The reporter doesn't have a clue.
The Motorola guy should know better.

--------------------------------------------------------------



By *CHRISTOPHER RHOADS*
*Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL*
September 6, 2005; Page A19

MONROE, La. -- In a shelter here, 300 miles north of New Orleans, Theo=20
McDaniel took his plight to a young man fiddling with a clunky,=20
outdated-looking radio.

Mr. McDaniel, a 25-year-old barber, had evacuated New Orleans with his=20
wife and two small children more than a week ago and since then had had=20
no contact with his brother or his aunt. The last he heard, his 42-year-
old aunt was clinging to her roof.

"We've got to get a message down there to help them," he said. The man=20
at the radio sent the information to the emergency-operations center=20
across town, which relayed it to rescue units in New Orleans. Later in=20
the weekend, Mr. McDaniel learned that food and water were on the way to=20
his trapped brother and his brother's young family. He had heard nothing=20
about his aunt.

With Hurricane Katrina having knocked out nearly all the high-end=20
emergency communications gear, 911 centers, cellphone towers and normal=20
fixed phone lines in its path, ham-radio operators have begun to fill=20
the information vacuum. "Right now, 99.9% of normal communications in=20
the affected region is nonexistent," says David Gore, the man operating=20
the ham radio in the Monroe shelter. "That's where we come in."

In an age of high-tech, real-time gadgetry, it's the decidedly unsexy=20
ham radio -- whose technology has changed little since World War II --=20
that is in high demand in ravaged New Orleans and environs. The Red=20
Cross issued a request for about 500 amateur radio operators -- known as=20
"hams" -- for the 260 shelters it is erecting in the area. The American=20
Radio Relay League, a national association of ham-radio operators, has=20
been deluged with requests to find people in the region. The U.S. Coast=20
Guard is looking for hams to help with its relief efforts.

Ham radios, battery operated, work well when others don't in part=20
because they are simple. Each operator acts as his own base station,=20
requiring only his radio and about 50 feet of fence wire to transmit=20
messages thousands of miles. Ham radios can send messages on multiple=20
channels and in myriad ways, including Morse code, microwave frequencies=20
and even email.

Then there are the ham-radio operators themselves, a band of radio=20
enthusiasts who spend hours jabbering with each other even during normal=20
times. They are often the first to get messages in and out of disaster=20
areas, in part because they are everywhere. (The ARRL estimates there=20
are 250,000 licensed hams in the U.S.) Sometimes they are the only=20
source of information in the first hours following a disaster. "No=20
matter how good the homeland-security system is, it will be=20
overwhelmed," says Thomas Leggett, a retired mill worker manning a ham=20
radio in the operations center here. "You don't hear about us, but we=20
are there."

Slidell, a town 30 miles northeast of New Orleans, was directly hit by=20
the hurricane and remains virtually cut off from the outside world. One=20
of the few, if not the only, communications links is Michael King, a=20
retired Navy captain, operating a ham radio out of a Slidell hospital.

"How are you holding up, Mike?" asked Sharon Riviere into a ham-radio=20
microphone at Monroe's operations center. She and her husband, Ron, who=20
is the president of the Slidell ham-radio club, had evacuated before the=20
storm to the home of some fellow ham-radio enthusiasts in Monroe. She=20
said Mr. King had been working 20-hour days since the storm hit.

Crackling static and odd, garbled sounds followed her question to Mr.=20
King. Then he replied: "It's total devastation here. I've got 18 feet of=20
water at my house. Johnny's Caf=E9 down there has water up to its roof."

Ms. Riviere asked about her own home, which is not far from Mr. King's.=20
"It's full of mud," Mr. King replied. "Looks like someone's been=20
slugging it out in there."

Ham radios are often most effective as one link in a chain of=20
communication devices. Early last week, someone trapped with 15 people=20
on a roof of a New Orleans home tried unsuccessfully to get through to a=20
911 center on his cellphone. He was able to call a relative in Baton=20
Rouge, who in turn called another relative, Sybil Hayes, in Broken=20
Arrow, Okla. Ms. Hayes, whose 81-year-old aunt was among those stranded=20
on the New Orleans roof, then called the Red Cross in Broken Arrow,=20
which handed the message to its affiliated ham-radio operator, Ben=20
Joplin.

Via stations in Oregon, Idaho and Louisiana, Mr. Joplin got the message=20
to rescue workers who were able to save the 15 people on the roof,=20
according to the ARRL, based in Newington, Conn. "We are like the Pony=20
Express," says the 26-year-old Mr. Gore, wearing black cowboy boots.=20
"One way or the other, even by hand, we will get you the message."

Mr. Gore, who is in charge of the northeastern district of Louisiana for=20
the Amateur Radio Emergency Service, has spent a lot of time the past=20
week at the Monroe shelter, helping evacuees try to track missing=20
friends and relatives.

Last Monday, Danita Alexander of Violet, La., came to a ham operator in=20
the Monroe shelter asking about her 96-year-old grandfather, Willie=20
Bright, who had been in a nursing home in New Orleans. The next day, she=20
got word back from a ham operator that he had been safely transferred to=20
a shelter near New Orleans. "We can't do enough of these," says Mark=20
Ketchell, who runs the ARES branch in Monroe.

Nevertheless, the ham-radio community feels under threat. Telecom=20
companies want to deliver broadband Internet connections over power=20
lines, which ham-radio operators say distorts communications in the=20
surrounding area. Since hams are "amateurs," there is little lobbying=20
money to fight such changes, they add.

*The hams also get little respect from telecommunications-equipment=20
companies, such as Motorola Inc. "Something is better than nothing,=20
that's right," says Jim Screeden, who runs all of Motorola's repair=20
teams in the field for its emergency-response business. "But ham radios=20
are pretty close to nothing." Mr. Screeden says ham radios can take a=20
long time to relay messages and work essentially as "party lines," with=20
multiple parties talking at once. Says Mr. Leggett at the Monroe=20
operations center: "We are the unwanted stepchild. But when the s- hits=20
the fan, who are you going to call?"*

*Write to *Christopher Rhoads at =20