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It's him radio Good evening, everyone. 00:01:42.420 --> 00:01:46.159 It's HamTalk Live, episode number 89, or the 00:01:46.159 --> 00:01:50.680 Puerto Rico disaster communications trip with 00:01:50.680 --> 00:01:54.680 Val in V9L, recorded live on Thursday, November 00:01:54.680 --> 00:02:00.219 9th, 2017. I'm your host, Neil Rapp, WB9VPG, 00:02:00.239 --> 00:02:04.000 and thanks for tuning in to this episode of HamTalk 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:06.950 Live. Tonight we're joined by Val Hotsfeld in 00:02:06.950 --> 00:02:10.750 V9L, and we'll take your calls live in a few 00:02:10.750 --> 00:02:13.909 minutes. Last week here on the show, Don Greenbaum, 00:02:13.930 --> 00:02:16.990 N1DG, was here to talk about the Baker Island 00:02:16.990 --> 00:02:19.770 De -Expedition, and if you missed that, check 00:02:19.770 --> 00:02:24.169 it out over at HamTalkLive .com or on a podcasting 00:02:24.169 --> 00:02:28.569 app like Stitcher or Apple Podcasts, iHeart Podcasts, 00:02:28.610 --> 00:02:31.069 Google Play, TuneIn, SoundCloud. We're also over 00:02:31.069 --> 00:02:34.460 on YouTube. so you can check those out whenever 00:02:34.460 --> 00:02:39.060 you can. So after a while we will take your calls. 00:02:39.180 --> 00:02:40.860 I'll go ahead and give you the phone number, 00:02:40.900 --> 00:02:44.080 but we're not ready for calls just yet. It's 00:02:44.080 --> 00:02:50.500 812 -NET -HAM -1. That's 812 -638 -4261. Or you 00:02:50.500 --> 00:02:53.740 can Skype us. We're HamTalk Live on Skype. You 00:02:53.740 --> 00:02:57.360 can also tweet us. Our Twitter handle is at HamTalk 00:02:57.360 --> 00:03:00.240 Live, so you can reach us that way. And we're 00:03:00.240 --> 00:03:02.120 going to talk to Val for a little bit first, 00:03:02.139 --> 00:03:05.590 and then... We'll take some questions from you 00:03:05.590 --> 00:03:10.449 all, so hope to talk to you and interact with 00:03:10.449 --> 00:03:13.409 you tonight. We're on the air every Thursday 00:03:13.409 --> 00:03:16.669 night, 9 p .m. Eastern Time, right here at HamTalkLive 00:03:16.669 --> 00:03:19.330 .com. And check us out on Facebook, Twitter, 00:03:19.590 --> 00:03:21.509 and Instagram. And we're just about, I think, 00:03:21.569 --> 00:03:25.789 10 away from a thousand on Facebook, so be sure 00:03:25.789 --> 00:03:29.740 to like us over on Facebook. Well, Valerie NV9L 00:03:29.740 --> 00:03:33.099 is with us tonight. She is originally from Wisconsin 00:03:33.099 --> 00:03:36.719 and now resides in Illinois. Val is a co -host 00:03:36.719 --> 00:03:40.719 on the video podcast Ham Nation, where she usually 00:03:40.719 --> 00:03:44.099 contributes information about DXing and contesting. 00:03:44.939 --> 00:03:47.259 Valerie is one of the most noted YLs in the hobby 00:03:47.259 --> 00:03:50.000 and spends most of her weekends on the air working 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:54.020 contests, along with her fiance, Jerry WB9Z. 00:03:54.539 --> 00:03:57.759 She's a member of many DX and contesting clubs 00:03:57.759 --> 00:04:01.860 and an ARRL volunteer examiner She's also been 00:04:01.860 --> 00:04:04.300 the North American pilot station for Amsterdam 00:04:04.300 --> 00:04:11.159 Island back in 2014 Wake Island in 2013 and Swain 00:04:11.159 --> 00:04:16.160 Island in 2012 and I believe Buve is coming up 00:04:16.160 --> 00:04:19.519 here soon that she'll be piloting as well Besides 00:04:19.519 --> 00:04:23.379 her ham radio obsession. She enjoys camping traveling 00:04:23.379 --> 00:04:25.819 hiking fishing, bowling, gardening, and baking 00:04:25.819 --> 00:04:30.160 if she has time left over to do all that. And 00:04:30.160 --> 00:04:32.220 just a couple of weeks ago she returned from 00:04:32.220 --> 00:04:35.680 Puerto Rico where she was working on a team doing 00:04:35.680 --> 00:04:38.620 some disaster communication. So Val, thanks for 00:04:38.620 --> 00:04:41.600 coming back on HamTalk Live. Well, thanks for 00:04:41.600 --> 00:04:45.459 having me, Neil. Glad to be back. Were you ever 00:04:45.459 --> 00:04:47.500 in radio broadcasting or something? You've got 00:04:47.500 --> 00:04:52.759 that great radio voice. I was, yes. It was kind 00:04:52.759 --> 00:04:55.759 of a temporary gig, but I did a few years of 00:04:55.759 --> 00:04:59.319 that. That's actually when I wanted to start 00:04:59.319 --> 00:05:02.660 doing talk radio and instead it was country. 00:05:03.839 --> 00:05:08.060 It was playing country music. If I would play 00:05:08.060 --> 00:05:12.689 the song backwards, I would get my dog back, 00:05:12.949 --> 00:05:15.689 the truck would start running again. The sun 00:05:15.689 --> 00:05:18.129 would come out. Yeah, the sun would come out. 00:05:18.610 --> 00:05:23.050 My wife came back and everything was great. So 00:05:23.050 --> 00:05:26.889 yeah, I did the broadcasting thing for a while 00:05:26.889 --> 00:05:31.740 and it was fun, but I didn't stay in it. Me too. 00:05:31.860 --> 00:05:35.180 I was on WGFA, World's Greatest Farming Area. 00:05:35.519 --> 00:05:38.019 So a lot of farm reports and soil temperatures 00:05:38.019 --> 00:05:41.379 and rain gauge reports. There we go. There we 00:05:41.379 --> 00:05:46.879 go. We had a guy that did the hog reports. It 00:05:46.879 --> 00:05:51.519 kind of reminds me of Les Nessman on WKRP. We 00:05:51.519 --> 00:05:57.069 had this guy that did Gary Truitt. It's about 00:05:57.069 --> 00:05:59.209 time to watch that episode to always have to 00:05:59.209 --> 00:06:02.310 watch that one right before Thanksgiving, but 00:06:02.310 --> 00:06:06.509 there was this guy Gary Truitt who would always 00:06:06.509 --> 00:06:11.509 do the hog reports and We would always run those 00:06:11.509 --> 00:06:20.310 Okay, all right, I'll get through it Well, we're 00:06:20.310 --> 00:06:22.810 here to talk a little bit about the the Puerto 00:06:22.810 --> 00:06:27.180 Rico trip and this was a really unique opportunity. 00:06:29.000 --> 00:06:33.060 So, first of all, you've been on, of course, 00:06:33.180 --> 00:06:35.379 Ham Nation talking about this, and there's been 00:06:35.379 --> 00:06:38.120 some shows that have been talking about this, 00:06:38.180 --> 00:06:41.199 and one of the things that you talked about was 00:06:41.199 --> 00:06:43.920 how you applied for the position. I wanted to 00:06:43.920 --> 00:06:48.379 go a little deeper with that and how the selection 00:06:48.379 --> 00:06:50.879 process took place, whatever you know about that, 00:06:50.879 --> 00:06:54.019 but you said you actually applied for this in 00:06:54.019 --> 00:06:59.110 your car? Well, we were at CEDCO, W4DXCC down 00:06:59.110 --> 00:07:00.990 in Pigeon Forge that weekend. We were in the 00:07:00.990 --> 00:07:03.050 car driving back Sunday and I saw that they had 00:07:03.050 --> 00:07:05.589 posted they were looking for volunteers. And 00:07:05.589 --> 00:07:08.509 I was just on the heels of volunteering. My son 00:07:08.509 --> 00:07:11.670 and I went down for Hurricane Harvey doing small 00:07:11.670 --> 00:07:15.410 animal rescue and I kind of got hooked. And so, 00:07:15.430 --> 00:07:17.769 when I saw that, I asked Jerry if I could go 00:07:17.769 --> 00:07:22.209 and he said, sure. So, I applied in the car Sunday 00:07:22.209 --> 00:07:25.500 afternoon. probably somewhere between Tennessee 00:07:25.500 --> 00:07:31.399 and Illinois. And I led with my ICS certs and 00:07:31.399 --> 00:07:35.220 my ARIES training and just different things like 