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Thursday, September 8, 2005

Ham Radio Operators Offer Help

By Beth Hahn
Mountain View Telegraph
    Since Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans last week, several ears in the East Mountains and Estancia Valley have been tuned to amateur short-wave radios.
    McIntosh resident Ed Brooks said local Ham radio operators are willing to relay messages from the Gulf Coast if needed.
    "We guys here in the Estancia Valley are just listening," he said. "We haven't had any need for what we can offer."
    Although they may not be needed yet, Brooks said local Ham radio operators are still listening in to conversations taking place in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
    During the interview with Brooks, his Ham radio was tuned to a conversation involving a Coast Guard helicopter that was rescuing a family from a rooftop in New Orleans with direction from another Ham radio operator.
    Brooks said similar situations have been broadcast hundreds of times during the past week.
    "It's been really spotty, but what we've been (hearing) is that it was good fortune that somebody down there had Ham equipment," he said.
    Daryl Clutter, an Edgewood Ham operator and member of the Salvation Army's shortwave network, said he relayed a message from Ontario to U.S. Coast Guard officials in Washington, D.C., that originated in Louisiana.
    "It was just the word 'help' spelled out two times," he said.
    Like Brooks, Clutter said he has stayed close to his Ham radio since Aug. 29.
    "There's been so much going on," he said. "Every day, something happens."
    Clutter, a former truck driver who often delivered frozen food to the Gulf Coast, said radio traffic has slowed since the hurricane devastated the region.
    "You just wonder who all you know, that used to be your customers down there, that are still alive or had the good sense to get out," he said.
    As amateur radio operators, Clutter said, Ham enthusiasts practice for disasters "every day."
    "There's only so many cell phone frequencies," he explained. "If the phone system goes down, there's no way ... (one company) could handle all the 60,000 or 70,000 phone calls."
    Mountainair resident and Ham operator Bob Scupp said the Salvation Army network alone has handled more than 128,000 messages since Aug. 29.
    Brooks said Ham operators have been relaying messages from residents to volunteers or emergency personnel. Since a large number of National Guard and military personnel have arrived in the area, Brooks said the messages have changed from pleas for help to questions about well-being.
    Shelters for evacuees are beginning to utilize Ham radios to communicate with other shelters to help families find missing relatives, Brooks said.
    Rescues are still going on.
    "There's been instances where they're still finding people, trapped in houses, trapped in buildings or running out of oxygen," said Clutter. "It's just terrible what's going on down there."
    Clutter and Brooks said they will not offer assistance unless someone requests contact in the Albuquerque area.
    "We don't want to tie up the frequencies," Brooks said.
    Clutter and Brooks said they will continue to listen to their Ham radios for messages or relay requests until communications are restored in the Gulf Coast.
    "We live and breathe this," Clutter said.