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Winlink During Hurricane "Marty"When everything else fails - there's Winlink
Hurricane "Marty" hit the Baja Gulf area in Mexico. Normal communication systems broke down and Winlink came to the rescue. Read the hurried and brief report by Mike (KE6SAM) below: QUOTE "Hurricane Marty came through La Paz and up the Baja with winds up to
113 knots, destroying Marina De La Paz and Marina Abaroa, Sept 21/22, 2003. Over
100 boats suffered serious damage and over 20 sank. We had internet and phone
service for the first few hours after the storm had passed but as it moved up
the Baja peninsular it took out the fiber optic cable that keeps us connected
with the rest of the world. Thanks once again, Mike KE6SAM P.S. We have two major disturbances to the south and so if possible don't switch off the extra time as yet. Keep hope they will go up the outside of the Baja!" UNQUOTE QUOTE "Just a note to let you and the Winlink team how much we appreciate
and use the weather reports we obtain from the catalog. Here in the Sea of
Cortez we have had four named storms which have been of concern to us; Ignacio,
Marty, Nora and Olaf. Fortunately only Marty has made it up to where we were and
it didn't behave as predicted but took a major left turn and came right into the
area where we and four other boats we anchored. 73 de Rich - WB6EEE" UNQUOTE Amateur Radio played a supporting role. The American Red Cross much appreciated the assistance provided during Isabel. Six million people were without power in the mid-Atlantic region both several hams were able to remain on the air. The Salvation Army acknowledges the help supplied by radio amateurs maintaining contact between operation centers and mobile food services. Several other amateur radio nets were assisting in the affected states. Bermuda was ravaged by Hurricane Fabian. Hams there used makeshift antennas and battery power to remain on the air when the storm approached, struck the area and than moved on. Bermuda authorities praised the local amateur radio service because they became the main channel for communications between Bermuda and the rest of the world. It all adds up to the value of amateur radio as an auxiliary resource during natural and other disasters. The moral of these stories is that radio amateur operators, including Winlink, provided splendid public service during times of need. The message of these stories is that a strong amateur radio service in Australia, supporting both voice and digital communications, possibly, using Winlink interconnected with WICEN (Wireless Institute Civil Emergency Network), would be a positive asset during times of natural and other disasters. A hurricane by any other name, like "Typhoon" in Asia or "Cyclone" in Australia are potentially all equally deadly. AussieWinlink
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