00:07:35.220 --> 00:07:38.600 that that were pertinent to the mission, my wind 00:07:38.600 --> 00:07:42.560 link knowledge. And the next morning, Monday 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:45.500 morning, I get a call from Mike Corey at the 00:07:45.500 --> 00:07:49.759 ARRL. He kind of did a phone screening. and kind 00:07:49.759 --> 00:07:51.720 of just kind of went over some of those things 00:07:51.720 --> 00:07:56.339 you know and you know can I do this can I do 00:07:56.339 --> 00:07:59.300 that and all that and so I must have passed the 00:07:59.300 --> 00:08:02.600 phone screen because later that afternoon the 00:08:02.600 --> 00:08:04.939 ARRL ran a full background check and a credit 00:08:04.939 --> 00:08:08.300 report I guess on all of us and by Tuesday I 00:08:08.300 --> 00:08:11.399 had my marching orders to fly out Wednesday so 00:08:11.399 --> 00:08:15.399 it happened very fast yeah it sounds like it 00:08:15.399 --> 00:08:21.740 was a really quick opportunity to throw together 00:08:21.740 --> 00:08:25.019 and try to Make it all work and I'm amazed that 00:08:25.019 --> 00:08:27.899 they were able to get all those checks done But 00:08:27.899 --> 00:08:30.759 with with any kind of government thing like like 00:08:30.759 --> 00:08:33.919 me teaching You know, we got to run background 00:08:33.919 --> 00:08:36.899 checks on a guest speaker So, you know, we got 00:08:36.899 --> 00:08:39.980 to have all that all that paperwork in hand. 00:08:39.980 --> 00:08:42.970 Well I was really impressed because I think I 00:08:42.970 --> 00:08:46.830 found out from Mike Corey that Red Cross contacted 00:08:46.830 --> 00:08:50.850 the ARRL Friday evening wanting to put this team 00:08:50.850 --> 00:08:53.730 together and so they had to have an emergency 00:08:53.730 --> 00:08:56.629 conference call Saturday, said go for it. Sunday 00:08:56.629 --> 00:08:59.049 they put out the call and then they had to order 00:08:59.049 --> 00:09:01.230 all that equipment, the Pelican cases, put all 00:09:01.230 --> 00:09:03.110 that stuff together and have it waiting for us 00:09:03.110 --> 00:09:05.610 in Atlanta on Wednesday. So I think it's pretty 00:09:05.610 --> 00:09:08.730 amazing how both agencies moved. To get this 00:09:08.730 --> 00:09:11.169 going, you know, usually I pictured them to, 00:09:11.210 --> 00:09:13.590 you know, people agencies to move a lot slower. 00:09:14.110 --> 00:09:19.070 Yeah. Yeah. This was a, a very quick thing and 00:09:19.070 --> 00:09:22.330 uh, and that's how it goes a lot of times. Uh, 00:09:22.330 --> 00:09:25.070 whenever you get on, um, you know, one of these, 00:09:25.070 --> 00:09:27.789 uh, disaster relief or disaster assessment teams, 00:09:28.129 --> 00:09:30.549 uh, you never really know what's going to happen. 00:09:31.309 --> 00:09:35.490 Um, so you were called on, um, to do some things, 00:09:35.490 --> 00:09:40.529 uh, down there and, and as Yeah, the disaster 00:09:40.529 --> 00:09:43.809 assessments and things that I've been on, you 00:09:43.809 --> 00:09:47.450 never had a clue what you were going to end up 00:09:47.450 --> 00:09:53.789 doing. And usually, there's no plan at all. Well, 00:09:53.929 --> 00:09:55.809 I mean, the plan originally was to do safe and 00:09:55.809 --> 00:09:58.230 well traffic with the Red Cross, go out with 00:09:58.230 --> 00:10:02.350 their teams of Red Cross workers, and to put 00:10:02.350 --> 00:10:04.490 into the spreadsheet the people in that town 00:10:04.490 --> 00:10:07.200 that were safe and well. And then we would upload 00:10:07.200 --> 00:10:10.179 that by a wind link and it would end up in the 00:10:10.179 --> 00:10:13.379 Red Cross Safe and Well database. But very quickly 00:10:13.379 --> 00:10:17.179 upon arriving, that mission was changed pretty 00:10:17.179 --> 00:10:20.200 quickly because there was no communications on 00:10:20.200 --> 00:10:23.240 the island. I mean, we had to land. an international 00:10:23.240 --> 00:10:26.340 airport on a jetliner. There was 164 of us Red 00:10:26.340 --> 00:10:28.980 Cross workers on this plane at an uncontrolled 00:10:28.980 --> 00:10:31.059 airport, and I've taken flying lessons. It's 00:10:31.059 --> 00:10:33.440 scary when you're flying in a little Cesta to 00:10:33.440 --> 00:10:35.379 land at a rinky -dinky uncontrolled airport. 00:10:36.799 --> 00:10:44.080 We were one of the first people down there. There 00:10:44.080 --> 00:10:47.259 was definitely a few hiccups, lots of hiccups, 00:10:47.259 --> 00:10:50.139 but that was to be expected because nothing on 00:10:50.139 --> 00:10:53.779 this scale had ever happened before. So, yeah, 00:10:54.179 --> 00:10:56.320 you know, you never know what's going to hit. 00:10:56.879 --> 00:10:58.519 And as soon as you get down there, it's like, 00:10:58.700 --> 00:11:03.000 okay, no, we really need this. And so that's 00:11:03.000 --> 00:11:06.440 what you did. So you had some other stuff going 00:11:06.440 --> 00:11:09.879 on, like, you know, uh, I know you had to switch 00:11:09.879 --> 00:11:12.620 over to the hospitals after a while and then, 00:11:12.620 --> 00:11:15.840 and you actually, on your day off, I know you 00:11:15.840 --> 00:11:19.500 guys, uh, just actually went and delivered some 00:11:19.500 --> 00:11:23.370 stuff. Well, when they started passing out assignments 00:11:23.370 --> 00:11:25.830 to everybody, I sort of got assigned to do the 00:11:25.830 --> 00:11:28.149 administrative stuff, so I didn't really get 00:11:28.149 --> 00:11:31.509 to go out in the field and get deployed out in 00:11:31.509 --> 00:11:34.490 the action, you know, and I was stuck at the, 00:11:34.649 --> 00:11:36.450 well, not stuck I should say, but I was at the 00:11:36.450 --> 00:11:39.009 convention center without a vehicle, you know, 00:11:39.389 --> 00:11:42.730 and just kind of... That's why I slept on the 00:11:42.730 --> 00:11:45.029 first floor and worked on the third floor, and 00:11:45.029 --> 00:11:46.909 a lot of meetings, a lot of paper pushing, a 00:11:46.909 --> 00:11:51.590 lot of forms and things to fill out and trying 00:11:51.590 --> 00:11:53.190 to find the right people to get this done or 00:11:53.190 --> 00:11:56.429 that done. There was just a lot of that. It wasn't 00:11:56.429 --> 00:12:02.669 really the sexy part of the activation, but it 00:12:02.669 --> 00:12:05.169 was very interesting. I really learned a lot. 00:12:05.649 --> 00:12:08.230 I definitely have lots of ideas on how things 00:12:08.230 --> 00:12:12.700 can be tweaked and made better going forward 00:12:12.700 --> 00:12:15.580 not just from our division but from other divisions. 