Evening star., 1936-03-29

reclamation RetClng unQeT way, the
radio amateurs are taking well-earned
rests away from their stations
though some are still maintaining reg
ular vigils-and from various quarters
are now coming suggestions that
badges Of courage of some sort be
awarded them by President Roosevelt
for the incalculable services they
rendered in maintaining emergency
communications in and from the flood
areas when all other avenues of con-
tact with the outside world were
washed out.
1t is still too early to estimate with
any degree of precision the exact
accomplishments of the individual
'hams," as they are affectionately
known among the radio craft, OF the
10000 or more American amateur sta
tions, operated chiefly by youngsters
as a hobby with the encouragement
of their Government, it is estimated
that two to three hundred went into
emergency service during the floods
which ragged through the various
States. Tales of individual heroiSm are
being heard aplenty, and some occa-
sional criticisms for alleged amateur
broadcasts of false reports-but by and
large the deeds of the amateurs are
winning fullsome paeans from the
Army, Navy, Red Cross, State officials
and others whom they aided.
GENERALLY, the work of the anna
teurs consisted of handling official
and unofficial communications out OF
the fiood-stricken areas to and from
Washington military radio centers, to
Red Cross headquarters and field
units, to Governors Offices, to radio
stations, to newspapers and to friends
and relatives of people in the distress
districts. The hams" used both their
radiotelephone and radiotelegraph in
struments, depending upon which got
through better.
It was Tuesday night, March II, and
from then on, that the dread @ r r
began to echo through the amateur
radio lanes. Johnstown was flooded
and the food looked worse than the
one of more than generation ago
came the report from DR.. Joseph VAN
cheri, amateur operator of W8BWH
Punxsutawney, Pa. For 36 continuous
hours DR.. Vancheri stuck to his post
relaying messages to and from the
stricken area, until he collapsed from
fatigue On the night of March l8 his
radiophone messages, without his
knowing it, were picked up in Phila-
delphia and relayed to an ave-
stricken audience tuned in to coast
forecast network.
DR.. Vancheri may go down in his
tory as the greatest amateur hero OF
the 1886 floods, though other ham
operators, most of them younger hob
byists, we're quick to leap into the
breach as the waters began to rise
throughout Pennsylvania, New York
Maryland, the District of Columbia
and New England. Station after sta
ton got on the air from this or that
point as the flood waters were iso-
lating whole communicated it was
their messages that enabled the Red
Cross and other relief workers to di-
rect their services in proper directions
INDICATING how sensitive are the
radio short waves, which many
owners of so-called "all-wave" radios
were able to tune in directly in the
comfort of their homes, was the
@ S T that had to be sent out to al
amateur stations in the non-f1oodeo
areas to "lay off" so that their col
leagues may have clear wave lengths
According to advices from the Amer
lean Radio Relay Leagues headquar-
ters at Hartford, where the boss
hams" themselves were working day
and night as a control center until the
waters began to creep upon their own
station, it was actually necessary to
send a message to an amateur in Ger
many to demand that he stop sending
because his station was interfering
with a Johnstown contact! He CO.
operated Immediately, of course.
Amateurs have been charged with
sending out the false report of the
Johnstown Dam break, but no one
has been able to verify this charge
In view of the still confused situation
as this was being written. Those who
tuned in the amateur waves may have
heard DR.. Vancheri's burst of temper
when a Baltimore amateur asked him
for information for the Army about
Pittsburgh's condition, and the good
doctor, seeing so much havoc being
wrought around him, replied:
"Johnstown has been without food
or shelter for "a hours. What's the
matter with the Army authorities
doing something about them? It!
most important that relief be sent t.
Johnstown." Then the doctor advised
what road was open, and shortly
thereafter the relief moved in anc
supplies came by truck and airplane
DR.. vANcHER1. of course, was no'
the only amateur working out o.
the Pennsylvania flood areas, but ap'
parently he was the first. According
to the A. r. r. L., the greatest COM
t1endation Is also due Gerald D. Cole
man, WSFRC, Johnstown, whose sta.