Some 400 pounds of Ham Aid Amateur Radio equipment left ARRL Headquarters this week, bound for the Guayaquil Radio Club (HC2GRC) in Ecuador. The radio gear will help to support relief and recovery efforts under way in the wake of a magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck the South American nation on April 16. Valued at more than $7500, the equipment will provide reliable communication in areas where the telecommunications infrastructure suffered damaged.
“As we’ve seen before — in Haiti and Nepal — an earthquake can cause long-term disruptions in infrastructure,” said ARRL Emergency Preparedness Manager Mike Corey, KI1U. “An Amateur Radio network fills the communications gaps. It can be deployed anywhere, run on solar power, and can function without the Internet or traditional telecommunications infrastructure.”
Corey said the recovery process can be lengthy, and radio amateurs in the affected area need repeaters, antennas, antenna supports, and many other things to be able to help those disrupted by disaster. “This is what Ham Aid is for, to enable Amateurs to effectively respond following a disaster to help their communities through the recovery process,” he said.
Most earthquake damage occurred in the Guayaquil (HC2) and Portoviejo/Manta (HC4) areas. Some structures in Portoviejo and Manta suffered severe damage, with many victims buried in the rubble of collapsed buildings and homes. In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, electrical power and commercial telecommunication systems were either destroyed or disrupted, and many roads rendered impassable because of earthquake rubble.
Corey noted that while most Ham Aid deployments are stateside, the opportunity arose for the ARRL to assist with this international disaster relief effort through the Guayaquil Radio Club.
Five boxes of equipment left ARRL Headquarters on May 4, arriving in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the next day. ARRL member Kenny Hollenbeck, KD4ZFW, picked up the items from Southwest Air Cargo for delivery to UTS in Miami for shipping to Ecuador.
ARRL CEO Tom Gallagher, NY2RF, said, “For more than 100 years, when there is a need, we use our communications and electronics expertise to give back. Whether it’s here at the national level or anywhere in the country through our nationwide network of volunteers, Amateur Radio answers the call when and where we are needed.”
Source:ARRL
FTdx-10 to IC-7300 Feature by Feature comparison review of these two competitors. More detail is shown on the FTdx-10 as there are less reviews of it available. Which is the better radio? Read more
More
ARISS, Amateur Radio on the International Space Station, announced that simultaneous operations of the ARISS Voice Repeater and digital APRS communica... Read more
New 28/50MHz dual ban Yagi models are being built and tested now at our manufacturing partners Wimo Antennen und Elektronik GmbH. This 8el 28/50MHz ex... Read more
I’ve ported some code by Mark Erbaugh See More:Link Read more
Pat, AB9TC, was wondering, how do I Prevent my anntena that is transmitting from overloading another that is receiving. Read more
What should you buy first, a manual tuner or automatic one? Kevin, K7SW, and I talk about why one may be better than the other for your first tuner pu... Read more
Hermes Lite 2 Read more
BuddiStick Let’s take a good look at this antenna and see what all the hype is about. Designed as a multi-band, portable antenna for 40m –... Read more
Phenomenal characteristics! Big gain, perfect F/B and F/S ratios. 4 elements for 20 m, 6 elements for 15 m and 14 elements for 10 m! Antenna is fed by... Read more
Lalest News
Simultaneous APRS and Voice Repeater on the International Space Station
New 28/50MHz dual ban Yagi models are being built and tested
Experimental IC 705 remote on iPhone
Protect That Receiver From Your Transmitter
Manual vs Automatic Tuners – August 2022 Livestream Excerpt
Hermes Lite 2 Back in PRODUCTION
Is the BuddiStick Pro Really That Good??
A gigantic tribander! Three big full-size yagis on one boom (15.1 m)
Warning: file_get_contents(https://plusone.google.com/_/+1/fastbutton?url=https%3A%2F%2Fqrznow.com%2Farrl-ham-aid-gear-headed-to-ecuador-to-support-earthquake-relief-recovery%2F): failed to open stream: HTTP request failed! HTTP/1.0 404 Not Found in /home/qrznow/public_html/wp-content/themes/goodnews5/framework/functions/posts_share.php on line 151