(Danny would like to stress the importance of knowing how to build a simple dipole. The number-468 divided by the frequency for the length. He was amazed at how many hams didn't know this simple piece of knowledge which most hams should have known. ) *The names of the participants have been edited out to protect their identities. Names are not as important as events that occurred during this disaster. This is so informative to have a glimpse into what it was like to be there as an amateur radio op trying to help during this time. This journal is being published by permission of the author of this work. This is a educational tool which I think can benefit us all. ~trish-k4ze 9/1/05 after waiting for loads to be readjusted, we’re finally ready to roll at 0023. The convoy consists of a Suburban Fire Rescue vehicle, a Astro Van pulling a trailer, and a pickup truck. The team consists of 5 other people, and me. We have a forestry vehicle coming with us – I never got this guys name as they call him “Jerry Clower”. At 0130, we stop at “Wally World”, (Walmart), at the Bushnell exit, to get some forgotten items. G. needed boots, P. and I opted for air mattresses, and we raided the McDonalds for coffee and apple pies. Then we headed for Tallahassee. 0706, we pulled into the staging area at “tallie hickie”. Unfortunately, we found that this wasn’t the staging area we’re supposed to be at, so we headed out to the State EOC office. We arrived there at 0952 where they served us breakfast and gave us the “nickel” tour – I wasn’t terribly impressed as my “toy room” was better equipped. They did have a nice antenna field but it was located quite a distance from the transmitters. We’ve received our badges (ESF-2) and were told we needed to go back to the staging area to get more water. On the way, we stopped by the Dept of Agriculture to get some items. No sleep yet. Are we there yet? 9/1/05 1505 we’ve finished lunch – we stopped by a Ruby Tuesday to have our “last supper”. Now, we’re searching for gas. It’s in very short supply – we have about 25 gallons in the trailer, but it will be tight making Mississippi without a refuel. The source we were told about at the border isn’t here. We met up with a crew from Port Saint Luci and they’re having the same problem. No fuel – I used 10 gallons from the trailer for the Van, since we have the greatest consumption with us pulling the trailer. The signs on the interstate warn that I-10 is closed at the Louisiana border. After crossing into Alabama, we begin to see damage from the storm. The battleship at Mobile is listing – note: I didn’t say leaning, I used the Navy term. 9/1/05 1730 We’re here! You wouldn’t believe the destruction. We went down 110 by Keesler to Hwy 90. We met the Tampa Fox 13 crew as they were transmitting from there. At 1848, we made the coliseum where we found fuel. We replenished our stores, found the actual EDICS trailer, and got the rest of the EDICS equipment from it. One of the fire chiefs decided he wanted the trailer designed for the EDICS system for his personal living quarters. This trailer was designed with an air conditioner and generator so the EDICS Com System was self contained. I’m not sure how we’re going to deploy it properly without the trailer. 9/1/05 2000 G. went to a meeting about deployment. We’re told we’re on hold – no deployment though we may possibly deploy to Stone County. Conditions here are deplorable. There are only 3 portalets and they are so full you wouldn’t want to use them. We watched them decontaminate a Search and Rescue Team with their Dogs. We were then told to go to a staging area in Gulfport. We figure it can’t be any worse there, so we head out. 2100 We’re in Gulfport and checked in. We finally have the chance to get some sleep at 2130. Some of us woke up at 0400 so we had a short meeting on what we were going to do. Then we went back to sleep and managed to sleep until 0630. The heat and humidity was stifling; coupled with the lack of showers and beds, sleeping soundly was difficult. 9/2/05 0630 we found that we were attached to Escambia County. They had their own cooks and fed us French toast and coffee for breakfast. After breakfast, we setup HF communications. Already, it is getting extremely hot on the blacktop tarmac. We connected with Tampa Hams on the South CARS net and quickly moved to the frequency of 7.190mhz. There, we talked with both Warren and Carl. We then checked in on the SHARES and MARS nets. We monitored them until 10am. We found the Harris county EOC operating on the146.730 repeater and checked in with them. We let them know of our capabilities though I doubt if they remember since they were sooooo busy. We also let SHARES know we found the local EOC on the repeater. We’re still in holding for deployment. 