00:12:15.860 --> 00:12:17.639 I mean I was kind of shocked like FEMA didn't 00:12:17.639 --> 00:12:22.019 have any kind of ticketing software. So like 00:12:22.019 --> 00:12:24.879 we'd get a call for generator fuel at this hospital 00:12:24.879 --> 00:12:27.259 or oxygen tanks or you know whatever they needed 00:12:27.259 --> 00:12:30.139 and we'd put that in request in and then they'd 00:12:30.139 --> 00:12:32.679 say okay we got it and we forwarded it on and 00:12:32.679 --> 00:12:34.080 then that's all we'd hear from them you know 00:12:34.080 --> 00:12:35.879 so we didn't know if it actually had been taken 00:12:35.879 --> 00:12:39.500 care of. So things like that there's a lot of 00:12:39.500 --> 00:12:42.440 You know things that could be different I guess 00:12:42.440 --> 00:12:44.919 yeah, and we'll talk about some of that stuff, 00:12:44.919 --> 00:12:51.960 but Every opportunity is a learning opportunity 00:12:51.960 --> 00:12:57.700 so Definitely be learned from from this one well 00:12:57.700 --> 00:13:01.980 I know you've got tons and tons of tons of stories 00:13:01.980 --> 00:13:05.759 and already you said the toughest part of this 00:13:05.759 --> 00:13:09.889 tonight was How do I pick just one? But pick 00:13:09.889 --> 00:13:15.309 just one and tell us about it. Maybe two if you 00:13:15.309 --> 00:13:17.970 can do it quickly. None of my stories are very 00:13:17.970 --> 00:13:21.350 glamorous. We were able to work it out with one 00:13:21.350 --> 00:13:23.649 of the fire station people. If we put one of 00:13:23.649 --> 00:13:25.669 our ham radio operators in their fire station 00:13:25.669 --> 00:13:29.090 down in... Yunkos, where their search and rescue 00:13:29.090 --> 00:13:32.070 was out of, then they would give safe harbor 00:13:32.070 --> 00:13:35.470 to all Red Cross workers, which was pretty pivotal 00:13:35.470 --> 00:13:38.590 because once that, they signed a letter that 00:13:38.590 --> 00:13:40.470 the Red Cross workers could take or have on their 00:13:40.470 --> 00:13:42.649 phone, so they could show up to any fire station, 00:13:42.809 --> 00:13:44.929 they had 72 fire stations on the island, and 00:13:44.929 --> 00:13:47.169 they could get a safe place to stay and food 00:13:47.169 --> 00:13:49.659 and water, and that really was a a game changer, 00:13:50.240 --> 00:13:52.000 so then we didn't need to have two man teams, 00:13:52.480 --> 00:13:54.919 we could just have one man teams, Red Cross didn't 00:13:54.919 --> 00:13:56.820 just have to do day trips, they could turn into 00:13:56.820 --> 00:13:58.600 two day trips, so that was kind of cool, just 00:13:58.600 --> 00:14:01.340 something as simple as that, giving them one 00:14:01.340 --> 00:14:05.399 ham radio operator, Tim Maloney I think, N9RRM 00:14:05.399 --> 00:14:09.860 was at that location and did a lot of cool things 00:14:09.860 --> 00:14:13.539 to help them provide communications between the 00:14:13.539 --> 00:14:17.220 fire station down in Yunkos. and to the EOC. 00:14:18.399 --> 00:14:20.379 But I mean, some of these guys did some great 00:14:20.379 --> 00:14:22.860 stuff. I mean, Andy, all the work he did at the 00:14:22.860 --> 00:14:25.539 dam, Kilo Echo Zero Alpha Yankee Juliet did some 00:14:25.539 --> 00:14:30.220 amazing stuff there. It's just from clearing 00:14:30.220 --> 00:14:33.860 an area and spray painting out a helipad circle, 00:14:33.860 --> 00:14:36.289 you know, with that H and he... even had to do 00:14:36.289 --> 00:14:38.250 one with like a sideways H or something that 00:14:38.250 --> 00:14:39.730 means you have to kind of come in at an angle 00:14:39.730 --> 00:14:42.330 I don't know he just he knows so much and he 00:14:42.330 --> 00:14:45.490 was able to treat people with dysentery when 00:14:45.490 --> 00:14:48.190 a bad tainted water truck was providing water 00:14:48.190 --> 00:14:52.409 there and he I mean he helped Army Corps of Engineers 00:14:52.409 --> 00:14:57.370 to help keep the dam from breaching so he did 00:14:57.370 --> 00:14:59.370 a lot of wonderful things I mean so many of these 00:14:59.370 --> 00:15:02.860 guys just did so many wonderful things outside 00:15:02.860 --> 00:15:06.659 the scope of HAM radio, so it was pretty cool. 00:15:06.700 --> 00:15:09.480 It was pretty cool, and a lot of people truly 00:15:09.480 --> 00:15:12.500 saved lives. I mean, especially once we moved 00:15:12.500 --> 00:15:14.440 them into the hospitals, once we were with the 00:15:14.440 --> 00:15:16.500 FEMA meetings and figured out that these HAMs 00:15:16.500 --> 00:15:19.279 needed to be in the hospitals, and that sort 00:15:19.279 --> 00:15:21.899 of changed a lot of the mission instead of just 00:15:21.899 --> 00:15:25.379 doing safe and well. So, it was pretty cool. 00:15:26.389 --> 00:15:29.409 Like you said put it down to just one story so 00:15:29.409 --> 00:15:31.870 many cool things happen on this I'm sure where 00:15:31.870 --> 00:15:34.309 their mistakes and where their issues of course 00:15:34.309 --> 00:15:36.289 there were and that's the thing when you go into 00:15:36.289 --> 00:15:38.370 any disaster nothing's gonna go according to 00:15:38.370 --> 00:15:40.950 plan and and that's a really important characteristic 00:15:40.950 --> 00:15:43.730 is to be able to to change on the fly and adapt 00:15:43.730 --> 00:15:46.750 and Put out the fires on a daily basis, you know 00:15:46.750 --> 00:15:49.330 and trying to come up with solutions. So There 00:15:49.330 --> 00:15:53.649 was a lot of that absolutely You know, I've worked 00:15:53.649 --> 00:15:57.690 just tornadoes which are fairly locally you know 00:15:57.690 --> 00:16:06.409 isolated and there's always you know a proverbial 00:16:06.409 --> 00:16:09.970 fire here and there and you got to go put those 00:16:09.970 --> 00:16:12.730 out and try to take care of those things and 00:16:12.730 --> 00:16:15.669 you just you just gotta roll with it. Even on 00:16:15.669 --> 00:16:17.889 an Aries drill, you know, they're not gonna go 00:16:17.889 --> 00:16:20.090 according to plan, you know, I from my Aries, 00:16:20.129 --> 00:16:22.370 you know, nothing goes according to plan So and 00:16:22.370 --> 00:16:24.509 that's why you have a lot of those drills to 00:16:24.509 --> 00:16:26.750 work those kinks out But we didn't have that 00:16:26.750 --> 00:16:28.610 luxury. We'd none of us had ever worked before 00:16:28.610 --> 00:16:30.830 This was all put together very quickly because 00:16:30.830 --> 00:16:33.029 it had to be they needed us there right away. 00:16:33.970 --> 00:16:40.909 So Yeah, it was it was pretty amazing how We 00:16:40.909 --> 00:16:44.940 really changed a lot of people's mindset on what 00:16:44.940 --> 00:16:49.100 amateur radio can provide. People just didn't 00:16:49.100 --> 00:16:51.799 realize how valuable we were until we were there 00:16:51.799 --> 00:16:54.419 and we got to see it firsthand. I mean, they 00:16:54.419 --> 00:16:57.679 just appreciated everything those guys that being 00:16:57.679 --> 00:16:59.980 deployed did, you know, that they were there 00:16:59.980 --> 00:17:01.899 and we could talk to them. And if they needed 00:17:01.899 --> 00:17:03.940 to evacuate a patient and wanted to verify it, 00:17:03.940 --> 00:17:05.599 they could just come over to the radio and we 00:17:05.599 --> 00:17:07.500 could find out right away. And so that was very 00:17:07.500 --> 00:17:11.730 cool. Yeah, excellent excellent work and we thank 00:17:11.730 --> 00:17:15.089 you for all that you've done and the team and 00:17:15.089 --> 00:17:19.549 and My my little story was one of your colleagues 00:17:19.549 --> 00:17:23.430 Joe Bassett normally we talked to him during 00:17:23.430 --> 00:17:27.210 school club roundup week from school and he's 00:17:27.210 --> 00:17:30.269 usually on the air with a group of kids and and 00:17:30.809 --> 00:17:33.470 Working as many schools as we can and I happened 00:17:33.470 --> 00:17:37.670 to catch him on on chat and And he was just like 00:17:37.670 --> 00:17:40.029 man. I miss school club roundup, man I miss school 00:17:40.029 --> 00:17:42.369 club roundup, but I'm down here in Puerto Rico. 00:17:42.369 --> 00:17:45.009 I said, oh, you know, I've been telling the kids 00:17:45.009 --> 00:17:48.269 about all of this, you know, at school I said, 00:17:48.309 --> 00:17:50.950 you know, is there any way we can work? And he's 00:17:50.950 --> 00:17:52.829 like, well, yeah, we're kind of winding down. 00:17:53.049 --> 