ARRL President Submits Congressional Testimony on Hams' Katrina Response
NEWINGTON, CT, Sep 15, 2005--ARRL President Jim Haynie, W5JBP, has provided
written testimony on Amateur Radio's response in the Hurricane Katrina
disaster to the US House Government Reform Committee. Haynie submitted the
testimony to the congressional panel today "on the successful efforts of
Amateur Radio operators providing communications for first responders,
disaster relief agencies and countless individuals in connection with the
Hurricane Katrina relief effort" on behalf of the League.

"As has been proven consistently and repeatedly in the past, when
communications systems fail due to a wide-area or localized natural
disaster, Amateur Radio works, right away, all the time," Haynie's statement
said. "This report is not, therefore, a statement of concern about what must
be changed or improved. It is, rather, a report on what is going right, and
what works, in emergency communications in the Gulf Coast and what can be
depended on to work the next time there is a natural disaster, and the times
after that."

The congressional committee, chaired by Virginia Republican Tom Davis, is
holding hearings on the Hurricane Katrina response. Haynie told the panel
that upward of 1000 Amateur Radio volunteers were or have been serving in
the stricken area to provide communication for served agencies such as the
American Red Cross and The Salvation Army and to facilitate interoperability
among agencies.

"Trained volunteer Amateur Radio operators are also providing
health-and-welfare communications from within the affected area to the rest
of the United States and the world," Haynie said. "In the past week, the
Coast Guard, the Red Cross, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency all
put out calls for volunteer Amateur Radio operators to provide
communications, because phone lines and cell sites were inoperative, and
public safety communications facilities were overwhelmed due to loss of
repeater towers and the large number of first responders in the area."

Haynie pointed out that the main reason Amateur Radio works when other
communication systems fail during natural disasters is that it's not
infrastructure-dependent and is decentralized. "Amateurs are trained in
emergency communications. They are disciplined operators, and their stations
are, in general, portable and reliable," he told the panel.

The ARRL President also put in a good word for the FCC's Enforcement Bureau
for what he called "its efficient and successful efforts" during the
hurricane response in monitoring HF nets to minimize incidents of
interference.

"The Committee should be aware that this vast volunteer resource is always
at the disposal of the federal government," Haynie concluded. "The United
States absolutely can rely on the Amateur Radio Service. Amateur Radio
provides immediate, high-quality communications that work every time, when
all else fails."