After Sandy clouted Puerto Rico a number of hams landed

there to set up little message centers and relay information back to the States. I was on the air when this was going on and relayed five messages to Stateside parents.

All five of them were from children to parents saying they were OK.

Three of them I got directly from Puerto Rico. Another came from a French ham and the fifth came from a Cuban ham. The French ham contacted me on the air and emailed me the message.

Cubans generally take the lead in ham radio relief efforts in the Carribean. They are somewhat legendary in the ham community for a number of reasons. One is the Cuban ham radio guru, one Arnie Coro, callsign CO2KK. The other thing is that while Cuba is not a rich country, Cuban hams are incredibly resourceful at making much of their gear.

In fact some Cuban hams are among the finest baling wire and junk pile artists on the planet. Many of them are outrageously talented and while junk is cheap, talent is truly priceless. If you are not familiar with the term 'baling wire and junk pile artist' it means you are one very, very talented person. It is a compliment of the highest order.

Anyway, a Cuban ham forwarded to me a message from a young woman stuck in Puerto Rico. It consisted of a phone number, her name and that she was OK and not to worry. I told the ham I was on it.

I had already made four phone calls to four sets of parents and given them the good news. This would be number five.

The first four were grateful as hell to get the good news. One man was wary at first until he figured out I was on the up and up. Can't say as I blame him. A lot of vultures take advantage of people that are worrying about loved ones. He was simply being smart.

The fifth call I made a woman answered and as soon as I said I had word from her daughter she demanded to speak with her. I told her it wasn't possible and that the message had been relayed to me. She wanted to know what kind of an operation I was running. She wanted to speak to the station manager. She was surprised when I told her I was the station owner. 

About this time someone snatched the phone from her and asked me what was going on. I told him I was a ham radio operator with a message from his daughter. "Message reads this telephone number Everything OK. Not to worry. Coming home soon. Signature Libby."

I heard him put his hand over the phone receiver and call his wife a 'fu**ing mongoloid'. She did have that one coming.

He started to ask me questions and I told him to listen because I would answer them.

"My name is Piccolo, my amateur radio callsign is KXXXXX. I am in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania right now and I am what is called a ham radio operator. We do things like this as a public service and if you try and reward me I will return it, I said. Also I can not contact your daughter." 

"Now," I continued. "Some plumber from Wisconsin drove to Dover Air base with his portable transceiver on his own nickel and somehow smuggled himself aboard a C-130 headed to Puerto Rico and when he arrived there he set up a primitive message center and started relaying messages from people to their families Stateside. The message you got from me was intercepted by a Cuban ham that passed it onto me. I passed it on to you."

"Can you trust a Cuban?" he asked. "We're still not allowed to go there."

"I'd bet my entire station on it," I replied. "When it comes to humanitarian radio efforts in the Carribean area Cubans are the best in the world. The man responsible for much of the humanitarian ham radio movement in the Carribean is Arnie, Coro, callsign CO2KK. The message is both accurate and real. You can take that to the bank. Incidentally I bet the Cuban was running a small rig with an improvised antenna because Cuba got beat up real bad. He may very well have been sitting atop the wreckage of his own home for all I know."

"Thank you," he said.

In the FWIW department I wish the State Department would patch things up between our government and the Cuban government. The people there I have met on the air are a sampling of what Cuban are like and they're pretty good people if you ask me.

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