[aprssig] New Orleans APRS digi still on the air

[N0YXV - Stan Coleman]

I'd have to agree. It's very easy to point fingers at people that should
have done this or didn't do that. Hind sight is always 20/20. Watching
some of the news reports tonight it seams to me that the victims don't
really understand the magnitude of how much damage has been done. There
is no magic wand that will fix this disaster over night.

In any good disaster plan things will go wrong...the key is how creative
can we become to over come the problems not seen. I'd have to echo Ray's
statement, "I'd like to be better prepared than I am, as would most of
us." I don't know of too many disaster plans that included what to do
when the people you are trying to help start shooting at you. Can you
ever really be 100% prepared for a disaster? I don't know about you but
I can always think of one more thing to add to my disaster kit.

One thing that can help is having extra equipment on hand. That was the
lesion we learned around here this Field Day when we set up. We knew we
needed to update our disaster equipment but until we got our hands on it
and used it we really didn't know how unusable it was. In reality no
matter how much you equipment you stock pile it will really only help
those around you and not yourself. Any supplies stockpiled in New
Orleans wouldn't have been of much help if those supplies either got
blown away with the wind or flooded by water, or not reachable due to
flooding.

-----Original Message-----
From: aprssig-bounces at lists.tapr.org
[mailto:aprssig-bounces at lists.tapr.org] On Behalf Of Rick Green
Sent: Thursday, September 01, 2005 9:41 PM
To: TAPR APRS Mailing List
Subject: Re: [aprssig] New Orleans APRS digi still on the air


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

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