When a Michigan amateur radio operator broadcast a call for help in finding his daughter who he hadn't heard from since the storm, his call was picked up by David Sutherland, a DeLand amateur radio operator monitoring his generator-powered radio.
Less than an hour later, after Sutherland had driven to the daughter's home, delivered her father's message and she had called her worried dad, the Michigan man radioed Sutherland to thank him.
"I told him that's what it's all about," said Sutherland, vice president of the West Volusia Amateur Radio Society, a small organization with a big mission.
"The area of communications that is not present during hurricanes, tornadoes, and fires is what we call 'Family Emergency Communications,' " said Guy Johnson, society treasurer. "This is the communication that is needed from disaster victims to their remote family members and friends. It is vastly important that the welfare of people in distress be communicated . . . it relieves stress on both ends."
Natural disasters such as hurricanes and tornadoes often bring Floridians face-to-face with real danger, damage, devastation and even death as storms destroy homes and businesses, block roads and cut off normal communication. When disaster strikes, society members immediately mobilize to serve public and private needs with an emergency radio system that's always in place, maintained year-round and ready to go at a moment's notice. The equipment allows voice communication and e-mail traffic without an Internet connection.
Society members work closely with emergency service agencies and during a crisis, members fan out to emergency operations centers in West Volusia cities.
Part of the society's equipment, including a base radio, is kept at the DeLand Police Department's emergency center. From there, operators can speak to emergency workers in the field who have hand-held radios. E-mails can be transmitted as well as high-priority messages. The operations center has a generator backup and can take over full Internet duties if the city loses its connection.
All of that equipment was donated by the city of DeLand, but the society paid for equipment at the seven-story Hugh Ash Manor apartment building, near the Stetson University campus, including digital relay equipment and a voice repeater to boost signals to a wider area.
"Hugh Ash Manor is the hub for our digital communications," said Sutherland. The building's central location, height, and emergency generator backup are reasons for its use.
While the equipment is complex and vital in emergency situations, maintenance isn't complicated.
"Most of the radios run 24/7 without much intervention," Sutherland said. All units can be controlled and updated from a remote location, he said.
Many people may notice the tall antennas atop the Hugh Ash Manor, and at the Police Department, but few realize their real purpose and importance.
"During the fires of '98, we were needed to not operate the radios, but program the radios of out-of-state firefighters to the Florida frequency," said Bud Thompson, an amateur radio operator in charge of digital communications for the organization. "Many of us participate in, even concentrate on, emergency communications preparedness."
A sense of public service helps motivate the society's efforts, Thompson said.
Source : eHam.net