1200 We had lunch. They served BBQ Chicken Thigh and Sausage. Since we hadn’t been deployed, we went to the Red Cross to ask if they minded us going to their shelters to pick up Health and Welfare Traffic. They were pleased that we were available and provided us with some shelter addresses. We setup a 2-Meter simplex communications incase we were called on to deploy the EDICS. It allowed us to keep in touch with our people going to the shelters. We decided to leave 2 at base and send 2 vehicles with 2 people each to do the shelter runs. We would pickup the messages and bring them back to the base for transmittal to Tampa via the schedule we’d setup. Two of us went to Biloxi High School and two went to Biloxi Jr. High. We continued to monitor the Regional Shares Freq. (7mhz) I was the message taker at the High School. It was difficult, lots of stories, people distressed, and having lost everything, many couldn’t remember the phone number of the loved one they wanted to get the message to. Conditions there were deplorable – septic systems were destroyed and no running water. We took what information we could get counting on the Tampa group to research and see that the messages were transmitted to the proper recipients. J. took a message from one individual that said I’m ok but James didn’t make it – James was her son. We would have utilized the MARS and SHARES networks as well but we could format the messages properly for either service. We sent over 60 messages that day that needed to go to 80 recipients. All of us assisted in the sending. We utilized 7.190 since these couldn’t be formatted for MARS. We did attempt to check into transcon, but the only station I talked to was AFA1BV. Our base camp location was 10260 Larken Smith Drive., Gulfport, Mississippi, 39503. GPS coordinates are N 30degrees 26.156minutes, W 89degrees 03.295minutes. 9/2/05 1941, We just finished dinner – Swiss Steak with Mash Potatoes and Peas. Boy, did it hit the spot. On the way back to the High School to pickup more messages, F. stopped by the Baptist Ministry. They were providing hot meals and had a team passing messages as we were. It was great to see that others were assisting as well. At the shelter, we found there were not any more messages. The Red Cross people told us earlier that they would setup a sign and have people needing to get messages out, write them on a notepad. We were told when we went back that they were too busy to be concerned with that. Since it was after curfew, we headed back to base. We checked into RE and at 2200, we shut down the communications and tried to get some sleep. I will interject here that it was great being able to talk to our friends back here in Tampa on the radio. Knowing they were jumping through hoops to help us meant a lot. It’s difficult to sleep tonight even though we’re dead tired due to the heat and stifling humidity. 9/3/05 J. and I woke up at 0500. We finally get some coffee and I filled the shower bag up so I could wash my hair and upper body. I’m sure I smell better and I feel great now. The other members are moving and getting breakfast now. 0800, we checked into MARS RF and SHARES. At 0830 we discussed our plan for today, which is to meet at Edge Water Mall. According to the radio, the Salvation Army is serving hot meals there at 1100. We found a sheet of plywood and J. painted a message on it that said, “Send I’m OK Message Via Radio”. We decided to get there ½ hour prior to the specified time. At 10am, we checked off the MARS and net and prepared to depart. After getting there, we don’t see any Salvation Army Meal Wagons and according to security there at the Mall, the radio station has been passing same misinformation the past few days. We decide to go back to the Red Cross and find some more shelters. 1218 we’re at the Red Cross where they print me out a complete list of area shelters and provide maps and directions to get to them. I was working with one of the “Heads” out of Chicago. He had a list of H&W traffic he’d been handed and didn’t know what to do with it. I took it and told him we’d get it out. Currently, we’ve pass information for 69 people with several having multiple contacts (total of 89 deliveries). We took off to Woolmarket Elementary where Jim, Gary, and I picked up several more pieces of traffic. I believe we’re now over 100 contacts / messages passed (129 deliveries). Again, we passed the traffic via the Ham bands at 7.190 MHz. The call sign used for all HF traffic passed was mine, KD5UJ as I had the extra class license. It’s late and that’s all for this area. Tomorrow, we’ll head further West – this is closer to the area the Eye of the Katrina passed to check for shelter traffic. 9/4/05 0600 I woke up and took a shower (using the bag shower) and shaved. I feel much better now. We should have brought tarps – some are skittish about showering in the open. I just wear shorts and do the best I can. 0700 we check in with SHARES and at 0730, we’re on the way to chow. J. and I had tried sleeping in the Van with the A/C going last night, but the floor got so hot it was cooking us through the air mattress. (Yes, we had all the windows cracked – we were attempting to fend off bugs and humidity) That didn’t work – more bug spray and sweat. At 0800, we checked into the MARS and Shares Nets. J. , checked in with CAP and found Mockingbird 14, the district communications manager, lost his HF antenna in a tree that fell. He looked at me and asked me if I thought we had the time to fix it for him since he was only a few miles from our location. I told him sure and we put to gather a team consisting of F. , J. L. , and myself. We arrived and what a surprise. J. was introducing himself to this guy when I blurted out B....! He looked at me and said Danny! It turns out we were old friends who lost touch with each other when I moved from Louisiana to Florida. We’d started out our friendship back around 1975 in a Michigan Amateur Radio Club, WD8OOM. He’d retired from the Air Force and moved to Mississippi and I was transferred to Texas. We kept in touch via MARS since we were both in the same region. After I moved to Florida, we lost touch with each other. We did exchange email addresses and will stay in touch once again. Before leaving, we gave him a large bag of Ice and 10 gallons of fuel for his generators. 