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September 10th 05, 11:18 PM

==Editorial questions or comments: Rick Lindquist, N1RL,
================================================== =========

==AMATEUR RADIO VOLUNTEERS FILLING COMMUNICATION GAPS IN GULF REGION

Hundreds of Amateur Radio operators from the Gulf Coast and elsewhere in the
US continue to volunteer their skills and expertise as the Hurricane Katrina
relief effort heads into its third week. ARRL Section Managers (SMs) and
Section Emergency Coordinators (SECs) across and around the affected region
have been teleconferencing daily to keep their efforts on the same page. In
the field, Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) and other volunteers are
assisting as needed to support communication for relief agencies as well as
for state and local government and even the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA). Louisiana SEC Gary Stratton, K5GLS, says Amateur Radio was
the only means for state officials at the state emergency operations center
(EOC) in Baton Rouge to communicate earlier this week with the so-called
"Florida parishes" above Lake Pontchartrain.

"We have had praise from one end of Louisiana to the other about Amateur
Radio operators," Stratton said. "There was a communication to the EOC in
Baton Rouge from FEMA that said, 'Ham radio is our prime communications with
you, and they should get anything they need,' so FEMA recognizes the
importance of ham radio." He also recounted how state officials arriving at
the EOC were using ham radio to get through to their hard-hit parishes.

A marshaling center has been established in Covington, Louisiana. ARES has
been continuing to support Red Cross shelter and Southern Baptist Convention
debris-clearing in St Tammany parish, as well as Baptist Men's Kitchen
canteen operations. In Washington Parish, ARES volunteers--including more
than a dozen from South Texas--have been providing critical communication
among hospitals and the parish EOC, among other functions. Field teams were
continuing to use HF to maintain communication with the EOC in Baton Rouge.

Stratton, who's temporarily handed over his SEC duties to former Louisiana
SM Al Oubre, K5SDG, said that while things are going along okay right now,
he foresees a need for additional operators down the road, once closed areas
are reopened. "One of the biggest problems we're going to have is relief for
the operators who have been down there [in the affected parishes]," he said.

"New Orleans is, of course, our next thrust, and we're going to have to have
to staff recovery efforts down there, but it'll be a different kind of
recovery effort," Stratton predicted. "We'll be supporting the EOC in Baton
Rouge with temporary communications until the National Guard can get in."

Stratton said Amateur Radio has even had to loan some government agencies
their communication gear because their own didn't function. "It's been an
eye-opener to me operating in the EOC down there how terribly their
equipment operates," he said.

In Mississippi, ARES operators have been helping to maintain communication
among hospitals, EOCs and shelters. ARES District Emergency Coordinator Tom
Hammack, W4WLF, reported operators were sleeping on the floor when off duty.
State RACES Officer and ARES DEC Ron Brown, AB5WF, was setting up a staging
area for Amateur Radio volunteers near the Mississippi Emergency Management
Agency in Jackson.

SECs in the US Gulf advise volunteers signing up for duty in the
hurricane-stricken zones to coordinate with their home SECs and, once given
the go-ahead, arrive as self-sufficient as possible. "If you need it, you
bring it," advised Alabama SEC Jay Isbell, KA4KUN. Volunteers have come from
all over the US.

Isbell said each Red Cross feeding unit was turning out 25,000 to 30,000
meals a day. "They still need communication," he said. Local amateurs in the
affected areas were handling some of the tactical communication on VHF.

A staging area in Montgomery, Alabama, continues to process and orient
Amateur Radio volunteers for American Red Cross and other duty in Louisiana
and Mississippi. Some volunteers will help support communication at Red
Cross shelters set up for evacuees, while others will provide tactical
communication for feeding stations or for emergency management. Alabama SM
Greg Sarratt, W4OZK, has been coordinating ham radio volunteers at the
Montgomery site.

Norm North Jr, WA1DBR, of Arkansas, was deployed to a Red Cross shelter in
Biloxi, Mississippi, where he managed to squeeze in some health-and-welfare
messages among the emergency traffic.

North says typical requests included pleas from mothers trying to find
missing children, youngsters looking for parents and other trying to get
word to families and loved ones that they'd survived the storm and were at
the shelter. "Many messages got through," North said, "and I received many
thanks and hugs."

