The American Red Cross Puerto Rico Chapter renewed its Memorandum of Understanding with the ARRL Puerto Rico Section on October 10, citing mutually beneficial experiences during recent emergency and disaster responses, especially to hurricanes Irma and María in 2017. María left the island without power and telecommunications, and the Red Cross in the US asked ARRL to help provide Amateur Radio volunteers — which became the “Force of Fifty.” The initial MoU was signed on March 3, 2017. As part of the renewed MoU, radio amateurs will help with the development of the Red Cross internal UHF communication system.
“The Red Cross had a good and excellent synergistic relationship with the Amateur Radio community when communications were lost for 6 weeks during the María event,” ARRL Puerto Rico Section Manager Oscar Resto, KP4RF, said. “As recently as the end of August, amateur operators were standing by for the possible pass of Hurricane Dorian as the Red Cross made the call for possible activation.”
ARRL Puerto Rico Section Public Information Officer Angel Santana, WP3GW, recounted events over the past 2 years following the devastating impact of the 2017 hurricanes on the lives of Puerto Rico’s residents. He said many new Amateur Radio operators have been licensed, most with a special interest in emergency communications, and a special class and exam session at the University of Puerto Rico in Mayagüez graduated new amateurs as part of a new program to develop an emergency communications system. Santana noted that new amateurs mean more net participation. Puerto Rico Section Technical Coordinator Carlos Roig WP4AOH, gives tech training talks on local nets, providing tips on emergency communication practice, Go-Kits, antennas, radios, and portable power sources, in addition to answering questions on numerous other topics.
Amateurs in municipal emergency management agencies now run drills/nets every first Sunday of the month based on the 12 zones of the Puerto Rico Emergency Management Bureau (PREMB) administration. A faith-based organization has developed the Radio Communications Emergency Net on the island of Vieques, with Amateur Radio serving as the principal resource.
Santana noted that the Commonwealth’s new governor, Wanda Vázquez Garced, has raised her administration’s visibility of Amateur Radio as an emergency/disaster response communication asset. — Thanks to ARRL Puerto Rico Section Public Information Coordinator Angel Santana, WP3GW
Source:ARRL
Review
Transmit Without License During An Emergency? Save Life & Property?
Tony DeWitte AD0DQ, joins me to explain when it is legal for you to transmit outside of your radio privileges to save life or protect property, ALSO,... Read more
MFJ-914 Auto Antenna Extender – Review
The MFJ-914 offers a way of extending the matching range of the internal ATU inside any transceiver. If your internal ATU is struggling to achieve a m... Read more
More on Grounding
Scott, N3CRS, has emailed Dave a very well organized list of questions that have to do with the subject of grounding. Lets see if Dave can help him ou... Read more
PrepComm MMX TearDown – Keyboard CW?
PrepComm MMX TearDown The MMX Multi-band Morse Code Transceiver is the evolution of the DMX-40+ Morse Code Transceiver,and includes the keyb... Read more
Mini DIGITAL PWR / SWR meter review
This is the review of a Mini portable PWR and SWR meter with built-in battery and High SWR warning buzzer. There are also the Xiegu X6100’s outp... Read more
Radio Signals: What happens if there’s a hill in the way?
“Let us understand what happens if you have a hill or mountain in the way of your radio signal because I recently published a video showing you... Read more
10 Reasons Why GMRS is NOT Better Than Ham Radio
“This video is a response to a video I saw by @NotaRubicon Productions where he claims that GMRS is better than Ham Radio. I found the video fun... Read more
Antenna
Adding dB Gain to your Transmit Signal. Howe much difference?
There are a number of ways to add dB gain to your transmitted signal. But how much difference does 3dB or 6dB make? Is it worth the effort! Peter G3OJ... Read more
Better Ground Radials for the Wolf River Coil
I demonstrate an improved ground radial system for the Wolf River Coil Silver Bullet 1000 Read more
PORTABLE IN UNDER 3 MINUTES? NEW JPC ANTENNA
For this week’s Something for the Weekend Tony and Richard go out to the park to demonstrate the new portable antenna systems from JPC! Specific... Read more
DIAMOND VX-30 Antenna Review
DIAMOND VX-30 Peter Waters G3OJV, explains why the Diamond VX-30 could be the ideal antenna for those new to ham radio who would like to operate on th... Read more
Eagle One Antenna – What Is it?
Thanks to Tristan and Jason for talking to me about the Eagle One Antenna. There seems to be some confusion about this antenna what it is and what it... Read more
Easy Modelling Your First Antenna in 5 Minutes – Vertical Antennas
5-minute video how to download the software and make your first ground mounted vertical – easy. Read more
COMPACTenna – Dayton Hamvention 2022
2022 saw the return of the Dayton Hamvention and also celebrated the 70th anniversary of the world’s largest ham radio trade show. Ham Radio Out... Read more
Digital Modes
The Ultimate Portable Ham Radio Computer
Hello Operators. In this episode of the OH8STN ham radio, we are discussing replacing the raspberry pi field computer build, with the Microsoft Surfac... Read more
Get Started with FT8 – An Introduction for Beginners
FT8 is a mode in the WSJT-X software developed by Dr Joe Taylor K1JT. In this video I show how to get started and make contacts with FT8, introduction... Read more
WSJT-X Version 2.5.1 has been Released
The WSJT-X development team has announced the general availability release of WSJT-X version 2.5.1. This release mainly contains i... Read more
WSJT-X Errors? Try This Simple Fix
Does WSJT-X display errors when you transmit with your radio? Try this simple fix which has helped me get rid of those frustrating errors. Read more
WSJT-X version 2.5.1 released
WSJT-X version 2.5.1 releasedThe development team have announced the General Availability (GA) release of WSJT-X version 2.5.1. This release mainly co... Read more
RC WSJT-X 2.5.0-rc4 is now ready for download by beta testers
“Dear WSJT-X and MAP65 Users, We are pleased to announce that a public Release Candidate WSJT-X 2.5.0-rc4 is now ready for download by beta testers. O... Read more
JS8Call Overview and Settings 2021
JS8Call Overview and Settings 2021 Read more
Equipment
Perseus 22 -INTRODUCING NEXT-GEN SDR RECEIVER
Perseus22 is a 4 channels, direct sampling receiver with a continuous frequency coverage from 10 KHz to 225 MHz and a typical image rejection larger t... Read more
Mini SSB HF Receiver 150 kHz To 30 Mhz
SI4732 SSB 150K-30MHZ FM 64M-108MHZ Color LCD Display DSP Radio Receiver Built-in Battery Features: -Color LCD display, read data more clearly. -Built... Read more
Comet-NCG – Dayton Hamvention 2022
2022 saw the return of the Dayton Hamvention and also celebrated the 70th anniversary of the world’s largest ham radio trade show. Ham Radio Out... Read more
West Mountain Radio – Dayton Hamvention 2022
West Mountain Radio 2022 saw the return of the Dayton Hamvention and also celebrated the 70th anniversary of the world’s largest ham radio trad... Read more
SDRplay SDRconnect demo at Friedrichshafen 2022
This video shows the demo we showed at Ham Radio 2022, in Friedrichshafen, Germany. This demonstrates the core underlying technology behind what we’re... Read more
Building a Yaesu FT-891 remote control box
Dave, KZ9V stops by the shack, and share with us his memory keyer remote control box he built for the Yaesu FT-891 Read more
4 Way Remote Antenna Switch with WiFi
Remote Antenna Switch 2022 saw the return of the Dayton Hamvention and also celebrated the 70th anniversary of the world’s largest ham radio tra... Read more