The ARRL website posted this NEW and EXCELLENT 'amateur radio news' piece. Catch it: http://www.arrl.org/news/amateur-radio-facilitates-another-patient-evacuation-on-puerto-rico
As Chip has pointed out, heartwarming stories of individual Ham "hands-on" contributions like these are far more newsworthy and I bet inspiring for the general public. Regarding the final item in the linked release - "Personnel from WTOP radio in Washington, DC, and the National Association of Broadcasters plan to distribute 10,000 AM/FM radios and 1,000 Sirius-XM radios to local governments." It's been reported elsewhere that the portable receivers being distributed are QFX model R-9. http://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/0002/qfx-r9-radios-headed-to-puerto-rico/340574 While it's nice they can receive more then just AM/FM, ie some SW, that feature will be mostly rendered irrelevant by poor product quality and current propagation conditions. I can understand the challenges of speed in delivery of a massive quantity at a reasonable cost, but the fact these units are so dependent on their short lived batteries seems unwise. IMO a smaller number of wind-up / solar radios, with LED lights, is more suitable for such a likely long-term power outage situation. 73 de John - WØPV
LATEST FROM WP3R-- ELECTRICITY STILL DOWN WP3R reports the 2 hour electricity recovery was only a load test and that he and his neighbors celebrated too soon:-( His update from the electric company folks says that there will continue to be load tests but NO RELIABLE SERVICE should be expected "FOR MANY WEEKS". Angel is thus making an URGENT PLEA for GENERATORS for use in northwest and interior Puerto Rico. Anticipated 12+ to be sent ASAP. Many clubs and individuals--including myself--are helping Angel to act as a conduit for generator distribution. If you wish to buy and SEND a generator (recommendation: Honda EU1000is) kindly let me know and I will forward shipping info to you. My (own) third generator shipment is tomorrow, more to come. Thanks you, Chip W1YW
DISASTER UPDATE FROM USVI--St Croix KV4FZ Below is a relay of an email sent to the towertalk list by well-known contester KV4FZ. Herb is fine but the situation there is just as dire as Puerto Rico.... 73 Chip W1YW ----------------------------------------------- Herbert Schoenbohm (herbert.schoenbohm@gmail.com) KV4FZ I lost only one tower to Maria but two others survived. My 5 element beams were taken down before the storm hit. My 3 element Cubex Quad is a total mess of shredded fiberglass spare. No more quads for me. No crank up towers here, It is amazing my Rohn 45's stayed up but the Rohn 55 without any antennas on it came down in one piece...so it will live another day perhaps,. My 160 tower is OK but the skirts have to be replaced. My house and ham shack suffered zero damage, unlike the 10,000 homes that lost roofs. There is no city power here till next year and no internet. I am using my AT&T cell phone as a personal hotspot. I have a nice generator and Dishnetwork to watch some football and the playoffs. While everything in the news is about Puerto Rico all the time. It is a pity that after being hit by two Cat 5 hurricanes in a little over a week very little mention is made of the VI and the massive destruction all over the islands. I have been doing 14 hours days getting radio station back up but look forward to putting the antennas back up. Repairs that usually are measured in hours now take days to accomplish. Thanks for your concern of my station. Herb Schoenbohm, KV4FZ
Good W1yW. It is people like you that makes life hard on volunteers. Because of you and other things I have resigned as a PIO for the Section and ARRL. You win! I will not be doing anymore Ham radio writing or blogs.
