Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Amateur radio can be lifeline in weather disaster

From: "marcel_rf1" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 08 Jun 2003 19:48:42 -0000

Article published Jun 8, 2003

Amateur radio can be lifeline in weather disaster

All Sue Chism has to do is fiddle with the knobs on the radio in her 
car and the world is at her fingertips.

The amateur radio enthusiast also could try the radio in her home,
the  one she carries in her purse or several backup radios that are 
ready to go at a moment's notice. "It's not a hobby. It's more like
an obsession," she jokes.

Actually, it's a public service.

Chism and dozens of fellow amateur radio operators and other 
volunteers use their skills to create a network of observers across 
South Carolina to help forecasters track severe weather.

The National Weather Service program is called Skywarn. It began
about 30 years ago and now has chapters throughout the country.

"There's probably more than 100,000 of them" nationwide," said Vince 
DiCarlo, the meteorologist who oversees the volunteer program at the 
weather service's Greer office.

When severe weather threatens, "spotters" report to forecasters. The 
information can be used for warnings or to help meteorologists get a 
better idea of events happening across the region, such as hail, high 
winds or flooding.

"They tell us the things that aren't available through sources like 
satellite and radar," DiCarlo said.

Amateur radio has moved into the digital age, too.

The system uses technology similar to Nextel's walkie-talkie phones. 
Essentially, the radio transmission is translated into a digital 
signal at the tower, sent across the Internet then translated back 
into a radio signal, allowing it to be sent anywhere in the world.

"The phone system will be down, but we'll still be talking," said 
amateur radio enthusiast John Hoyt of Easley, who helped out during
an ice storm last winter and kept an eye on severe thunderstorms last 
month.

It's a family tradition for Hoyt. His father became a ham radio 
operator in 1931 and is still active today. Hoyt uses his late 
mother's call letters, W5UGD, to identify himself over the airwaves.
The amateur radio bug quickly spreads through many families.

Elsie Finkelstein and her husband became amateur radio operators 
shortly before he retired and they moved to Spartanburg.

"We wanted something we could both do together, said Finkelstein, now 
a 76-year-old widow better-known in the amateur radio world as
KA2CLX. "We would do everything together."

Becoming a ham radio operator is easy. A few hours of study is all 
that is needed to get a basic license, Finkelstein said.

To get a more advanced license, an operator needs to know Morse code 
and more about the technology that makes the radios work, Hoyt said.
Amateur radio enthusiasts are such a tight bunch that at any
gathering may resemble a family reunion. They also are a dedicated 
crew, Chism said.

Few events illustrate that better than the ice storm that paralyzed 
South Carolina's Upstate last December.

Many of the spotters had no heat and weren't even able to take
showers for days. But they cranked up their battery-powered radios, 
keeping forecasters and emergency officials notified of what was 
happening and  providing a lifeline when so many were plunged into 
frigid darkness.

"There aren't too many more dedicated people around," DiCarlo said. 
"It's what they gear up for."

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030608/APN/3
06080627&cachetime=5

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