00:17:55.630 I'm just manning the radio here. You know, we 00:17:55.630 --> 00:17:58.730 can try it. And we tried once and couldn't hear 00:17:58.730 --> 00:18:02.710 a thing. And then we tried again the next day. 00:18:03.630 --> 00:18:06.470 And, you know, the kids were very excited to 00:18:06.470 --> 00:18:09.589 talk to him. Even though it was just for a minute 00:18:09.589 --> 00:18:14.099 or two, you know, we're Exposing them to you 00:18:14.099 --> 00:18:16.599 know this is this is what you can do with ham 00:18:16.599 --> 00:18:20.000 radio and a lot of those kids You know weren't 00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:23.220 Well all of them this time were not licensed 00:18:23.220 --> 00:18:28.440 yet, and so they're you know operating the school 00:18:28.440 --> 00:18:34.460 station with me and That's an incentive for them 00:18:34.460 --> 00:18:38.799 to start to get involved and do some of those 00:18:38.799 --> 00:18:40.579 things. So it was really cool just to talk to 00:18:40.579 --> 00:18:43.079 Joe for a couple minutes. Yeah, I originally 00:18:43.079 --> 00:18:46.140 met Joe. It's kind of weird. I was helping doing 00:18:46.140 --> 00:18:50.000 dispatching for Hurricane Irma. put a call out 00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:53.019 needing some help evacuating an apartment complex 00:18:53.019 --> 00:18:56.039 that was senior citizens. There's only one guy 00:18:56.039 --> 00:18:58.660 there and trying to evacuate them before it flooded. 00:18:59.839 --> 00:19:02.539 And so he, him and a couple of his guys got in 00:19:02.539 --> 00:19:04.880 the car and went to go and try and help evacuate 00:19:04.880 --> 00:19:08.279 this apartment complex. And then, you know, that 00:19:08.279 --> 00:19:13.200 was in Florida, just near Jacksonville. And All 00:19:13.200 --> 00:19:15.680 of a sudden, I'm at the airport and there's Joe 00:19:15.680 --> 00:19:18.380 and he's like, NV9L, Vail! So I got to meet him 00:19:18.380 --> 00:19:20.460 in person after talking to him on the radio, 00:19:20.859 --> 00:19:23.630 so that was kind of cool. Oh, and I see Joe's 00:19:23.630 --> 00:19:26.289 in the chat. Good guy. Yeah, Joe's listening. 00:19:26.529 --> 00:19:29.109 He says, I'm here, so. Hey, Joe. Nice to see 00:19:29.109 --> 00:19:31.410 you. Hi, Joe. We're talking about you. He's probably 00:19:31.410 --> 00:19:33.589 the better one to interview because he was in 00:19:33.589 --> 00:19:35.990 net control and knows more about a lot that happened. 00:19:36.509 --> 00:19:40.109 I was at the EOC, so I got traffic. We got traffic 00:19:40.109 --> 00:19:43.490 over there of needs and wants from the fire stations 00:19:43.490 --> 00:19:45.970 or the hospitals from our ham radio operators 00:19:45.970 --> 00:19:49.170 relaying traffic, but he got to probably... get 00:19:49.170 --> 00:19:51.730 more immersed in a lot of the happenings going 00:19:51.730 --> 00:19:56.470 on there. Yep, oh, he says hi Val, so, yep, he's 00:19:56.470 --> 00:19:58.849 over here in the chat. The good guy. Yeah, he 00:19:58.849 --> 00:20:03.970 is. Well, thanks to everyone on the team for 00:20:03.970 --> 00:20:07.009 your service and the ones who donated the equipment. 00:20:07.130 --> 00:20:10.349 I know a lot of that equipment was... was donated 00:20:10.349 --> 00:20:13.910 and just shipped right away and made it to Atlanta 00:20:13.910 --> 00:20:16.990 for you guys and made all these last minute arrangements 00:20:16.990 --> 00:20:20.369 as much as possible. So thanks to everyone for 00:20:20.369 --> 00:20:22.829 pitching in to do that. Some incredible work 00:20:22.829 --> 00:20:26.990 done there and you all deserve our respect and 00:20:26.990 --> 00:20:32.309 gratitude. It was really unique. I don't remember 00:20:32.309 --> 00:20:36.069 and I don't think there ever has been a deployment 00:20:36.069 --> 00:20:43.670 like this that was You know sent somewhere That 00:20:43.670 --> 00:20:47.990 required you know an airplane ride and all the 00:20:47.990 --> 00:20:51.329 equipment to be you know boxed up and sent over 00:20:51.329 --> 00:20:56.369 and Organized and it was it was something that 00:20:56.369 --> 00:20:59.799 was really Different I mean, you know a double 00:20:59.799 --> 00:21:03.559 RL normally isn't doing logistical stuff and 00:21:03.559 --> 00:21:09.079 they hopped in and ran with it so With all the 00:21:09.079 --> 00:21:11.960 unknowns and and all the great things, you know 00:21:11.960 --> 00:21:15.019 you did you had an opportunity to learn? So why 00:21:15.019 --> 00:21:17.670 don't you talk a little bit about what? You did 00:21:17.670 --> 00:21:22.150 learn from doing this effort. You always have 00:21:22.150 --> 00:21:24.529 something that you can learn and do better next 00:21:24.529 --> 00:21:27.769 time and everything. So if we do have something 00:21:27.769 --> 00:21:30.890 like this in the future, you know, if there is 00:21:30.890 --> 00:21:33.890 a next time, what can we take away from this? 00:21:33.950 --> 00:21:36.859 What can we learn? Well, I think the hardest 00:21:36.859 --> 00:21:39.460 part one of the hardest part is we all none of 00:21:39.460 --> 00:21:42.220 us knew each other none of us knew who what talents 00:21:42.220 --> 00:21:45.099 or you know What everybody's best at or you know 00:21:45.099 --> 00:21:47.220 think different things I think going forward 00:21:47.220 --> 00:21:49.619 it would be nice to put together some kind of 00:21:49.619 --> 00:21:53.839 task force or group already pre trained they 00:21:53.839 --> 00:21:58.119 can do drills and and and Beforehand and be ready 00:21:58.119 --> 00:22:00.640 to go and each one. You know would have their 00:22:00.640 --> 00:22:04.269 roles So, that's a cool thing to have going forward 00:22:04.269 --> 00:22:07.609 is everybody's trained, everybody knows each 00:22:07.609 --> 00:22:09.549 other, or you know what I mean, have worked with 00:22:09.549 --> 00:22:11.589 each other before. So, that was a little bit 00:22:11.589 --> 00:22:14.049 of a learning curve because we're all strangers, 00:22:14.109 --> 00:22:18.789 basically. And, you know, I would really like 00:22:18.789 --> 00:22:20.910 to see FEMA have some kind of ticketing software. 00:22:20.990 --> 00:22:23.970 That would have been really nice to have. The 00:22:23.970 --> 00:22:28.210 kits, yeah, the kits, I think we really needed 00:22:28.210 --> 00:22:31.990 those. dual bands with the 50 watts for where 00:22:31.990 --> 00:22:36.369 we were. The HTs were great when you're all in 00:22:36.369 --> 00:22:39.210 one building together, close to each other, but 00:22:39.210 --> 00:22:42.710 I think, thank God, Red Cross happened to have 00:22:42.710 --> 00:22:49.190 eight dual band. mobile rigs, so they could get 00:22:49.190 --> 00:22:52.869 50 watt units out on location, so that was pretty 00:22:52.869 --> 00:22:57.250 nice. They ordered them two to a case, so when 00:22:57.250 --> 00:22:58.950 they ordered the antennas, they only ordered 00:22:58.950 --> 00:23:01.049 four antennas because they saw four cases, so 00:23:01.049 --> 00:23:03.289 there was only four mag -mount antennas, but 00:23:03.289 --> 00:23:10.140 luckily FEMA provided the other four. You know 00:23:10.140 --> 00:23:13.160 networking and found out who to talk to and Gary 00:23:13.160 --> 00:23:16.039 I think was real instrumental Gary Sessoms in 00:23:16.039 --> 00:23:20.779 getting us four more antennas So we had eight 00:23:20.779 --> 00:23:22.700 dual bands. So that would be nice to include 00:23:22.700 --> 