Hurricane Maria - Dominica Amateur Radio Communications Page

https://www.facebook.com/HurricaneMariaDARCI/ When Hurricane Maria smashed into the tiny island of Dominica in the Eastern Caribbean earlier this week, phone service went down, virtually cutting off the island. But within hours, amateur radio operators got on the air and have been providing a vital link to the outside world ever since. Shortly before the storm struck, ham-radio enthusiasts Michelle Guenard and her husband, Brian Machesney, set up a Facebook page from their home in Craftsbury, Vt., to act as a clearinghouse for whatever information they could glean through the ham airwaves via ham operators on Dominica, many of whom they know personally. There's also a livestream of the HF radio frequency being used for the emergency network.

 

Live ham radio chatter on HF radio 7.188Mhz. or 3.815Mhz from the Caribbean. More traffic in the morning vs. evening (folks are in cleanup/survival mode, no traffic unless necessary). PAUSED until morning of Friday, September 22 - no radio traffic overnight as hams get their rest.

 

I have H&W traffic for PR are these nets good for that or is there another I should look for.

Thanks,

Pat KA4VNM

 

Satern (The Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network net) has been passing Out Bound Traffic for several days on 14.265 and today on 275 as well

 

Inbound to PR and affected ilands

https://safeandwell.communityos.org/

 

Thanks!

 

For everyone helping, thank you. You show the best of what our hobby is.

 

I'm also trying to connect to Vieques Island just east of PR but can't find any way to connect to that island. The Red Cross link above is only for listing "safe and well" status. Any thoughts on what to do next is much appreciated. Being located up in the Pacific NW means I can't interact with live low band nets at all.
Thanks, Chris W7AMD

 

Chris; I recently returned to my hurricane ravaged town and home in Rockport---I still have my 20 and 40M STL antennas intact so will try to see if I can get into Puerto Rico in the next few days---if I have any luck at all I'll shoot you a PM or post news here. I have a friend who is after H & W info on someone in San Juan so will have to give it a try as soon as I can (still need to set all of my gear back up besides doing some interior/exterior cleanup)

73, Jeff, NH7RO

 

I did a similar 4 days straight of relays

My Barbados sign is 8P6SG - and I also ran a twitter feed via: https://twitter.com/ecdWeather we feed the only Dominica Radio Station 95.1FM (internet based) with info every hour.
Countless people contacted us for health and welfare. It could not have been possible with the share luck of J69DX repeater in St. Lucia picking up J73 stations on VHF

In the end, I made a summary of my thoughts for the region which little funds and poor infrastructure
LINK: Ten Thoughts on Comms Post Hurricane in the Caribbean: https://twitter.com/ecdWeather/status/911718866446888961

Many thanks all

 

We have discovered that where my friends family are the only bridge into that area is out. No one from the government has gotten in. If you could please post if you get up we would all appreciate it! Its to bad the base was closed, they always lent a huge helping hand with transportation , generators and support. I loved my active duty deployments there.

Pat DE KA4VNM

 

I did hear form a friend of mine from San Juan last night via facebook. Seems power is slowly coming back and some cell service has returned.

Pat

 

My former Task Force 7 Urban Search and Rescue left Houston and are in Puerto Rico now. Home base is Sacramento, CA. Over the years, Task Force 7 has gone to many disasters and saved many lives.

 

Excellent summary of yours on twitter.

 

Some good news the Navy has landed at the old base at Roosevelt Roads, Navy and Marines making the lights come back on, treating the injured and doing what they do best. A hospital ship is coming and several more LPH and LHD's. Seems the media here has completely overlooked what our men and women are doing.

https://news.usni.org/2017/09/27/kearsarge-sailors-and-marines-help-start-hurricane-maria

NAVY, A GLOBAL FORCE FOR GOOD!