also bridging the telecommunications gap. The storm--which blasted into the Charlotte County community of Punta Gorda on Florida's Gulf Coast and killed at least 17--is being called the worst in more than a decade. Damage is expected to be in the billions of dollars. ARRL West Central Florida Section Manager Dave Armbrust, AE4MR, has been coordinating communication for the recovery effort from a supermarket parking lot staging area in Charlotte County (Exit 170 off Interstate 75, then west on King's Highway or look for AE4MR-7 on APRS). Armbrust reports he needs additional volunteers.
"Currently Amateur Radio is the primary means of communication, and we have just about maxed out our local WCF Amateur Radio capabilities after almost three days of activity," he said late Sunday afternoon. With some three dozen cellular towers in Charlotte County reportedly down, Armbrust's cellphone is out of service, and he has no other telephone or e-mail capability. Charlotte, Hardee and DeSoto counties in the West Central Florida Section were hard hit. Florida Power and Light estimates that more than 350,000 people are without power, and some may have to wait until the end of the week or longer before it's restored.
ARRL Southern Florida SM Sherri Brower, W4STB, says ARES groups from Miami-Dade, Martin, St Lucie, Broward, Okeechobee and Palm Beach counties have been deployed to relieve amateur operators on duty in the affected communities. Disaster Communications Assistance Teams (DCATs) from Southern Florida were in Punta Gorda, the DeSoto County town of Arcadia and elsewhere, and arrangements are under way to relieve them later in the week. "Of course, SKYWARN was active in just about every county in the peninsula during the event," Brower noted.
In Sarasota County, Ron Wetjen, WD4AHZ, said he spent August 13 with a search-and-rescue team in the storm's immediate aftermath, then put in a 22-hour shift at the emergency operations center. Amateurs from Sarasota County--northwest of Punta Gorda--were among those responding to the mutual aid call. Wetjen said he's been in contact with Armbrust at the Charlotte County staging area via 2 meters.
Brower said that outside offers of help came from a Salvation Army/ARES team in Oklahoma, individual amateurs arriving to assist relatives, and Georgia ARRL SM Susan Swiderski, AF4FO. Southern Florida Section Emergency Coordinator Jim Goldsberry, KD4GR, and Assistant SM Jeff Beals, WA4AW, were assisting Brower in coordinating mutual aid to the affected areas.
Amateurs in several counties lost HF capability and have been using VHF to stay in touch. "We have been holding special sessions of ARES nets four times a day since Thursday," Brower said. "During the storm we used local repeaters and simplex frequencies for tactical traffic and shelter operations in many counties."
The Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) on 14.325 MHz stayed busy last week tracking the approaches of Hurricane Charley and Tropical Storm Bonnie, which came ashore August 12 near Apalachicola. The HWN secured August 14 after what Net Manager Mike Pilgrim, K5MP, called "three and a half long days." The HWN worked in concert with WX4NHC, the Amateur Radio station at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, to collect ground-level weather data from participating amateurs. WX4NHC also gathers weather data from amateurs via EchoLink and IRLP and from non-Amateur Radio sources via the Internet
Port St Lucie radio amateurs established a trunking system that allowed Arcadia fire and police to use their own radios and to communicate--just as though their tower had not been toppled by Hurricane Charley. The trailer provided power for the trunking system. The emergency communications van--a converted ambulance--can operate on HF, 6 and 2 meters, CB, Marine and any public service frequency.
Hams from Sarasota brought a 100-foot mobile crank-up tower to Arcadia to assist with Amateur Radio emergency communication. "Many logistics and welfare calls went through this system," says Pete Rimmel, N8PR. [Pete Rimmel, N8PR, Photos]
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"The Era of Osama lasted about an hour, from the time the first plane hit the tower to the moment the General Militia of Flight 93 reported for duty." 
Toward FREEDOM
Amatuer radio is the key to post disaster commo...
The govt needs to protect amatuer radio from the FCC stealing it's bandwith
especially in this age of terrorism
Often times..."We the people" are better than govt at 'getting it done'
imo
Way to go, folks!
That can't be repeated enough. They are expected to do more with less.
The people with the big buck$ have always found a way of confiscating more and more of what is left of the amateur bands. Hams are forced to operate on "left-overs" as far as frequency rages are concerned.
The public will be grateful to them for a while after this disaster and then go back to treating them like junkyard dogs: "That antenna distracts from the community......etc"
I saw the thread title and was wondering about the tower. Fantastic! This should be (repeat should be and no pun intended) a lesson to both public and private, that distributed amateur radio is the only way to insure communications during natural and/or man made disasters. Reign in the FCC, provide education and let the local private citizens and volunteer emergency services (maybe with grants, since it falls within the domain of public security) handle the rest.
I am not a ham...but did listen to the Hurricane Net over the internet from work on Friday. It was amazing to hear the reports (uncluttered and well ahead of the media) as they came in. I did note that the amateur station at the National Hurricane Center that most of the rigs were donated by Yaesu.
http://www.fiu.edu/orgs/w4ehw/w4ehw-station.html
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