1400 and we’ve been deployed. They’ve asked us to go to Stennis MS, the NASA site, to possibly set up the EDICS. Driving there, you wouldn’t believe the damage. In Waveland, cars were swept off the road and piled up like “tinker toys”. Thick layers of black mud had covered the roads. You could see where the bulldozers had scrapped it off the roads similar to snowplows up north. We saw a SERT team heading back to base – they were all in the back of a pickup truck all muddy and looking beat. They were from Florida though we couldn’t see which county due to all of the mud. We finally made it to Stennis at around 1700. Problem was, we couldn’t find the person we’re to report to and so far, the support looks worse. We’re in the middle of a factory of some sort with metal all around – much of it high in the air which would make this a nightmare to deploy communications from. We still have no showers, no mobile kitchen, few portalets, and no place to sleep except for the vehicles. Are we there yet? We found an area to claim, and J. and I. pitched their tents. Our contact finally shows and we find there are showers available and on the other side of the base, the US Forestry Service is setting up a base camp with a kitchen. Things are looking up a bit. We weren’t able to get to the showers tonight, but we hope to tomorrow. 9/5/05 0100 and it’s terribly hot in this area – the factory blocks the breeze with all the metal buildings and equipment around. I’m sticking to the sleeping bag wet with sweat and bug spray. The rear and side doors to the Van are open to facilitate what little breeze there is. At 0130, it starts raining relatively hard. We have to button up the Van to keep the equipment dry. What a miserable night this one is! 0630 Time to get up. We found the showers. They are a large communal shower without any hot water, but they felt great. It feels good to be clean, if only for a few hours until the sun comes out with a vengeance. We head for chow around 0730. The US Forestry Service really knows how to setup a Base Camp. You get 2 hot meals a day and they have a bag lunch prepared that you get as you’re leaving breakfast. This morning’s fare was ham, eggs, and potatoes with coffee. After breakfast, G. goes to the sitrep briefing and we find our tasking has changed again. They tell us they don’t need EDICS setup. They need shelter support and we’ve been deployed to Stennis Airport where we’ll receive our tasking for the shelters. At 1230, we arrive at Stennis Airport. No one there seems to know we’re coming; we have no directions, so I scout for a campsite. On the other side of the compound, I find a spot on the grass nestled under some trees. We setup our camp there with 2 HF antennas and VHF omni directional. HF is up and we talked to Tampa (TARC) and checked in with SHARES and MARS. J. and I. set up their tents while G. found where the shelters were. We made two runs to the shelters – they had no communications, so we decided we’d make our rounds 2 or 3 times daily to pickup and relay their needs. We received traffic from two of the shelters and relayed it to the appropriate people (the temporary EOC here at the school). The camp had large generators setup at a few of the buildings which allowed them to run A/C. We took our sleeping gear there to sleep. They were lined up and down the hallways. Jim and I found the nurses room uninhabited; except for a skeleton we named bones. There were no showers available and the water was of questionable quality. We were told to use hand sanitizer before using the bathroom, eating, and after washing our hands in the water. We are proficient at washing and brushing teeth with bottled water. 9/6/05 0630 we’re up and about and got breakfast – a guy by the name of “Boss Hog” is the cook. Eggs look and taste like powered, sausage is burnt, but the pancakes are fine. The coffee is hot and any more I find that the most important thing. We now have two additional communications teams to assist us. There are three operators from Tallahassee that drove up in an air conditioned RV (do we sound jealous?), and a team of three from the Tampa Area who drove up in individual vehicles. I don’t understand why they were deployed except to site see since both teams are leaving Friday morning – 1 day after we do. We’ve checked in with TARC whom I think is making the most of this as they’re having another “media presence” and they’re asking for more traffic. We also check into MARS and Shares. I think it’s a bit late to see much H & W traffic since many shelters now have satellite phones, and cell service is starting to come back. Typically, H & W traffic is critical during the first 0-5 days. After that, you don’t see much. H & W traffic isn’t considered important by the State EOC and they would never dispatch a team solely to provide that service. I believe this practice needs to change. Getting messages out in a timely manner would help prevent people from attempting to come back in to see about loved ones as wells as make it easier for the shelter managers / workers to deal with the people in the shelters. Just my opinion for what it’s worth. Anyway, I get G. or J. to handle the media BS as that’s not my gig. I have definite reservations about the Tallahassee team and one of the Tampa new comers. There are so many different call signs that they are