00:23:29.039 in the kit So There's you know a couple things 00:23:29.039 --> 00:23:31.140 like that, you know, there's a lot of tweaking 00:23:31.140 --> 00:23:33.759 and things that could be done different but for 00:23:33.759 --> 00:23:36.890 the most part, I mean With what we had and the 00:23:36.890 --> 00:23:38.609 little amount of time and how quickly this was 00:23:38.609 --> 00:23:42.369 put together. I think our team did outstanding 00:23:42.369 --> 00:23:47.829 they just they really did wonderful I would agree 00:23:47.829 --> 00:23:52.349 and Again glad that you're able to roll with 00:23:52.349 --> 00:23:55.609 the punches and make some of that work and yeah 00:23:55.609 --> 00:23:59.930 when you don't have antennas you just gotta Just 00:23:59.930 --> 00:24:02.690 got to go with it, but yeah, I agree from what 00:24:02.690 --> 00:24:06.319 I've been hearing the The mobile rigs would have 00:24:06.319 --> 00:24:10.119 would have been a big help And who knows maybe 00:24:10.119 --> 00:24:11.980 that might have been a logistical issue because 00:24:11.980 --> 00:24:13.759 they had to order this stuff bright and early 00:24:13.759 --> 00:24:16.980 Monday morning get it overnighted Tuesday put 00:24:16.980 --> 00:24:18.799 them all in the kids ship them out Tuesday So 00:24:18.799 --> 00:24:21.359 they're waiting in Atlanta on Wednesday, and 00:24:21.359 --> 00:24:23.940 it's not like you're ordering three or four You're 00:24:23.940 --> 00:24:27.779 ordering 20 of them. So you have to go with what 00:24:27.779 --> 00:24:31.880 they have 20 something of. So a 7300 would have 00:24:31.880 --> 00:24:33.380 been nice, but I'm sure they probably didn't 00:24:33.380 --> 00:24:37.519 have that many of that. So you're kind of limited. 00:24:37.599 --> 00:24:40.799 But if that stuff is all there ready to go for 00:24:40.799 --> 00:24:43.180 the Justin case down the road, then that can 00:24:43.180 --> 00:24:49.079 be prepared and planned for. And Joe, Joe mentions 00:24:49.079 --> 00:24:53.279 here too that some redundancy in the HF equipment 00:24:53.279 --> 00:24:58.000 kits would have been helpful. Yeah. Well, it's 00:24:58.000 --> 00:25:00.180 nice if everybody's kind of trained on the same 00:25:00.180 --> 00:25:02.380 equipment. Is that what he's talking about? Yeah. 00:25:03.079 --> 00:25:08.619 Yeah. And, and have, and have some backups. Yeah. 00:25:09.000 --> 00:25:10.920 Yeah. Well, when I'm my day off and we went out, 00:25:10.960 --> 00:25:13.740 we went out dropping off radios and I dropped 00:25:13.740 --> 00:25:17.799 off groceries as well to some. people in a certain 00:25:17.799 --> 00:25:21.460 area that were lacking food and water. If you 00:25:21.460 --> 00:25:23.240 don't have cash, you don't have food or water, 00:25:23.380 --> 00:25:26.279 or you don't have food anyway. So there's a lot 00:25:26.279 --> 00:25:29.880 of people in definitely needing. Stuff like that 00:25:29.880 --> 00:25:33.119 sure sure yeah, and we've posted a couple of 00:25:33.119 --> 00:25:37.460 pictures of that happening And I know even you 00:25:37.460 --> 00:25:40.700 know even around here when we had some big ice 00:25:40.700 --> 00:25:43.920 storms down in Kentucky a few years ago And you 00:25:43.920 --> 00:25:46.480 know all the powers out for a week, and it's 00:25:46.480 --> 00:25:49.119 the same kind of thing It's if you don't have 00:25:49.119 --> 00:25:52.160 cash. You're pretty much out of luck because 00:25:52.160 --> 00:25:55.500 you have a way to Run the debit card through 00:25:56.459 --> 00:25:59.119 Correct, correct. Cash is king in any times of 00:25:59.119 --> 00:26:01.259 emergency. And maybe these people pulled out 00:26:01.259 --> 00:26:03.059 what they had and maybe they only had, you know, 00:26:03.180 --> 00:26:05.319 some people might only have $50, $60, so that's 00:26:05.319 --> 00:26:07.039 not going to last you very long down there. So 00:26:07.039 --> 00:26:09.019 I really feel for the people of Puerto Rico, 00:26:09.059 --> 00:26:11.039 this is going to be a long time before they're 00:26:11.039 --> 00:26:13.559 fully recovered down there and my heart goes 00:26:13.559 --> 00:26:16.019 out to all of those people. They've really dealt 00:26:16.019 --> 00:26:19.970 with a lot and still are. Yeah, and that's what 00:26:19.970 --> 00:26:22.069 we're going to talk about next but we're going 00:26:22.069 --> 00:26:24.930 to take a break and we're going to talk a little 00:26:24.930 --> 00:26:26.670 bit about that and then we're going to start 00:26:26.670 --> 00:26:30.670 taking some of these tweets and chats and calls 00:26:30.670 --> 00:26:33.930 and all this that the boards lightened up already. 00:26:34.410 --> 00:26:37.769 So we'll get some of those questions in and be 00:26:37.769 --> 00:26:40.930 back with Val right after this word from Tower 00:26:40.930 --> 00:26:45.019 Electronics right here. on HamTalk Live. This 00:26:45.019 --> 00:26:47.259 episode of HamTalk Live is brought to you in 00:26:47.259 --> 00:26:50.440 part by Tower Electronics. Tower Electronics 00:26:50.440 --> 00:26:53.660 has been the Ham's Dime Store since 1978. When 00:26:53.660 --> 00:26:56.380 you need connectors, mobile and handheld antennas, 00:26:56.640 --> 00:26:59.839 cables, or adapters, visit Scott or Jill at a 00:26:59.839 --> 00:27:03.200 HamFest near you. Or you can order online at 00:27:03.200 --> 00:27:10.940 PL -259 .com or call 920 -435 -2973. Stock up 00:27:10.940 --> 00:27:14.160 on those supplies like PL -259 and end connectors, 00:27:14.579 --> 00:27:17.759 SMA adapters, audio cables, soldering supplies, 00:27:17.980 --> 00:27:20.759 mobile antennas, and hamsticks. Their silver 00:27:20.759 --> 00:27:23.680 -plated in -connectors are even used on the International 00:27:23.680 --> 00:27:27.000 Space Station. Tower Electronics carries MFJ, 00:27:27.220 --> 00:27:31.319 Comet, Daiwa, OPEC, Workman, and HamPro products. 00:27:31.579 --> 00:27:35.099 And don't miss their 0 % off sale going on now! 00:27:35.420 --> 00:27:39.680 Tower Electronics online at PL -259 .com, proud 00:27:39.680 --> 00:27:44.059 to sponsor this episode of HamTalk Live. This 00:27:44.059 --> 00:27:46.500 portion of the show is sponsored by our mystery 00:27:46.500 --> 00:27:49.599 sponsor, a product so good they are paying us 00:27:49.599 --> 00:27:52.839 not to advertise it on this program. You're listening 00:27:52.839 --> 00:27:58.099 to HamTalk Live with Neil Rapp. Join the conversation. 00:27:58.440 --> 00:28:01.920 Call us on voice with Skype at HamTalk Live or 00:28:01.920 --> 00:28:06.420 give us a call at 812 -NET -HAM -1. That's 812 00:28:06.420 --> 00:28:21.890 -638 -4261. Now, here's more HamTalk Live. Thanks 00:28:21.890 --> 00:28:24.230 to Scott and Jill at Tower Electronics for sponsoring 00:28:24.230 --> 00:28:27.210 the show tonight to help bring you HamTalk Live. 00:28:28.670 --> 00:28:31.049 This weekend, November 10th and 11th, they're 00:28:31.049 --> 00:28:33.970 in Montgomery, Alabama at the HamFest there. 00:28:34.210 --> 00:28:37.190 Then the 18th and 19th, they'll be at Fort Wayne, 00:28:37.190 --> 00:28:40.630 Indiana. And December 1st and 2nd, they'll be 00:28:40.630 --> 00:28:44.029 down in Ocala, Florida. And December 8th and 00:28:44.029 --> 00:28:47.890 9th in Plant City, Florida. And if you're not 00:28:47.890 --> 00:28:50.109 at one of those HamFests, give them a call at 00:28:50.109 --> 00:28:58.309 920 -435 -2973 or visit their website PL -259 00:28:58.309 --> 00:29:04.930 .com. Tell them HamTalk Live sent you and be 00:29:04.930 --> 00:29:08.390 good to catch up with Scott and Jill. So thanks 00:29:08.390 --> 00:29:13.089 for sponsoring the show and make sure you patronize 00:29:13.089 --> 00:29:15.369 Tower Electronics. We appreciate their support. 