FEMA Strikes Again!

Submitted by Bill Weinberg on Sun, 09/11/2005 - 03:02.
Sarah Ferguson of the Village Voice reports Sept. 8 of the feds shutting
down yet another citizens' self-help initiative:

Although the effort was trumpeted in the media as an example of grassroots
ingenuity in the face of disaster, local officials with the Federal
Emergency Management Agency have nixed an attempt by Houston activists to
set up a low-power radio station at the Astrodome that would have broadcast
Hurricane Katrina relief information for evacuees.

The project was unplugged even though it had key support. On Monday, the
Federal Communications Commission quickly granted temporary licenses to
broadcast inside the Astrodome and the adjacent Reliant Center. The station
was also backed by the Houston Mayor's office and Texas governor Rick Perry.
But local officials said FEMA bureaucrats KO'd the station-dubbed KAMP "Dome
City Radio"-because of "security concerns."

"They wanted unlimited access to the buildings, which we could not give to
anyone in the media," said Gloria Roemer, a spokesperson for Harris County,
which has jurisdiction over the Astrodome complex. Currently reporters are
allowed in only on 15-minute guided tours.

According to Roemer, FEMA officials also believed they could not allocate
"scarce" electricity, office space, and phone and Internet access to the
volunteer station even though activists say they offered to run the station
on batteries and use their own cellphones.

Supporters of KAMP, which was set to launch at 95.3 FM, blame red tape and
bureaucrats seeking to "manage the news."

"I'm very disappointed," said Councilmember Ada Edwards, who represents a
mostly black district in central Houston and had issued a letter of support
for the station. "One of the real challenges of this big tragedy has been
access to communication--open and honest communication. I really hoped this
would be an open outlet for people to get information that was unscripted
and that would really address their needs.

"But it seems par for the course in terms of how this whole thing has been
rolling out with FEMA and the Red Cross trying to keep tight control and
manage the news," Edwards complained. "It's really sad when these people
feel they have to sanitize all the time."

Activists with Houston Indymedia and Pacifica radio first brainstormed the
idea over the weekend when they visited the Astrodome and spoke to swamped
relief workers and survivors desperate for information about emergency
services and news from back home...

But donated radios continue to pour into KPFT, the local Pacifica station,
and volunteers say they plan to begin distributing them anyway in hopes they
can set up some kind of station in the Astrodome parking lot, or else
partner with KPFT to provide news for hurricane survivors...

Although the number of evacuees housed at the Astrodome and George R. Brown
Convention Center downtown has dwindled from 25,000 to about 8,000, many of
the survivors remain temporarily lodged in smaller shelters and private
houses around Houston. All told, the FCC has issued some 20 temporary
licenses for a low-power emergency relief stations in the wake of Hurricane
Katrina, including a volunteer-run station in Louisiana.

Original info from:
Gregory S. Williams
k4hsm@lock-net.com


Posted to QRZ by:
W4LGH - Alan
St Johns County ARES-EC
http://www.w4lgh.com

 

It would be a good idea to have a standard frequency, perhaps at 550 AM or some such, for use in all cities during times of disaster. Everyone has a small radio; what a waste not to use this idea.

 

We have met the enemy and it is US.

 

Way I see it, the use of a designated local AM station on it's regular frequency would be a better idea, as those that had operable BATTERY POWERED radios would know where to find it.   The local station should be "hardened" against known local disaster possibilities, so it could remain on the air. Or be got quickly back on the air.
 
Bigger problem though is what programming to be put on there...ideally this would be output from the ICS command staff PIO.  You still have a communications problem with getting the PIO connected to the local AM outlet however, unless that is pre-arranged in a hardened mode somehow.

In this situation in the Gulf Coast, I am having a hard time seeing where NIMS/ICS was even employed at all.
Nothing seems to have been organized at any level until the military (with their own disciplined operations) got into the picture.  Everybody was finding out what was happening here and there by watching the video feeds from Fox news and CNN, but that didn't help organize a damn thing.  

 

Wasn't 560 AM designated an Emergency information frequency nationally ?? It may have been some time back but I don't recall it being changed,unless it was one of the new 21st Century changes,made to purposely confuse everyone.    

 

I'm not surprised - the FCC caved in to corporate interests and said community organizations shouldn't have 100W stations, in extremely limited circumstances.

