robert casey wrote:
Yes, and hams can handle that low priority stuff to offload
the more important communications links. "I took care of
the mundane boring stuff so the heroes could save the lives"...

Our last hurricane (1992) was a direct hit upon the island of
Kauai. All normal comms between Kauai County and the rest of the
state were wiped out. The ONLY comms between the governor here
in Honolulu and the mayor of Kauai was via amateur radio. Not
only H&W traffic was passed, but more importantly, safety of
life traffic, too.

Amateur radio is part of each county's emergency plan to the point
where ham stations are set up in each police and fire station.
Licensing exams are given regularly to police and firemen. Also,
every hospital has a station.

The state thinks so highly of amateur radio that our statewide
repeater system rides on the state-owned microwave backbone
which connects each county (island).

So, when normal communications go down, all the counties (islands)
of state are neatly tied together via ham radio.

Jeff KH6O
--
Chief Petty Officer, U.S. Coast Guard
Mathematics Lecturer, University of Hawaii System