00:29:15.680 --> 00:29:19.299 Well, it's time for your calls and your questions 00:29:19.299 --> 00:29:23.380 for Val. The phone number is 812 -NET -HAM -1 00:29:23.380 --> 00:29:29.039 812 -638 -4261 or you can Skype us or tweet us 00:29:29.039 --> 00:29:31.759 and we've even got activity in the chat on Spreaker 00:29:31.759 --> 00:29:34.579 here tonight. So we'll take some of those. But 00:29:34.579 --> 00:29:38.500 first off, I want to lead with something about 00:29:38.500 --> 00:29:40.920 what's going on right now. And I know you don't 00:29:40.920 --> 00:29:44.829 have a lot of information on this, but They still 00:29:44.829 --> 00:29:47.430 need our help. There's still a lot going on. 00:29:47.490 --> 00:29:50.289 And as you said, our hearts really go out to 00:29:50.289 --> 00:29:53.529 them for all the things that they're going to 00:29:53.529 --> 00:29:57.950 have to work on over the next year or more. So 00:29:57.950 --> 00:30:03.450 what's going on right now? And what's the immediate 00:30:03.450 --> 00:30:07.890 future look like for communications down there? 00:30:08.109 --> 00:30:13.880 Well, I still do get the ESTF2 Task Force Communication 00:30:13.880 --> 00:30:16.039 Operational Update reports every day, I'm still 00:30:16.039 --> 00:30:19.180 on their list, so I'm pulling out my current 00:30:19.180 --> 00:30:22.500 report today. You know, they give you things 00:30:22.500 --> 00:30:26.279 like, there's 2 ,693 cell sites in Puerto Rico. 00:30:27.039 --> 00:30:29.200 I remember when I first got there, I think only 00:30:29.200 --> 00:30:32.710 300 or 400 were up. Right now, there's 1 ,500 00:30:32.710 --> 00:30:36.029 up, so there's still 1 ,182 cell sites down, 00:30:36.329 --> 00:30:39.309 so they only have 56 % of the sites up. But that's 00:30:39.309 --> 00:30:40.750 going to be a long time, because most of these 00:30:40.750 --> 00:30:43.829 are in the center of the island, which is very 00:30:43.829 --> 00:30:48.450 mountainous. And mudslides took a lot of the 00:30:48.450 --> 00:30:50.829 roads out. I know they had to airlift a lot of 00:30:50.829 --> 00:30:55.119 the Air Force guys onto these mountaintops. and 00:30:55.119 --> 00:30:57.440 they would just camp and stay there, the Air 00:30:57.440 --> 00:31:00.619 Force tower climbers, and clean up the towers 00:31:00.619 --> 00:31:03.680 and get ready for the ants on a hill operation, 00:31:03.859 --> 00:31:05.460 which is what they called it when they would 00:31:05.460 --> 00:31:09.119 go out and put antennas up. So it looks like 00:31:09.119 --> 00:31:10.720 things are getting a lot better in that department. 00:31:10.859 --> 00:31:13.700 I know water is going to be an issue for a long 00:31:13.700 --> 00:31:15.700 time, especially up in the northwest side of 00:31:15.700 --> 00:31:23.829 the island near... There's about 350 ,000 people 00:31:23.829 --> 00:31:25.109 that it's going to be a long time before they 00:31:25.109 --> 00:31:27.210 have water because their channel was destroyed. 00:31:27.490 --> 00:31:30.349 And that's a 10 and a half mile channel through 00:31:30.349 --> 00:31:33.269 really rugged terrain with no roads. That was 00:31:33.269 --> 00:31:35.630 all just mudslided away. So I know water is going 00:31:35.630 --> 00:31:37.569 to be an issue for quite some time down there. 00:31:38.849 --> 00:31:41.670 You know what? And I forgot to thank The local 00:31:41.670 --> 00:31:43.950 hams on the island too. I just really want to 00:31:43.950 --> 00:31:46.269 give a shout out to those guys. The local guys, 00:31:46.329 --> 00:31:48.509 even though they were impacted and their families 00:31:48.509 --> 00:31:50.589 and their homes were impacted, I mean, it looked 00:31:50.589 --> 00:31:53.809 like a tornado hit that whole island. They were 00:31:53.809 --> 00:31:56.569 on that, the local repeater every day helping 00:31:56.569 --> 00:31:58.970 the power grid, the power company bring up the 00:31:58.970 --> 00:32:02.880 grid. And so they really deserve. a big round 00:32:02.880 --> 00:32:06.079 of applause. So yeah, I really don't know that 00:32:06.079 --> 00:32:07.559 much about what's going on now. I haven't really 00:32:07.559 --> 00:32:09.359 talked to Oscar. I talked to him on his birthday 00:32:09.359 --> 00:32:11.579 and things were going alright. He misses all 00:32:11.579 --> 00:32:15.079 of us and wish we were still down there and I 00:32:15.079 --> 00:32:16.420 wish I was still down there and I'm sure a lot 00:32:16.420 --> 00:32:19.420 of us still do. I thought our activation went 00:32:19.420 --> 00:32:21.619 way too fast and it would have been nice to stay 00:32:21.619 --> 00:32:24.279 at least another week or two. But it is what 00:32:24.279 --> 00:32:27.740 it is and so they have shares operators shares 00:32:27.740 --> 00:32:30.960 radio operators down there right now and I think 00:32:30.960 --> 00:32:32.680 their activation is probably going to be ending 00:32:32.680 --> 00:32:34.759 in the next 10 days or so because they sort of 00:32:34.759 --> 00:32:36.839 came in as we were leaving and They were going 00:32:36.839 --> 00:32:38.839 to be active for 30 days. So that's got to be 00:32:38.839 --> 00:32:42.700 coming up pretty soon Okay, so we don't know 00:32:42.700 --> 00:32:45.619 exactly what's what's going to happen after they 00:32:45.619 --> 00:32:48.259 leave them Yeah, I'm not sure if they're renewing 00:32:48.259 --> 00:32:50.420 and bringing in another 30. I will try and get 00:32:50.420 --> 00:32:52.019 on the phone with Oscar and try and get more 00:32:52.019 --> 00:32:55.140 details. I know he's been very busy. I did just 00:32:55.140 --> 00:32:59.660 talk to Angel. Angel Vasquez over at, he is out 00:32:59.660 --> 00:33:03.200 at the Arecibo and he finally has internet on 00:33:03.200 --> 00:33:05.880 a steady basis and he said he wanted to make 00:33:05.880 --> 00:33:08.400 sure I was one of the first ones he emailed and 00:33:08.400 --> 00:33:10.440 so they're doing well. He said water's still 00:33:10.440 --> 00:33:12.759 an issue even by them. They're just north of 00:33:12.759 --> 00:33:15.140 the town of Arecibo heading up towards the observatory. 00:33:16.140 --> 00:33:18.660 It's gonna be a while before everybody's back 00:33:18.660 --> 00:33:23.420 to normal there a pretty long time Sure is so 00:33:23.420 --> 00:33:25.940 again a big round of applause and we'll play 00:33:25.940 --> 00:33:33.720 a real round of applause here All right. Well, 00:33:33.720 --> 00:33:36.500 let's see if we can knock out some of these questions 00:33:36.500 --> 00:33:40.099 here we like I said the boards lighten up here 00:33:40.099 --> 00:33:44.640 tonight, so I'll quit asking my stuff and start 00:33:44.640 --> 00:33:48.700 looking at these David Wilma asks. Can you explain 00:33:48.700 --> 00:33:52.480 the FEMA communications task force you mentioned 00:33:52.480 --> 00:33:57.119 on? Ham nation a little bit ago. Oh Sure, that 00:33:57.119 --> 00:34:00.140 was that was put together. You know, I had been 00:34:00.140 --> 00:34:03.160 working at the EOC probably the third or fourth 00:34:03.160 --> 00:34:08.000 day into our deployment. And they just put that 00:34:08.000 --> 00:34:11.599 together, I want to say the first, let me see, 00:34:11.840 --> 00:34:14.099 I have all my emails still, oh my god, I got 00:34:14.099 --> 00:34:16.420 so many emails, it was crazy how much paperwork 00:34:16.420 --> 00:34:19.679 I had to do. Kickoff meeting follow -up was on 00:34:19.679 --> 00:34:22.619 September 30th, so that was pretty early on that 00:34:22.619 --> 00:34:27.139 that started and it was... It wasn't just FEMA, 00:34:27.500 --> 00:34:32.440 I mean the FCC was there, DOD, National Guard, 00:34:33.500 --> 00:34:39.579 Secret Service, VA's, External Affairs group 00:34:39.579 --> 00:34:42.159 was there. They sort of handle a lot of things 00:34:42.159 --> 00:34:44.320 with like Health and Human Services and different 00:34:44.320 --> 00:34:47.179 things and combining efforts so things didn't 00:34:47.179 --> 00:34:53.119 get done or duplicated, so they were there. MERS. 00:34:53.659 --> 00:34:56.820 I mean, there's so many people in there that 00:34:56.820 --> 00:34:58.500 it's really hard to remember everybody, but there's 00:34:58.500 --> 00:34:59.880 all these different groups that had anything 00:34:59.880 --> 00:35:02.260 to do with communications was in that meeting. 