It's a shame, I really can see a 100W station causing HUGE problems to that 90,000W giant!

Jonathan

 

At one time, there were two assigned CONELRAD (sp?) frequencies specified on the AM dial.  One toward the low end, 640, one toward the high end, 1240.  In addition, local AM stations could be fed the same information. The current EBS superceded CONELRAD years ago, and not nearly as useful as what it replaced, because of a lack of frequency standard.

"Had this been an actual emergency, you would have been instructed to tune to 640 or 1240 on your radio dial for further instructions and information."

 

AHHH The Federal Goverment Seems to be controlling everything now days Hum Land of the free ? These are the same guys that tell all the Emergency Communicators Emergency Responders they cant do things because of Security reasons Safety reasons but then allow the Media to waltz in the Diaster Area and publically announce that our commander in Chief the Prez is staying on board the U.S.S Iwo Jima Docked in New Orleans WOW Dead Give away for our enemies across on the other side of the world huh Perfect Security huh these are the guys the didnt let Emergency Communicators into New Orleans because of Safety Reasons but then let Actors like Senn Penn and Adam Walsh from AMW to waltz in there not to mention out PREZ I wonder what makes thier immune sysytem better than ours HUM and then they are there trying to figure out why things fell apart and Failed I dont think I will ever feel safe anywhere in America when ours leaders and government are just so Dense I mean come on thats just crazy what next From Homeland Security FEMA and all other Agencies wil they allow the Media to announce where the Nuclear codes are located at GESSH somethings got to be done here.

 

C'mon, guys, think......  Forget AM.  Inefficient antennas, poor propagation.  At 95.3MHz, a quarter wave would be what, about 29 inches?

It was stopped because the Feds don't want anything said that might reflect or spread the ideas and opinions of the evacuees.  They just might get some collective support for a few proper demandments.

One question, that keeps haunting me, is "why did AF-1 take off from Phoenix on Monday, August 29th in the afternoon and, instead of flying to and landing at Keesler AFB MS, it flew to San Diego.  Then, on Wednesday, August 31, it did a 'fly-by' at about 1000 feet and instead of landing at Keesler AFB, it went on to Andrews AFB, MD.  Why?  Anybody got any ideas?

Sure would be interesting to ask the evacuees over the radio station what they thought about the itinerary.

Lee
W6EM

 

cause Keesler is a wreck

http://www.af.mil/news/story_print.asp?storyID=123011495

 

CONELRAD is what the EAS/EBS came from.  
More here CONELRAD

 

Yep.  I think CONELRAD stood for controlled electromagnetic radiation or some such.  If I recall, the idea was to purposefully QSB the carriers so the ENEMY couldn't easily DF the locations of the transmitters.

We didn't want the Sovietskees to draw a bead on any of our cities from their cockpits.

I still have an old CD decal on one of my old sliderules from back in the '60s. I was also a controller at a radio site that was a NAWAS alert site.  It was tested every week.  NAWAS stood for the national attack warning and alert system.  A telco-based alert network to federal and state agencies that would have issued alerts in the event of a real nucular (Bush's pronunciation of nuclear) attack.

Lee
W6EM

 

OK.  Maxwell AFB in Montgomery wasn't.  And, Baton Rouge obviously wasn't.  Same question.


Suggested response: He had his head up his *ss!!!

 

With the 500kHz marine band opening up, we should develop an international project to use it for disaster and emergency /relief communications.

This could become an excellent worldwide system for tsunami or hurricane warnings... and it is marine related.

Combining standard emergency frequencies with the currently little-used FM RDS broadcast data system or "S.A.M.E." weather alert systems on the broadcasts, would make it easily and cheaply compatible with existing car radios and some consumer portable radios.

Both the 520kHz channel and the 530kHz channel could be dedicated to emergency broadcasts during emergencies.

490 to 515kHz could be used for two-way communications between all the different government, non-government, and amateur radio services worldwide.

Also, 87.9MHZ FM could be utilized as part of a low power or mobile emergency/relief broadcast system.

The average person could then simply tune to the lower end of the dial for emergency broadcasts and information, whether this be on FM or AM radio.

--Bonnie KQ6XA










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W6EM,
If I am not mistaken both GWB and Jimmy Carter pronounce "Nuclear" the same way.and what did he know about it,he only had a college Degree In Nuclear Engineering.