May 2000 - A.R.E.S. Training Assignment -  SV SECTION - DISTRICTS 1 AND 2

ONE OF THE HARDEST THINGS TO DO:

As one of the several operators taking part in last week's dramatic on-air rescue operation of young Willem van Tuijl, ARRL member Fred Moore, W3ZU, knows better than most that sometimes the best help is to just stand by.

"Basically, what needs to be done is a lot of listening and very little talking," said Moore, who lives near Philadelphia and is a regular participant on the Maritime Mobile Service Net. "The net control station is obligated to make well aware that there is an ongoing emergency and that he will not accept any frivolous calls. And that's what I did through the night."

Moore and others spent some 14 hours on the Maritime Mobile Service Net the night of March 28, rendering whatever assistance they could to facilitate Willem's rescue and transfer to a hospital in Honduras. The 13-year-old from The Netherlands--now the subject of national news coverage--was shot and seriously wounded by pirates who had boarded the family's sailboat. After the incident, the boy's father, Jacco van Tuijl, KH2TD, turned on his radio to seek help, breaking into a QSO involving Phil Fiol, WB2BMC. Fiol moved KH2TD down to the Maritime Mobile Service Net on 14.300 MHz. The other station called the US Coast Guard, which summoned the Honduran Navy.

Moore's ability to speak fluent Spanish turned out to be crucial. "At one point, there was so much chaos and some confusion because the Honduran Navy people could not understand English well," he said. At that point--after monitoring the situation for some time--he was able to step in himself and assist, with the blessing of the net control station. "There was a need to get some order on the frequency," he explained.

Moore said he was able to get position reports and, in general, coordinate communication between Jacco van Tuijl and the Hondurans, up to and including the airlift of Willem and his mother, Jannie, KH2TE, to a hospital in La Ceiba, Honduras.

Moore says that unless a net control can maintain a high degree of order, things can break down in a hurry. During the recent crisis, he said that most operators abided by the rules, although a few persisted in "their nonsense," as he called it. There was even some intentional interference.

Moore also says it's hard for some hams to resist the urge to press the push-to-talk button and put in their two cents worth. Sometimes, he says, egos get in the way of common sense. But he urged operators encountering an emergency net to simply "be quiet and listen" unless they can contribute to the situation.

Moore had high praise for net participant Tony Fabrizi, W0IVY, who stood by for the entire crisis, only occasionally letting Moore know he was available if he needed a break. "That's a real amateur," he said. "I laud that man."

Moore says the long hours of duty and little glory can be gratifying. "It makes me feel good when there's a positive result. Hopefully, we were instrumental in helping to save that boy's life, who was at no fault."

Willem remains in Children's Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, thanks to efforts by ARRL President Jim Haynie, W5JBP.

Other stations identified so far as having assisted in the crisis include K4TCV, KD5BZ, K1LNC, WB1AVE, J39GH, N3FK, W1KY, and YV5/VE7AMV.

"Y2K"...... IT LIVES!

New Mexico suffered what could be the largest power loss in the state's history March 18. Amateur Radio operators stood by to fill the communication gap as the outage that resulted from a grass fire left thousands without power.

"We had done our Y2K exercises well, and it paid off," said New Mexico ARRL Section Manager Joe Knight, W5PDY. Knight says smoke from a large grass fire caused the large insulators on a major power line to arc, shutting down the line. Three major power lines from the Public Service Company of New Mexico's Four-Corners Power Plant followed suit. The outage subsequently took out a major power generating unit. "In a domino effect, most of the state of New Mexico, a small part of southern Colorado and part of El Paso, Texas, were out," Knight explained. Thanks to emergency power, hams and repeaters remained operational.

"Needless to say, there were no cell phones, and the 911 system was jammed," Knight said. ARES/RACES was activated and in full operation through both local and linked repeaters throughout the state. "Operators were cautioned to transmit only for emergency traffic in order to conserve our battery power on the linked repeater system. Since the shopping malls, grocery stores, restaurants, filling stations and traffic lights were down, it made for a real Y2K emergency."

Knight says the linked system was able to help keep the public up to date on what was happening. In addition, 21 battery-powered HF stations checked into the New Mexico Roadrunner Traffic Net and were on standby until the power was restored to most of the state. Two broadcast radio stations, KOB AM and KDEF AM, were on the air using emergency power generators. Knight said the New Mexico State Emergency Operations Center and the Albuquerque EOC also were on line using emergency power.

"There were several traffic accidents and a few burglaries, but the hospitals all operated on emergency power," Knight reported. Approximately 1.3 million people were without power for about three or four hours following the outage, which began around 4:30 PM Mountain Time.

In Las Cruces, officials had to halt the state's high school basketball playoffs when the power went out in the arena.

"It was certainly a wakeup call for amateurs in the affected areas," said Knight.