Amateur (Ham) Radio

In Times of Emergency

I get called a "geek" many times because of my association with amateur (ham) radio, and I'm actually quite proud of it. I've been a licensed amateur radio operator for years. One of the reasons I got involved with the hobby was for emergency communications purposes.

Sure, most folks, even if they know a little about amateur radio, probably think we just sit around chit-chatting with stations in far-away places.

Let me point out, that's all well and good, its fun! But few folks are aware that amateur radio operators are on the scene when disasters strike, and other forms of communication are not available, like cell phones, telephones, and the like.

Hams were there during the tragedy of 911, because normal emergency communications channels were simply "off the air." No matter what the disaster, whether its an earthquake, tsunami, hurricane, tornados, local emergency - You name it - Amateur radio operators are trained to provide communications in and out of the affected areas.

In times of bad weather, members of SKYWARN are in constant communication with their area National Weather Service Office, relaying damage reports, and weather activites, for example.

There's an old saying among hams: "When all else fails, there IS amateur radio!" As a matter of fact, Riley Hollingsworth, with the Federal Communications Commission points out that amateur radio is the only fail safe communications service on the planet.

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