1998 (I think) I had 12.5 inches of rain at my house on the North end of Madison County, Virginia. At the same time. the other end of the county (the Blue Ridge end), they were having 22.5 inches in less than 12 hours. Within minutes, rivers were full, within a couple of hours they were overflowing their banks, and 128 bridges of Madison County were washed out. Phone lines were gone in about 75 percent of the county. All of the emergency services were located in the town of Madison (pop about 100) and none could get to the flooded areas. All communications services were on the flooded side, and I couldnt get into town because the Rapadan River washed out both ends of both bridges over which US Route 29 ran. I could go North, out of the county (I live on the county line), but could go no further than 3 miles South. The other end of the county was cut off from the South, due to another set of bridges at the county line, being washed out completely. No one could get in or out of the flood area. Emergency personnel, living within the area, all arrived at the Rescue Squad building, but had no phones, and the cellphone system had also lost its landline to centeral so were useless. Two hams lived inside the flood area, and I lived outside, and we had the only communications available for several hours. The Coast Guard arrived with helicopters and started rescue operations, and eventually the emergency services got thier communiations up and going. Without the two hams at the site, there would have been no way to talk to the governor etc. Those two hams are now SK, and I think I am the only HF operator in the county. There is a 2 meter repeater down stream (but up on a hilltop) and it stayed up and operational, so thats it for now. Im retiring in 6 weeks, and then will try to be available to upgrade as I can, the counties backup and hope this doesnt happen again.
So, Yes, we do need to contiue to protect our frequencies, and emerency services are a big reason we can give. We need to exercise our equipment and procedures, and we need to insure those officials responsible for our safety know that we are here "just in case". > > > N7DC - 8 BAND DXCC - Honor Roll - 7 more to Number 1 Ex- WN5QMX WA5UKR ET2US ET3USA SV0WPP VS6DD N7DC/YV5 G5CTB The K3UK DIGITAL MODES SPOTTING CLUSTER AT telnet://208.15.25.196/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/digitalradio/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
