National Hurricane Center Director: Hams Give "Valuable" Reports (Apr 7, 2008) -- Director of the National Hurricane Center (NHC) Bill Read, KB5FYA, praised Amateur Radio at the National Hurricane Conference in Orlando earlier this month. "Ham radio has always played a critical role in emergencies," Read said. "What goes out when you have a high wind event or major flooding is the communications system, so you lose even cell phones, landline phones, commercial radio and TV. In those cases, ham radio operators that can put up emergency transmitters and antennas in the wake of a storm can give us reports that are valuable. They also help in the search and rescue efforts in the aftermath." The NHC has a dedicated amateur station on-site -- WX4NHC -- and has worked closely with hams for decades. -- Thanks to Dan Musten, KD4RAA, and John Van Pelt, K4JVP, for the information
