[General] Quick update on the tornadoes.

[Erik Arendall]

I would like to personally thank you for all that you and your fellow hams
have done to help during this disaster.
I would also like to take a moment to motivate all the licensed ham radio
operators out there to get active in a local club and in the event of
another time such as this, we will be prepared.

I got caught in the first storm that hit the Hanceville area on wed morning
and having the scanner in the car and tuned to the local RACES/ARES net on
N4TUN helped prepare me for it.
I feel that I could have done more to help out the Cullman area when the
second line of storms hit if i would have first had a radio to use and
second had the experience to handle EMCOMM. This is an issue I am going to
resolve and not let happen again.

Get involved and when Justin gets the shop a shack setup, maybe that can
become a local RACES/ARES net.

Erik Arendall
KJ4YJC

On Mon, May 2, 2011 at 10:36 PM, Justin Richards <ratmandu at gmail.com> wrote:

> I was working radio communications and coordinating about 200 volunteers on
> sunday helping to clean up an area hit by an EF4 tornado. KJ4SVL and I
> (KJ4WTR) were the main communication at this site, getting water, food and
> supplies (tarps, nails, tools, ladders, chainsaws, heavy equipment, etc) out
> to the people volunteering. Nobody here knew any of the homeowners, but that
> didnt stop anyone from helping out. The American Red Cross was out helping
> the homeowners get things they needed, such as clothes, and a place to
> sleep. Outback steakhouse was out cooking food for the volunteers and the
> homeowners.
>
> Just as an FYI, the red cross needs blood, and any donations of
> non-perishable food, medical supplies, money, or clothing. If you want to
> know where to take these, contact me.
>
> Ive also put about 600 miles on my bike driving around spotting gas
> stations, pharmacies, grocery stores and banks and reporting those in over
> the radio so the information could be distributed to local media and the
> general public.
>
> I also want to thank all the local hams for their awesome work in both
> storm spotting and the cleanup effort. Their work saved many lives on
> wednesday by passing information about storms to the national weather
> service, and has been making many more lives better by helping the families
> clean up, as well as staffing medical clinics and getting needed supplies,
> including insulin and tetanus vaccine where it needs to be.
>
> Thank you HARC, NARA, North Alabama ARES/RACES, and VOAD for all the hard
> work and support, as well as WX4JRR, WX4HUN, W4HMC, and all the others for
> the great work on the radio.
>
>  Heres a link to the area: http://goo.gl/maps/m6v0
>
>  Heres a link to images from the cleanup site:
> http://ratmandu.imgur.com/tornado_damage
>
> Doris drive is where I was stationed.
>
> I will be putting together a ham radio class at the shop if anyone is
> interested in getting into the hobby. It is a great thing to get into, both
> for good conversation, and for helping the community in times of disaster.
> If you are interested in the class, or just amateur radio in general, let me
> know. I will also put together a presentation for this friday's 2600
> meeting. As some of you may know, there are already several members at the
> shop who are ham radio operators. And I will be putting together a small ham
> shack at the shop that any licensed operator can use, as well as filing with
> the FCC to get a club callsign.
>
> Thats all for now, feel free to pass this as needed and get the word out
> about donations to anyone that can help.
>
>
>
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>
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