QUOTE FROM THE ARRL WEBSITE

Amateur Radio's Role Gets Favorable Mention in Post-Katrina Report

NEWINGTON, CT, Feb 17, 2006--The Amateur Radio Emergency Service
(ARES), the Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS) and the HF digital
e-mail system Winlink 2000 all got positive mentions in a post-Katrina
report from the US House of Representatives. US Rep Tom Davis (R-VA)
chaired the panel. References to ARES, MARS and Winlink appear in "A
Failure of Initiative"--the final report of the Select Bipartisan
Committee to investigate the preparation for and response to Hurricane
Katrina.

"Like all levels of government," the 364-page report notes, the
National Communication System (NCS), "was not able to address all
aspects of the damage to the communications infrastructure of the Gulf
States."

"Volunteers at the Montgomery, Alabama, Red Cross volunteer
marshaling center--Dave Hyatt, K1DAV of Torrington, and Dave Wilcox,
K1DJW, of New Hartford. Sarratt spent more than a month processing
Amateur Radio volunteers for deployment to the Gulf Coast.

"MARS was cited for its role as part of the Shared Resources High
Frequency Radio Program (SHARES), an emergency federal communication
system put into play when other resources are unavailable. The report
says that "within days" of Katrina's landfall, NCS called upon more
than 430 SHARES stations across the US to, among other things, assist
first responders conducting search-and-rescue missions by relaying
information to government agencies, by relaying logistical and
operational information among FEMA EOCs in Georgia, Mississippi and
Louisiana, and by handling health-and-welfare messages between
volunteer agencies in Georgia and the American Red Cross national
headquarters.

"Additionally, the NCS coordinated the frequencies used by the
nearly 1000 Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) volunteers across
the nation who served in the Katrina stricken area providing
communications for government agencies, the Red Cross and The Salvation
Army," the report continued. "Emergency communications were conducted
not only by voice, but also by high-speed data transmissions using
state-of-the art digital communications software known as Winlink."

The report further noted, "In Mississippi, FEMA dispatched Amateur
Radio operators to hospitals, evacuation centers, and county EOCs to
send emergency messaging 24 hours per day. It further cited comments
from Bay St Louis Mayor Edward A. "Eddie" Favre that Amateur Radio
operators "were especially helpful in maintaining situational awareness
and relaying Red Cross messages to and from the Hancock County
(Mississippi) EOC."

According to the report, radio amateurs at airports in Texas and
Louisiana "tracked evacuees and notified families of their
whereabouts," while the Red Cross "deployed Amateur Radio volunteers at
its 250 shelters and feeding stations, principally in Mississippi,
Alabama and Florida."

The Salvation Army, the report pointed out, operates its own
system of Amateur Radio volunteers known as SATERN (Salvation Army Team
Emergency Radio Network). "During the Hurricane Katrina response and
recovery effort, SATERN joined forces with the SHARES program and
received over 48,000 requests for emergency communications assistance
utilizing federal frequencies made available via the SHARES program,"
the report noted.

"The extent of destruction and damage to the communications
infrastructure and services caused by Katrina exceeded that of any
other natural disaster experienced by the Gulf Coast states," the
report concluded. "Simply put, Katrina's devastation overwhelmed
government resources at all levels."

"A Failure of Initiative" asserted that the loss of power and the
failure at various levels of government "to adequately prepare for the
ensuing and inevitable loss of communications" hindered the hurricane
response "by compromising situational awareness and command and control
operations."

"Despite the devastation left by Katrina, this needn't have been
the case," the report stressed. "Catastrophic disasters may have some
unpredictable consequences, but losing power and the dependent
communications systems after a hurricane should not be one of them."

END QUOTE