Ham radio: first line of communication in disasters Ham radio: first line of communication in disasters (September 14, 2005)

By Kenneth Dueker

Emergency Coordinator, local ham radio operators

The Hurricane Katrina tragedy shows that modern society relies increasingly on a complex communications infrastructure. We have all come to expect global communications at the push of a button.

Amateur radio operators, also known as "hams," backup and supplement emergency communications. The Federal Communications Commission has allocated blocks of radio frequencies that ham operators use to experiment, communicate with other stations all over the world, and, in a disaster, help police, fire, and other emergency services.

Ham radio volunteers are being fully utilized in the Hurricane Katrina disaster.

Hundreds of ham radio operators have been deployed to help rescue and relief efforts, says Allen Pitts, an official with the American Radio Relay League, the umbrella organization for ham radio.

"The Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and government agencies are all using ham radio to bridge the communication void left by destroyed telephone, cell phones, and cable systems," he says.

New Orleans hams have been reported radioing from rooftops in the flooded areas.

"Lives were saved because the ham radio operator could get through to other operators when all other technology was down," reports Karen Hardman of the Salvation Army in New Orleans.

Locally, ham radio volunteers constantly test their readiness for a major earthquake or fire. Hams use base station radios, vehicle-mounted transceivers, and police-style walkie-talkies to communicate to the outside world using battery power, generators, solar cells, and other methods that do not rely on electrical power lines.

September 17 is national Amateur Radio Recognition Day. U.S. ham operators will demonstrate emergency radio communications capability by using only emergency power.

In a major catastrophe when we lose the phone system and when police, fire, and other government channels are overloaded, our local cities have ham radio as a critical part of their emergency plan.

"Whether it's an earthquake or a major wildland fire, our community has emergency radio resources to reach out to local emergency agencies and to state government resources," says ham operator Richard Tryce of Vista Verde in Portola Valley. "We've made a great effort to be ready and to encourage volunteers."
INFORMATION

** Ken Dueker is emergency coordinator for the ham radio corps on the Midpeninsula. He is a part-time police officer in Palo Alto and CEO of PowerFlare, a company that makes safety lights. ** For information on the Amateur Radio Emergency Service, call Ken Dueker at 617-3100, ext. 1281; or e-mail: kenneth.dueker@cityofpaloalto.org. ** For information on the South (San Mateo) County Amateur Radio Emergency Service, check k6mpn.org.

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