Amateur Radio Emergency Preparedness

Kansas City news station KMBC9 reporter Brenda Washington interviews Chet Hallberg about the role amateur radio plays in emergency communications. Specifically, they focus on communications after a large earthquake on the New Madrid fault. In the second part, Chet shows off one of the American Red Cross Disaster Relief vehicles. He goes on to explain the different kinds of equipment in the vehicle and how it has been used recently with the flooding in Arkansas. There is also a mention (plug!) for SkyWarn in the Kansas City area and amateur radio uses with the National Weather Service in times of severe weather. Capture & encode by Bill Kellogg, WD0DXK

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Chet
• Hallberg
• K0TCB
• WD0DXK
• amateur
• radio
• ham
• American
• Red
• Cross
• Kansas
• City
• disaster
• readiness

[cifn2]

great support for Ham Radio that station deserves a pat on the back for their support!

[VictoreCelia]

Good video...

[agentgibbs1162]

I need to get my Swan 500 repaired and get an antenna. Need to make makeshift mast or such, just enough to get decent signals.73 de Steve (N7KOA) in Missoula,MT

[agentgibbs1162]

I need to get my Swan 500 repaired and get an antenna. Need to make makeshift mast or such, just enough to get decent signals

[royalkreationz]

@videovaultault I am a ham set up for emergency situations. My qualifications are 12 years of law enforcement, and I simultaneously served 1.5 years as a volunteer EMT and 3 years as a volunteer fire fighter. Hams also attend SkyWarn training with the NWS. There are many services offered by hams when communications go down. Check with your local emergency personnel and see how many of them know how to get their communications back up and running in case of failure.

[jillybooty]

@denelson83 Its the news. they prolly just pulled that number out of their asses :P

[WolfyJ]

@videovaultault A few months down the road but why not, all HAM operators have been certified by the FCC and a majority of them are also apart of the emergency system to begin with.

[denelson83]

260,000 hams in the US? There are actually more than 720,000.

[stratserve]

I have a tremendous amout of respect for individuals like these operators. Good job Chet!

[dithbmine1]

typical empty headed liberal news

[ke4jsx]

Videovaultault, ham operators become the communication link for the professional rescuers/ firefighters. We understand how to connect with each other and will have hams at each fire dept and rescue squad. Great video and cool truck!

[SupremeRulahXenu]

@videovaultault In case you had actually watched the video, you'd have heard them say that they do have training exercises. They typically set up radios in fire stations, Red Cross shelters and emergency command posts. Some of the emergency workers are ham radio operators too.