EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
The semi-official amateur radio mantra, “when all else fails,” is a flag that we wave for many reasons. We may need an “in” with an agency, we may be trying for a grant, we might just want to preserve our hobby from legislative or public opinion threats. And it certainly is at the heart of emergency planning in almost every ARRL section and every country in the world. This comes with good reason: Wildfires, hurricanes, typhoons, earthquakes, tsunamis, blizzards, tornados … and the self-explanatory list continues.
We amateur operators can be justifiably proud of our performance in all of the above scenarios. Hams are still the first to be heard from a disaster-stricken area. That is primarily because we should know how to set up a radio on backup power, quickly construct and install a proper antenna, and pass critical messages to the outside world. It is, as they say, what we do.
Hurricane Michael
In general, we do it well. Consider Hurricane Michael in 2018. The first category 5 storm to strike the contiguous U.S. since Andrew in 1992, Michael was the third most intense Atlantic hurricane to strike the U.S. (Photo A). Michael took aim at the Florida Panhandle, and when the 160 MPH storm had moved through, there was virtually nothing left. The storm maintained hurricane strength all the way into Georgia.