00:35:02.400 --> 00:35:05.119 At least one person from that group in that meeting. 00:35:05.579 --> 00:35:07.260 And that's where we kind of hashed out and solved 00:35:07.260 --> 00:35:09.179 problems with trying to get communications on 00:35:09.179 --> 00:35:11.079 that island. Because that was the number one 00:35:11.079 --> 00:35:13.460 thing. I mean, people need food and water, but 00:35:13.460 --> 00:35:16.099 you need safety. And in order for that, you need 00:35:16.099 --> 00:35:18.880 communications. It's like communications. You 00:35:18.880 --> 00:35:20.920 need that before you can get a lot of that other 00:35:20.920 --> 00:35:25.440 stuff. Especially when we first got there, safety 00:35:25.440 --> 00:35:31.239 was a big concern. We had that every day, even 00:35:31.239 --> 00:35:33.099 on Saturdays and Sundays. No one really took 00:35:33.099 --> 00:35:35.099 a day off. Everybody pretty much did 12 -hour 00:35:35.099 --> 00:35:37.940 days there. We'd have that meeting every morning 00:35:37.940 --> 00:35:41.099 and work on ways to come up and solve these problems. 00:35:41.440 --> 00:35:43.659 At one point, they wanted us They needed people 00:35:43.659 --> 00:35:45.340 at the hospitals. That's where we really got 00:35:45.340 --> 00:35:47.500 the thing to do the hospitals. And there were 00:35:47.500 --> 00:35:49.500 51 operational hospitals, but they didn't know 00:35:49.500 --> 00:35:51.840 which ones had communications, which ones didn't. 00:35:52.039 --> 00:35:53.960 So I had to go around to all these different 00:35:53.960 --> 00:35:55.739 tables until I find someone who could give me 00:35:55.739 --> 00:35:57.659 a list of hospitals and phone numbers. And I 00:35:57.659 --> 00:35:59.460 went out on the balcony, because I got the best 00:35:59.460 --> 00:36:01.800 cell service out there, and I just started calling 00:36:01.800 --> 00:36:03.960 them. They answered the phone. I hung up. And 00:36:03.960 --> 00:36:05.860 I was like, OK, we don't need to send AM there. 00:36:06.199 --> 00:36:08.579 You just got to kind of. go with the flow and 00:36:08.579 --> 00:36:10.460 do what you can to figure things out because 00:36:10.460 --> 00:36:13.219 everything was happening so fast and you know 00:36:13.219 --> 00:36:15.360 nobody there was no communication so that was 00:36:15.360 --> 00:36:18.360 really really the the number one thing that we 00:36:18.360 --> 00:36:21.179 really had to work on. Now David's following 00:36:21.179 --> 00:36:26.320 up here asking what did they do? Who do? The 00:36:26.320 --> 00:36:31.550 FEMA task force. What was their active job? Well, 00:36:31.670 --> 00:36:33.809 we put together they put together teams to go 00:36:33.809 --> 00:36:36.369 out and the ants on a hill operation and then 00:36:36.369 --> 00:36:38.730 they all these different Different people they 00:36:38.730 --> 00:36:40.650 I mean it was really what was really hard with 00:36:40.650 --> 00:36:42.809 a lot of this with these cell sites, too Nobody 00:36:42.809 --> 00:36:45.070 knows who owns what and if then you finally figured 00:36:45.070 --> 00:36:48.030 out who owned that tower How do you get a hold 00:36:48.030 --> 00:36:51.090 of them the phones don't work? So how do you 00:36:51.090 --> 00:36:53.230 get out there and you know, and if the roads 00:36:53.230 --> 00:36:55.349 aren't working and I mean there was a lot of 00:36:55.349 --> 00:36:58.639 obstacles to try and just bring communications 00:36:58.639 --> 00:37:01.539 to that island. They handed satellite phones 00:37:01.539 --> 00:37:05.820 to the hospitals, the mayors, the police, but 00:37:05.820 --> 00:37:08.039 that doesn't, who are you gonna call? The other 00:37:08.039 --> 00:37:10.280 person on the other end has to be outside with 00:37:10.280 --> 00:37:12.599 a clear view of the sky, happen to have the sat 00:37:12.599 --> 00:37:15.300 phone on, you know? So it's really, and then 00:37:15.300 --> 00:37:17.900 the satellites were overtaxed because it's not 00:37:17.900 --> 00:37:19.659 used to having that many people with a satellite 00:37:19.659 --> 00:37:23.639 phone. I mean, so. It was just coming up with 00:37:23.639 --> 00:37:25.340 ways to solve problems. So in the meeting, then 00:37:25.340 --> 00:37:27.760 the one guy says, �Well, I know who to call to 00:37:27.760 --> 00:37:30.739 move in more satellites over Puerto Rico.� So 00:37:30.739 --> 00:37:32.739 they actually moved more satellites over Puerto 00:37:32.739 --> 00:37:35.619 Rico, so the satellites weren't always busy. 00:37:36.139 --> 00:37:38.480 It was just stuff like that, constantly. There 00:37:38.480 --> 00:37:44.780 were always obstacles. generator goes to which 00:37:44.780 --> 00:37:47.900 cell site or generators they go and fuel them 00:37:47.900 --> 00:37:49.860 up and then someone steal the fuel or steal the 00:37:49.860 --> 00:37:53.719 generator. So I mean there was always every day 00:37:53.719 --> 00:37:55.719 there was just so much to take care of and so 00:37:55.719 --> 00:37:57.940 many problems to solve and it was just never 00:37:57.940 --> 00:38:03.349 ending. And Joe throws in FBI. Yeah, they were 00:38:03.349 --> 00:38:07.590 in there too. You name it. They're everywhere. 00:38:08.130 --> 00:38:10.289 Yeah, and then the second floor of the thing 00:38:10.289 --> 00:38:11.989 was where the Prima was which was the Puerto 00:38:11.989 --> 00:38:14.570 Rico version of FEMA and Health and Human Services 00:38:14.570 --> 00:38:16.429 was down there and that's where the Puerto Rican 00:38:16.429 --> 00:38:18.230 government officials but we were up on the third 00:38:18.230 --> 00:38:21.610 floor and we did have a Prima official in there 00:38:21.610 --> 00:38:26.050 as well. So yeah, it was well represented by 00:38:26.050 --> 00:38:27.710 anybody in the communication business. Boy, I 00:38:27.710 --> 00:38:30.190 learned a lot about a lot of things in that meeting. 00:38:30.750 --> 00:38:32.630 and dealing with those people even when the meetings 00:38:32.630 --> 00:38:35.849 were over trying to solve problems. Dr. Scott 00:38:35.849 --> 00:38:39.230 Wright, KZeroMD says thank you for your service. 