I walked the piney woods and hills of East Texas in cold and rain looking for the astronauts and parts of the shuttle Columbia. Ham radio via repeaters was the only way to communicate on a wide scale in that area at that time. Yes, cell phones worked in some areas but would have been a PITA when you wanted a message to all the numerous groups deployed in the woods. The FBI manager directing the effort said, "If we wanted a message to go through, we gave it to the hams."
Right now we are organizing for a communications disaster should a repeat of the Rita evacuation occur in the Houston area. Cell service gets wiped out when 1,000s of people are stuck bumper to bumper on the freeways. The NGOs like United Way and the Food Bank do not want to allocate their resources toward developing communications capabilities. They will provide stations. We provide the people. Rud Merriam K5RUD ARES AEC Montgomery County, TX http://TheHamNetwork.net So I'll ask the folks on this list what have you contributed to amateur radio at all, much less public service? Besides help us understand every possible interpretations of various part 97? :-)
