ARRLWeb: Amateur Radio Volunteers, Industry Responding to Help in Gulf Coast

ARRLWeb: Amateur Radio Volunteers, Industry Responding to Help in Gulf Coast

"Amateur Radio in Action

Some ARES groups have been making their contribution from home. Here, members of the Ohio District 6 ARES team took part in a fundraiser September 3 in Mansfield that was collecting donations for Hurricane Katrina relief. [Photo courtesy of Jay Bookwalter, KC8GNL]

Many flood refugees already have been relocated from Louisiana to Texas, radio amateurs were being requested over the weekend to help at the Houston Astrodome, now home to some 12,000 evacuees. South Texas Section Emergency Coordinator Jerry Reimer, KK5CA, says Harris County EC Hal Merritt, KD5HWW, is scheduling 24 operators a day for around-the-clock duty at the Astrodome and the Reliant Center next door, as well as at the Harris County EOC.

'There are teams operating in Covington and Washington Parish, Louisiana, supporting local emergency management, command and control, Red Cross and other relief operations,' Reimer said. 'In Mississippi, there is a desperate need for operators in the coastal counties.'

Louisiana Section Emergency Coordinator Gary Stratton, K5GLS, told ARRL that ARES has been using WinLink 2000 in Covington, Louisiana, to pass e-mail via HF during the emergency. Stratton said John Wagner, WA5VBP, was flown into New Orleans to equip Mayor Ray Nagin's office with WinLink for emergency communication. A Georgia Baptist group--the Chattahoochee Baptist Association, W4CBA--has fielded a WinLink operation in eastern Mississippi. "


73 fer nw,
Bob N5IET

(old calls KE5CTY - WB5ZQU - WY5L)
10X# 37210, FP#-1141, SMIRK#-5177
http://www.qsl.net/ke5cty/
Code may be taking a back seat for now,
but the pioneering spirit that put the code
there in the first place is out front of it all.