🚀 go-pugleaf

Larry wrote:
> John Navas <spamfilter1@navasgroup.com> wrote in 
> news:usm556dg9jo79qvdsk1d9ckdv37nolnrcp@4ax.com:
> 
>>> I'm wondering how many hams had/have backup power for their rigs.  
>> Quite a few in my experience.
>>
>>
> 
> It's not really fair because I live in the aftermath of Hurricane Hugo 
> in 1989, but every ham here has multiple generators.  I have a Honda 
> EU1000i suitcase portable, a Honda EU3000is 3KW mounted on my service 
> van, also a comm van in emergencies and a Chinese 6.5KW diesel genset to 
> power my home off used cooking oil which I have thousands of gallons of 
> in storage.
> 
> All the hams here are similarly powered....
> 
> The ham radio clubs have extensive communications vans and ham radio 
> stations setup in every emergency shelter, usually in schools, across 
> the counties.  In addition, we have 5 networked VHF/UHF repeater systems 
> located at hurricane-proof county communications sites all with 
> extensive backup power on massive 800mph communications towers also used 
> by cops/fire/services.  The hospitals are all on a secondary ham radio 
> VHF/UHV network powered by hospital emergency power systems.  That 
> separate network give them comms when all the phones go down and county 
> emergency radio trunk networks are jammed.
> 
> Then, there's SCHeart:
> http://scheart.us/irlp_web/main/
> Emergency powered microwave relay stations across SC operated by the 
> state are used to interconnect yet another huge ham radio relay system 
> associated with ARES, the Amateur Radio Emergency Service.  On Heart, 
> you can use a 1/2 watt VHF walkie talkie connected to one of its many 
> repeater systems and talk from Charleston to Greenville as simply as 
> talking across a mall on a Family Radio UHF set.  Heart is explained on 
> the website.
> 
> Our extensive radio system plan and communications networks are 
> explained on a pdf file here:
> http://www.wa4usn.org/CommPlan.pdf
> 
> WX4CHS, the ham radio station callsign of the Charleston office of the 
> National Weather Bureau, is also connected to these systems and to an 
> independent HF SSB radio network connecting our weather bureau office to 
> its remote substation offices in Savannah, Georgetown, Myrtle Beach, 
> Brunswick GA and to every other National Weather Service office across 
> the entire country.  NWS is adamant about its support of ham radio 
> services to the system.  "Skywarn" is also a ham radio network of 
> cooperating ham radio stations across America giving the weather service 
> and its public broadcast functions thousands of eyes to warn of 
> impending immediate weather threats such as tornadoes, floods, etc.  I'm 
> a Skywarn trained observer, myself.....
> http://www.skywarn.org/
> http://www.skywarnonline.com/
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skywarn
> 
> So, if you think ham radio is just a bunch of super CBers, a throwback 
> before the internet, you're wrong.  Thousands of ham radio repeater 
> systems are all interconnected across the planet by internet links for 
> licensed ham radio stations to use, as a hobby and in time of 
> international disaster.  Ask the Haitians!  Without ham radio, Haiti was 
> completely alone after the recent earthquake and before with hurricanes.
> 
> The systems are efficient, rigidly controlled by control operators and 
> very good at what we do.
> 


Thanks for your service, Larry.