EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS

In early October of this year, a video was posted to YouTube that caused a public relations nightmare for several California governmental agencies, the American Radio Relay League and ham radio in general.

The video, starring Robert Brodovsky, K6UDA, of Penryn, California, claims the “State of Kalifornia Endangers Public Removes All Repeaters.” The narrator claims Cal Fire (the nickname for the California Division of Forestry and Fire Protection) was in the process of removing all amateur radio repeaters from its equipment racks statewide, thereby endangering the lives of rural residents of the state. He specifically points out the community of Shingletown, posting a written communication from Cal Fire saying that the repeaters could remain only if the sponsors jumped through a maze