As conventional telecommunications starts coming back to life, traffic has
been slowing on the major regional HF emergency net--the West Gulf ARES
Emergency Net on 7.285 MHz days and 3.873 MHz nights. As a result, the net
announced September 9 that it would secure routine operation at 0600 UTC
September 10. An open net will be maintained on 3.862 MHz after that.

West Gulf ARES Emergency Net Manager Lee Franks, N5FP (ex-AD5IS), says the
net passed traffic as recently as September 7 about a man trapped in an
attic in Arabi [Louisiana]. "We're still getting a trickle of messages like
this," he said earlier this week. "As communications are reestablished via
landline and VHF-UHF links in that area, there has been less demand on our
net--but I'd call it an absolute, tremendous success what we have done."

There's more information on Amateur Radio's Hurricane Katrina response on
the ARRL Web site http://www.arrl.org.

==ARRL HEADQUARTERS RESPONDING TO HURRICANE KATRINA ON SEVERAL FRONTS

As the magnitude of Hurricane Katrina's devastation in human terms became
evident along the US Gulf Coast, activities at ARRL Headquarters ramped up
into crisis mode. The immediate challenges were many and seemed to multiply
by the minute. Under the leadership of ARRL Chief Operating Officer Harold
Kramer, WJ1B--an experienced Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES)
Emergency Coordinator--and Special Assistant to the CEO Dave Patton, NN1N,
ARRL staff members mustered to focus their energies on responding to the
needs of ham radio volunteers. Kramer says the overarching goal at ARRL
Headquarters has been to support its Field Organization of ARES and other
volunteers.

"Their main job is to support the served agencies, such as the American Red
Cross, The Salvation Army, FEMA," Kramer said. "Because this is over such a
widespread area, a lot of the Amateur Radio infrastructure in that area got
destroyed, so we're having to bring in operators from further out--as well
as equipment." With a lack of communication cited as the largest obstacle to
rescue and relief efforts, ARES members--with support from
Headquarters--began bridging the gap immediately.

The sheer size of the geographical region affected by the disaster and the
dearth of communication put ARRL Headquarters in the somewhat unusual role
of serving as a clearing house for various aspects of the response.
Activities include helping to recruit volunteers, coordinating equipment
donations, and working with regulatory agencies and the news media. A daily
conference call has brought together Headquarters personnel and Section
Managers (SMs) and Section Emergency Coordinators (SECs) from the affected
region to provide situation reports, compare notes and request any
assistance they need from ARRL Headquarters.

"We don't normally have to do that much support for the Field Organization,"
Kramer pointed out.

ARRL has been receiving donations and offers of equipment and services for
use in the Hurricane Katrina relief effort. Some two dozen members of the
Amateur Radio industry and individual radio amateurs have contributed gear.
The donations were made as gifts to ARRL, which is redirecting these
resources as needed to the disaster zone. Some donors have offered valuable
services and supplies.

"The ARRL would like to thank everyone who has generously donated Amateur
Radio equipment, accessories and supplies," said Kramer. Some of the
equipment already on hand has been or soon will be deployed to assist relief
agencies such as the American Red Cross as well as state and local emergency
managers, he said.

Key ARRL staff members have been meeting on a daily basis--including over
the Labor Day holiday weekend--to help keep track of events and
relief-related initiatives as they progress. Over the Labor Day holiday
weekend, ARRL Headquarters employees volunteered to staff Maxim Memorial
Station W1AW around the clock and to keep telephone (860-594-0200) and
e-mail communication open .

The activity at W1AW also provided a focal point for local news media. On
more than one occasion, TV crews showed up at HQ for a story about how
Amateur Radio was doing its part in the disaster. Major "media hits"
included a favorable article in the Wall Street Journal September 6. Another
turned up on MSNBC's Web site, and a third on the Computerworld Web site.

ARRL Sales and Marketing Manager Dennis Motschenbacher, K7BV, volunteered to
head into the hurricane strike zone. He checked in at the American Red Cross
ham radio support volunteer center in Montgomery, Alabama, on September 6.
Motschenbacher has a complete HF station as well as sufficient supplies to
stay in the field for a couple of weeks. He was expected to be deployed to
help in Mississippi.

ARRL Media and Public Relations Manager Allen Pitts, W1AGP, also has headed
to Montgomery to coordinate with national news media there.

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