One of the things that I have done as a ham radio operator

is pass on about a dozen messages for people after Puerto Rico got clouted by that hurricane.

It is not as easy as it sounds. 

There are a number of scammers out there that will try and take advantage of a disaster so sometimes you have to establish credibility with the message recipient and let them know you'r eon the up and up.

A sample of this might be Wally and the Beav got to the message center outside of San Juan and had them send this message: "We're OK and headed home on the next available transportation. Wally and the Beaver. Call 123-456-7890 and ask for Ward or June."

So I field the message and make the call. A woman answers.

"Hello. I am looking for either Ward or June Cleaver. I have a message for them from Wally and the Beav."

She replies that she is June Cleaver. 

"Message is, Quote. We're OK and headed home on next available transportation. Wally and the Beav. Now please let me explain I know you have questions and this will save time."

"Who are you?" asks June. 

"I am Piccolo Q Piccolo, amateur radio call sign KB#XXX. I am a ham radio operator in Pittsburgh. I got this message from another Ham in the San Juan area running a message center there and I am simply relaying it to you. I do not have direct contact with Wally and the Beav and am simply passing this message to you as directed by the San Juan station. If you want I will explain how the system works and you can look up my call sign on the internet if you want to prove that I am who I say I am. Incidentally the person that sent this message is KB1XYZ. He's a volunteer from New Mexico."

"I don't understand that," says June.

"Ok, as you know, Puerto Rico got hit hard. There is no electricity, no cell towers and no communication whatsoever. The government has allowed a group of ham radio operators and their portable gear  to be flown in to set up a series of message centers to relay information back to the States. Apparently Wally and the Beav found one of these and asked him to sent the message to you. I probably can't send a return message and frankly I won't even try unless it is a bona fide medical life or death emergency. The message centers are clogged and the volunteers are working 20-plus hours a day. I'm sorry but this is all I have for you. Incidentally there is no charge for this whatsoever. It's what ham radio guys do."

Most people at this stage are very grateful and relieved. They found out their loved ones are okay and they are pleased.

The woman I call June Cleaver was but she did ask me what I had heard about transportation off the island and I told her that rumor control has it that the aircraft bringing in relief supplies were taking people back to the States on some sort of priority basis, injured and disabled first. I also opined that they would have the airport up and running shortly. 

I also told her that if her kids landed broke she could send money via Moneygram and there was one in nearly every Walmart. She was grateful for the insight and the advice.

Of course there is always a worrywort parent or spouse that wants more information than you can supply and they immediately bombard you with about a jillion questions and get upset when you can't supply answers. Still, I can recall one women griping about eating 'cold army food' after Katrina. When I heard about that I said it was a good thing she didn't say that to me or I'd have gone off on her. Apparently she expected Uncle Sam to set up a Golden Corral for her to pork out on for free.

I tend to write off the worry worts as simply overly concerned parents. It's stressful having a loved one in a disaster area and I tend to give them a little slack.






















To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY