[aprssig] New Orleans APRS digi still on the air

[Rick Green]

On Thu, 1 Sep 2005, Ray McKnight wrote:

> I would call it "stupid" to live in a hurricane-prone area
> and not have a battery-powered AM/FM radio and a few
> spare batteries... just basic self-preservation.
  ...or tornado-prone, or flood-prone, landslide-prone, thunderstorm-prone, 
or for that matter, energy-broker-prone area, which includes just about 
every one of us.  But I wouldn't go so far as to start calling names. 
It's prudent to be prepared (as well as brave, clean, reverent...) no 
matter where you live.
   I'd like to be better prepared than I am, as would most of us, I think. 
As we learn by regular participation in events such as field day, the 
annual SET, and various public service functions, we become adept at 
cobbling together whatever resources we can lay our hands on, and finding 
a way to provide a communication service when its needed.
  In a true disaster situation, most plans and preparations go right out 
the window.  A week ago, there were probably a half-dozen other 
stations in that area with backup power capabilities, so there's always 
the 'luck factor'.
   Has anyone verified that the trustee of that N.O. digi is still alive? 
What really matters here?  WHile there's a working digi near New Orleans, 
the closest moving vehicle with a tracker is 56 miles away, and it got to 
the APRS-IS without the help of w5uk-9 .  Since yesterday, a weather 
station has come on the air (KNBG, which doesn't appear to have been 
digi'd thru w5uk either, or is it internet-connected only?), so 
we now know the temp and humidity there.  Is that saving lives?  Has there 
been a request for hams to provide a tracking service to the SAR teams?
   Yes, I'm frustrated that I'm sitting here in Michigan with a garage full 
of communications gear, and I can't think of a way I can give concrete 
help to people in need.  A dear friend just dropped her daughter off at 
Tulane University on Saturday and flew home.  Luckily, they were able to 
call family friends near Baton Rouge on Sunday, so she was able to get 
out, just beyond the line on the map that delineates the extent of the 
hurricane force winds(Lucky!).  Quite an adventure for a young woman, away 
from home for the first time, on her first day at college.  Quite scary 
for those that care about her, and are now too far away to take direct 
action to protect her.
   It's not just a technical challenge. There's a half-million or so human 
stories in there as well...

-- 
Rick Green

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little
  temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
                                   -Benjamin Franklin