[amsat-bb] Re: Amateur Satellites and the emergency on tornadoin Oklahoma and Texas

[Stefan Wagener]

Thanks Bill,

good luck and have a great FD on the sats. If I get my station up, we will
talk.

73 Stefan VE4NSA


On Wed, May 22, 2013 at 8:10 PM, Bill Acito <w1pa at hotmail.com> wrote:

> Yep, I was going to raise the same point and link. They list the following
> "benefits":
>
> - providing Satellite based Amateur Radio Services/meet the long felt
> need for the Amateur Radio Operators of South Asian region (especially a
> mode B bird)
> - bring Satellite Services within the reach of the common man and
> popularize Space Technology among the masses.
> - stimulation of technical interest and awareness among the younger
> generation by providing them with an opportunity to develop their
> technological projects
> - providing a low cost readily accessible reliable means of communication
> during emergencies and calamities like flood, earthquakes, etc.
>
> I never said the last one is a "falsehood". I am suggesting it does not
> hold anywhere near the same weight as the first three.
>
> I have never been in a tornado. But I would suggest that those hams in the
> impact zone no longer have access to any working equipment, which means
> hams in the surrounding areas are coming in to help, and have the choice.
> If I was going into the impact zone and had the choice of what
> communications I might bring, it would be
> - a portable cell site
> - mobile/HT VHF/UHF
> - mobile HF
> ...in that order. A portable satellite station would be a distant fourth.
>
> If you read the summaries in the aftermath of Joplin, amateur radio
> (VHF/UHF) played a critical role in the minutes leading up to, and the
> hours after the tornado tore through. Then mobile phone, mobile date, and
> social media took over when the mobile cell sites came on line.
>
>
> Back to prepping my FD station,
>
> Bill W1PA
>