Posted: 6/17/2011 3:36:52 AM EDT
http://www.uab.edu/uabmagazine/2011/june/hamradio
When tornadoes descended on Alabama in April, Martin and his fellow operators went into action. More than 200 volunteers around the city provided emergency communication between local and national responders from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and relief organizations such as the Red Cross, Martin says. For more than a month, ham radio operators ferried food and supplies to relief stations in Pleasant Grove, Pratt City, Fultondale, Cordova, Cullman, and other devastated cities. They used car-mounted radios to provide up-to-the-minute reports to central command about conditions and needed supplies. Martin personally assisted with the delivery of 42 truckloads of supplies—everything from grills and diapers to food and feminine hygiene products. "The last thing you want to do is have a truckload of supplies and deliver them to the wrong location,” Martin says. "We communicated on an hourly basis for four weeks straight. It was a very real test that proved that all of the training we do on a monthly basis really pays off.” Many of those reports were relayed through a newly installed antenna on top of UAB’s Jefferson Tower—which took the place of a key backup amateur radio repeater antenna that went down on April 27. "We took equipment from our club and re-created the destroyed tower,” Martin says. "We were able to do some rewiring, change some frequencies, and get it up and running.” |
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Nice piece! Especially important was the line near the end, f UAB’s Jefferson Tower—which took the place of a key backup amateur radio repeater antenna that went down on April 27. "We took equipment from our club and re-created the destroyed tower,” Martin says. "We were able to do some rewiring, change some frequencies, and get it up and running.”
To remind us all that even ham antennas can fail in severe weather. Always have a backup and a back up plan! |
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Quoted: Where can I find out about these grants for my hospital's emcom program? Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile Here's more info, followed by a link to the story from UAB's site: In 2009, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) started offering grants to health-care organizations willing to purchase and install radio equipment that would keep them in the communication loop in case of an emergency—if they could find volunteer operators to run the radios. To learn more about the Healthcare Community Amateur Radio Club, visit http://hc-arc.org or contact J. Vann Martin at (see email in article linked below) or (205) 975-0069. http://www.uab.edu/uabmagazine/2011/june/hamradio (edited to remove email address and anti-spam thingie) |
