From: jab0684@usl.edu (Boudreaux Jean A)
Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.misc
Subject: Greetings From the Front Line
Date: 4 Sep 92 08:12:40 GMT
Organization: University of Southwestern Louisiana

Greetings from Hurricane Land, Lafayette Louisiana.
Well we managed to survive quite well here, after the storm ravaged
New Iberia and St Martinville to our south it detoured into the
Atchafalaya Basin(world's largest swamp), where it has killed Millions
of fish.  Millions more are expected to die due to screwed up water
levels.  Though Lafayette was largely spared, sustaing only about 70-80
mph sustained winds, with gusts in the 90's, which is pretty mild 
by our standards.  New Iberia 20 miles south of us recorded
winds gusts to 160 mph!  The guy on the radio sending that bit of
info could hardly believe it himself.  Thanks to the Iberia Groups
sound planning, their repeater stayed on the air for the duration of
the storm.  It's on a hardened 100 foot tower, and has a hardened antenna.

Well this is basically how things went in terms of Emergency Communications
I will speak mostly of VHF(2 meters) cause that is what I was involved 
with.  Hams all over the storm area were posted at local Hospitals(like me)
and all of the Relief Centers.  The Lafayatte Parish Emergency Operations
Center(EOC), basically formed the hub of communications and info. 
during the storm for south Louisiana.  Though the other Parishes had
their own repeaters and EOC's, the bigger Lafayette center served as
a central clearing house for info.  The other centers would regurlarly
check in w/Lafayette, and pass along any info.  The Lafayette EOC
would in turn pass along info from all the areas to us in the Lafayette
area, and the National Media who were stationed in the EOC.  Our 
repeaters in Laf. were also well constructed and both club repeaters
remained on the air throughout the storm.  We turned one of our repeaters
over to the Red Cross for their use(146.82), and used the other for
communicating with hams, and the other EOC's(147.21).

Lessons Learned:

VHF propagations can be highly affected/degraded by intense storm 
activity and rain.  Many of us using HT's with stock rubber duckies had
to 'pick just the right spot' in our buildings to transmit.  So next
time we will make sure to have a more adequate antenna on hand, such
as a 1/2 wave mag mount.  Although the local cellular companies
generously donated many phones for use during the storm, according
to one ham in New Iberia "They were the most useless thing we had."
The storm knocked out the cellular towers in the affected areas
fairly early on in the storm.  On a positive note, hats off to
Ma Bell, phone communications remained unaffected almost everywhere,
even in demolished buildings and neighborhoods, the phone still worked.
Hams were particularly important at the relief centers, because
these places(often high schools) don't usually have phones, or not
accessable phones.  Hams in the centers would relay info to the
EOC who in turn passed it along to the red cross about number
of refugees in the centers, needs for food/water etc.
In one center ham radio has literally SAVED someones LIFE.
An individual had a heart attack, and the ham in the center was the only
communication to the outside world.  An ambulance was dispatched
with a rescue crew, who had a harrowing experience themselves, but
all are currently alive(Full story in an upcoming issue of QST).


The Lafayette High School Relief Center had a real big scare during
the storm.  The fire department was dispatched, and Civil Defense prepared
to evacuate the WHOLE center(I think at least 600 people) using city
busses in the middle of the storm.  Smoke begin streaming through the
center, causing the concern.  The problem was traced to a burning out
A/C motor, and the evacuation cancelled before it was begun.

Personal Notes:

Being a new ham(ticket in hand for less than 2mths), it was certainluy
thrilling for me to be directly involved in emergency communications
so soon.  I was very impressed with the professionalism shown on the
ham bands, which was, at the least, equal to that of police channels.
We will be having a meeting to discuss problems/solutions, for all those
who were involved in the storm.  I'll try to summarize and post the
important points from this meeting as soon as we hold it.

Lastly, anyone wishing specific info about our operations or damage
received by a certain area, feel free to email me at:

jean@usl.edu

73's

DE KB5UDF