Amateur Radio's Role Gets Favorable Mention in Post-Katrina Report

[Pete, WA2CWA]

From the ARRL Web Site:
NEWINGTON, CT, Feb 17, 2006--The Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES), the Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS) and the HF digital e-mail system Winlink 2000 all got positive mentions in a post-Katrina report from the US House of Representatives. US Rep Tom Davis (R-VA) chaired the panel. References to ARES, MARS and Winlink appear in "A Failure of Initiative"--the final report of the Select Bipartisan Committee to investigate the preparation for and response to Hurricane Katrina.

To Read the complete ARRL Report, go here:
http://www.remote.arrl.org/news/stories/2006/02/17/2/?nc=1

If you just want to read the report, all 364 pages, "A Failure of Initiative", go here:
A Failure of Initiative

[W1DAN]

Hi Pete:

Being born and raised in New Orleans, I heard a lot of health and welfare comms not by the ARRL, but by the Salvation Army.

There may have been alot of comms by ARES and the West Gulf division, I could not hear it up here in Boston. There was not a clear ARRL national NTS presence on HF.

This storm had one problem that was not anticipated...most of the hams who would have provided emcomms in the area had to evacuate..also with the state lockdowns in New Orleans and Mississippi almost totally stopped any emcomms in the days after Katrina.

So the ARRL is taking credit for something they had little to do with when it was needed most! They really need to feed this system more than just let the local ARES groups handle it alone.

This storm also showed me that the current NTS structure is way too old to be effective...data is the way. Things must change and I feel Amateur Radio is not up to this task.

I donated $$ to the Salvation Army as they helped me with H&W traffic. NTS did not. BTW I asked the Red cross early for a H&W request and they said they were not capable of doing this!

And they wasted so much food. I will never donate $$ to the Red Cross again.

73
Dan
W1DAN