00:38:40.250 --> 00:38:44.949 He wanted me to pass that along. He's off in 00:38:44.949 --> 00:38:49.570 some country doing training right now. He said 00:38:49.570 --> 00:39:01.119 it was like 3 a .m. Thank you, Scott. Marty KC1CWF 00:39:01.119 --> 00:39:03.960 asks about lugging the equipment around. Was 00:39:03.960 --> 00:39:06.739 that a problem? Was it heavy? Were there issues 00:39:06.739 --> 00:39:10.079 with that? Well, it was a Pelican case on wheels 00:39:10.079 --> 00:39:13.300 with a handle. So it's like a extra large, double 00:39:13.300 --> 00:39:18.679 large suitcase. And they were, gosh, I remember 00:39:18.679 --> 00:39:20.500 looking at the scale when we had to put them 00:39:20.500 --> 00:39:22.199 on. I'm trying to remember how much they were, 00:39:22.239 --> 00:39:25.699 maybe 60 pounds. Oh gosh, I don't remember. But 00:39:25.699 --> 00:39:27.239 we really didn't have to lift them. They were 00:39:27.239 --> 00:39:29.590 on wheels and you just... lug them around so 00:39:29.590 --> 00:39:35.250 that was fine. Okay and Carl KD9HQT says have 00:39:35.250 --> 00:39:38.829 you had any antennas during uh emergency communications 00:39:38.829 --> 00:39:42.550 where they go down like um I know Carl's upset 00:39:42.550 --> 00:39:45.489 today his mast fell while he was working on it 00:39:45.489 --> 00:39:48.630 and broke his antenna uh but of course it can't 00:39:48.630 --> 00:39:52.690 happen in the summer oh of course of course so 00:39:52.690 --> 00:39:55.739 did you have any backup way to make Just a quick 00:39:55.739 --> 00:40:00.539 dipole or anything like that? Well, I personally 00:40:00.539 --> 00:40:03.679 wasn't deployed. I was at that convention center. 00:40:04.340 --> 00:40:06.639 So I mean, at one point we had to move our antenna. 00:40:06.840 --> 00:40:08.800 We moved it from one end of the convention center 00:40:08.800 --> 00:40:11.119 to the other. But I'm really not a good person 00:40:11.119 --> 00:40:15.280 to ask on that. And I really didn't handle the 00:40:15.280 --> 00:40:17.579 net control. So I didn't hear a lot. I only got 00:40:17.579 --> 00:40:20.159 the traffic that pertained to people needing 00:40:20.159 --> 00:40:24.369 things from FEMA if they needed. Fuel or airlift 00:40:24.369 --> 00:40:27.730 or you know, they needed oxygen tanks or you 00:40:27.730 --> 00:40:31.110 know pharma any kind of meds So that's mostly 00:40:31.110 --> 00:40:34.250 what I dealt with at my end net control really 00:40:34.250 --> 00:40:36.269 probably got would have been more in the know 00:40:36.269 --> 00:40:39.130 on that I was speaking of that control pieces 00:40:39.130 --> 00:40:44.309 56 pounds Is that what it was? Okay. Yeah, so 00:40:44.309 --> 00:40:47.329 it's not that bad, you know, so we can all pretty 00:40:47.329 --> 00:40:53.920 much lift 50 pounds even me David Wilma again 00:40:53.920 --> 00:40:58.159 asks, would you improve screening for volunteers? 00:40:59.579 --> 00:41:01.179 Well, see, that's a hard thing. I mean, how do 00:41:01.179 --> 00:41:04.400 you know how to screen? I mean, it would be nice 00:41:04.400 --> 00:41:07.139 if there was a lot of ARIES training and things 00:41:07.139 --> 00:41:09.739 like that. And that's why I think putting together 00:41:09.739 --> 00:41:12.519 a team beforehand, you know, I mean, FEMA does 00:41:12.519 --> 00:41:15.760 this. people already trained, ready to go, they 00:41:15.760 --> 00:41:18.619 get put on call when a hurricane's coming, so 00:41:18.619 --> 00:41:20.219 they're all packed, ready to go if they need 00:41:20.219 --> 00:41:24.079 to be, down there right away. So I think going 00:41:24.079 --> 00:41:26.519 forward, that's definitely something the ARRL 00:41:26.519 --> 00:41:28.400 should look into, or it doesn't even have to 00:41:28.400 --> 00:41:31.739 be really ARRL, it could be the ARIES group puts 00:41:31.739 --> 00:41:33.599 that together, which is a part of ARRL, but you 00:41:33.599 --> 00:41:35.900 know, somebody put together some kind of task 00:41:35.900 --> 00:41:39.099 force and they can... do drills and practice 00:41:39.099 --> 00:41:42.539 and be ready to go. I think definitely that's 00:41:42.539 --> 00:41:44.960 going to be a huge thing for them to look at. 00:41:46.780 --> 00:41:49.019 We should have just got Joe on the line here. 00:41:49.199 --> 00:41:54.659 He's also saying we had to bag, borrow, and whatever 00:41:54.659 --> 00:41:57.079 backup equipment. Oh yeah, from a lot of it, 00:41:57.679 --> 00:42:01.400 yeah. Including antennas. Everything, all our 00:42:01.400 --> 00:42:04.440 kits, people robbed for this kit to take for 00:42:04.440 --> 00:42:08.599 this kit and luckily, you know... So, but you 00:42:08.599 --> 00:42:10.559 know, we ended up being on the air. So that was 00:42:10.559 --> 00:42:12.679 the important thing and making it work. And that's 00:42:12.679 --> 00:42:15.820 what hams do. Yup. That's the name of the game 00:42:15.820 --> 00:42:18.900 is, is making it work. And, uh, they're all MacGyver. 00:42:19.039 --> 00:42:22.000 Like I said, yeah, you never know. Yeah. It got 00:42:22.000 --> 00:42:25.260 MacGyver coming in here and, uh, and making something 00:42:25.260 --> 00:42:28.699 out of nothing. And that's exactly what we have 00:42:28.699 --> 00:42:31.039 to do sometimes. That really impressed a lot 00:42:31.039 --> 00:42:32.480 of the other people. These guys were out there 00:42:32.480 --> 00:42:34.980 fixing generators or air conditioners or doing 00:42:34.980 --> 00:42:37.159 stuff that had nothing to do with ham radio. 00:42:37.300 --> 00:42:39.360 I know many times I did many things that had 00:42:39.360 --> 00:42:42.739 nothing to do with ham radio. That's what makes, 00:42:42.739 --> 00:42:46.860 I think, our group so special. Yeah, absolutely. 00:42:47.360 --> 00:42:50.400 I like the idea of maybe have a pool of people 00:42:50.400 --> 00:42:55.079 trained especially for that so that way you can 00:42:55.079 --> 00:42:59.139 take whoever is available at the time and have... 00:42:59.130 --> 00:43:02.110 a little more training on that. So good lessons 00:43:02.110 --> 00:43:05.429 learned from all of this and great work and Val, 00:43:05.570 --> 00:43:08.210 our time is up, but I want to thank you so much 00:43:08.210 --> 00:43:10.670 for coming on. Yeah, it does. It goes by. It 00:43:10.670 --> 00:43:14.750 goes by quick. Thank you for taking all the questions 00:43:14.750 --> 00:43:19.050 and thanks for coming on and look forward to 00:43:19.050 --> 00:43:22.030 seeing you here in a few months and we'll be 00:43:22.030 --> 00:43:25.469 talking to you. All right. Thank you. All right, 00:43:25.630 --> 00:43:29.750 thanks so much, and hi to mom and dad there for 00:43:29.750 --> 00:43:33.110 Thanksgiving, too, so we'll say hi to them. All 00:43:33.110 --> 00:43:35.130 right, well, that's a wrap for this week's edition 00:43:35.130 --> 00:43:37.530 of HamTalk Live. I'd like to thank my guest, 00:43:37.730 --> 00:43:40.829 Val Hotsfeld, NV9L, and everyone out there in 00:43:40.829 --> 00:43:44.380 cyberspace. for chiming in online this evening. 00:43:44.659 --> 00:43:47.539 Great to have all of your questions. And come 00:43:47.539 --> 00:43:50.079 back next Thursday night at 9 p .m. Eastern Time. 00:43:50.139 --> 00:43:53.039 We're going to talk to Scott Avery, W -A -6 -L 00:43:53.039 --> 00:43:56.760 -I -E. He'll be here to talk about remote hams. 00:43:57.420 --> 00:44:00.960 So a way for you to get on the air when putting 00:44:00.960 --> 00:44:04.630 up an antenna and a rig may not. be possible. 00:44:05.329 --> 00:44:07.389 For a list of all of our upcoming guests, be 00:44:07.389 --> 00:44:10.250 sure to visit HamTalkLive .com and click on the 00:44:10.250 --> 00:44:14.309 schedule link. For now, this is Neil Rapp, WB9VPG, 00:44:14.389 --> 00:44:20.369 saying 7375, and may the good DX be yours. Thanks 00:44:20.369 --> 00:44:35.869 for watching.