difficult to remember so we utilize tactical call signs. The base is called Hillsborough Base and the mobile name changes depending on its assignment. Whoever is assigned com duties, answers it. At the end of the transmission, we do utilize the ham calls but it’s impossible for the shelter runners to only call for one call sign since that individual may be doing something else. We’ll have to teach them I guess. We maintain all radio communications for the Hancock EOC during our stay here. Ice is more difficult to find here than other areas. Fuel isn’t readily available here either. We’ve had one shelter ask for diesel fuel three times and not receive any for their generator. Supplies here aren’t as plentiful. This is a newer site; hopefully they’ll fix this problem. The Tallahassee group brought some Red Cross radios to deploy to the shelters but they forgot the antennas. We whipped up some dipoles. We cut the wire and I taped it and the coax to PCV pipe sections (we stole from the Tallahassee group) to keep the wire straight. We’ll install these as verticals on location. The Tallahassee people didn’t trust us to check the radios out so they took them to the Motorola Trailer to have the Motorola tech check them out. They then brought 2 of the radios back to deploy to the existing 2 shelters. Unfortunately, the base at the Motorola trailer couldn’t talk to the shelters. They claimed that it must be my antennas that were the problem. We found some diesel fuel for the one shelter whose generator was out of fuel (we happen to see some 5 gallon cans set in a trailer marked diesel – we’re not sure what happened to them, they just disappeared…..) and G. took them to the shelter. With the generator up, both shelters could talk to each other, but not the base. We took the third radio, made another antenna which we put up at our base, and attempted to call the shelters. We had great communications with the shelters! Hmmm I guess the super duper software configured radio Motorola had wasn’t working properly. Imagine that! But of course, I don’t know shit about radios! We call our camp here “Shanty Town” since it consists of plywood back to keep the rain out and what looks like a tarp for the roof. All of our systems work and we have good communications with all parties we’ve been tasked to talk too. Another ham found our simplex frequency used for our teams local communication and started asking for us to move messages on that one. He was at the senior center – and we were happy to help him. We were full filling our mission. 9/7/05 It’s 0630 and we’re up and beginning our day. The ESF-2 Chief comes by and tells us he’d like to move the communications from the old Hancock EOC to the Votech School where the new Hancock EOC is being housed. He told us to find a suitable spot inside to locate the equipment and wants us to erect the necessary antennas. The old EOC got wet and is not in a safe area. We check into MARS and SHARES and split up to perform our task. The guy currently manning the old EOC is a bit squirrelly – he had a rough time and lost everything during the hurricane. They also hope to take the old low power FM station that’s located there and pump up the power. They have a bunch of portable FM receivers to pass out to the residents of Hancock County. They want to communicate to the locals this way. G. is going to work on that while F. , J. L, and I go and secure the items we need from the old EOC to rebuild in here. P. and I. are manning the communications. We get to the old EOC and the guy doesn’t want to give up any of the radios. Last night he was in favor of it but today he isn’t. F. steps in (he has the patience of Job), and finally convinces him to release some radios and coax. Extra coax is in short supply – we also secured one dual band antenna. We had the requirement for a 40 meter dipole, 80 meter dipole, VHF, Dual band VHF/UHF, and the Red Cross 47mhz unit. We had appropriated 2 HF Radios, a dual band Yaesu, and a Business VHF unit. We had 1 dual band antenna and 2 runs of coax. Not near enough to complete the mission so it was back to scrounging. The motto we used was to adapt and overcome. I. proved to be a great asset. I had asked him to find someone who could build me 2 supports for the HF antennas. I explained what I was looking for and he went to the wood shop and put it together along with Mike from the new Tampa area crew. He did a great job building them. J. L. and I went on the roof and decided where and how we were going to place the antennas. I built a 40 and 80 meter dipole, and we removed the Red Cross antenna we installed along with the VHF antenna we were using for local communications. We installed those on the roof and ran the coaxes inside to the school office where we setup the coms for the new EOC. G. and I. ran the inside coaxes – I came in the EOC to find Gary inside of the ceiling. Fred set up the operating position and by 1430, we had the EOC up. The State ESF-2 guy, (R****), came and told us we needed to deploy the EDICS, since Manantee county was leaving and taking their equipment. By the way, if anyone asks about the fence around the daycare, we know nothing. At 1500 with camp still left to strike, we started deploying the EDICS with the help of the other area teams. (another team had shown up though I don’t know their source) It was deployed and ready to energize by 1930. Since we didn’t have the actual EDICS trailer, we didn’t have a generator either, so we had to find a long extension cord to power it up. We washed up for dinner figuring we’d find an extension cord afterward. At dinner, we had rice and chicken again, damn! Boss Hog heard J. and I complain about having the same fair as yesterday and told us no, if we had looked carefully, he had red sauce with it today. Yuk! After dinner, we broke camp with the help of M. and D. ; no more “Shanty Town”. I believe G. came up with the extension cord and he and I went to power the EDICS up. We powered it up and connected the two units that they needed cross connected. Our mission was complete. We found that the mobile shower unit was operational and nothing, well almost nothing, could have felt better than that hot shower. Despite the sunburn I got from being on the EOC roof most of the day, the hot water felt great. Finally, it’s 2230 and bed time. We went to the room we commandeered to sleep. Bones, (this was the nurses room and there was a skeleton in it) watched over us for the last time. 9/8/05 it’s 0630 and time to get up. I left a thank you note on the nurse’s daily planner and we made sure her office was setup like it was when we arrived. We finished breaking camp, ate breakfast, said our goodbyes, and left. D. from the other group kept the same hours as us, M. woke up just before we left, and gadget boy Joe was still sawing logs (figuratively) when we left. Shanty Town real-estate must have been valuable, for “claim jumpers” or “squatters” had already moved in before we left. That’s all behind us now; we’ve got to stop at our old stomping grounds in Mississippi to refuel before proceeding home. On the drive home, the fire rescue vehicle developed some kind of leak – I suspect the rear differential and spewed oil all over our windshield. I think we were all praying it would make the journey home. We stopped at a Wendy’s for greasy hamburger, French fries, and a frosty. We arrive home at 1900 hours and were met by several members of the TARC club, L. from the EOC, and the news media. Personal comments: We had a great team where all members seem to compliment each other. G. was our front man who dealt with the bureaucracy and meetings. He with P. dealt with the media requests. P. knew how to keep a crowd. When the media wanted info, he could keep it going. He helped gather and send traffic, manned the coms while we were putting together the EOC, and helped us maintain our sense of humor. F. was the calmest of us all; at least he appeared to be. He worked hard, and never complained. He’d surprise us with humor from time to time. He made most of the shelter runs and installed the Red Cross radios / antennas at each. J. L. was very resourceful. I think both of us taught each other tricks of the trade while there. Other than complaining about the lack of a pillow and towel, he worked hard, brought a nice com box, provided HF Email, and helped a lot with the antenna placement at the new EOC. Ian was a surprise to me. I had never had the pleasure of meeting him and I was concerned about a 70 year old man keeping pace with us. He did great – always ready to pitch in, humorous, and resourceful. He maintained his cherry attitude despite adverse conditions. There wasn’t anyone on our team that I’d replace should we do this again. Summary: I pondered on the question, “did we make a difference” shortly before leaving. It’s difficult to view this objectively when you’re so immersed in the operation. After discussing this with the team, I came to the conclusion that we did make a difference in some of these peoples lives. We passed over 100 H & W messages with over 129 deliveries – these messages mostly brought joy and comfort to both the sender and the recipient. We helped the CAP director get his antennas repaired, cleaned some of the downed tree from his roof, and left him with an additional 10 gallons of fuel and Ice. Not to mentioned I rediscovered an old friend. We setup a COM base at Stennis Airport where we passed a few pieces of H & W traffic, relayed numerous needs messages, and provided diesel fuel when the system didn’t work. Finally, we relocated the Hancock EOC to the Hancock Votech center. That included extracting radios from the old EOC and relocating them at the Votech center. We installed 5 different antennas there utilizing much of our own resources and finally, we deployed the EDICS. While at Stennis, we operated as net control on a VHF Simplex frequency and for the Red Cross Shelters. Yes, I think we made a difference. Would we do it again? I think I can speak for us all… you betcha! Footnote: We operated / monitored MARS during net times both Night and Day and SHARES all day. By the time we got word that we could have dumped traffic with out the proper headers on the MARS frequencies, most of the H & W traffic had dried up. I explained to the Head of the Hillsborough EOC that to do this right, we should have jump teams available (ready to deploy) when we see anything greater that a cat 2 storm coming in. As soon as the storm is past, they should be deployed. H & W traffic is extremely important during the first 5 days. After 5 days, there are portable cell sites up and most traffic is sent that way. I also think that MARS should have a standing rule that during ANY EMERGENCY, where communications are down, we should take any traffic, regardless if it contains the proper header info. The TARC people did a lot of internet work to see that all of these messages were passed. Danny J. Conner AFA2YR / AFD2MC ASMD Florida |
