>during Mexico City earthquake). I got on with a Spain speaker and passed
>some traffic. Did same for several hurricanes and CA earthquake.
>
>This is our duty. Think about it.
>73, Charlie K4VUD
I was on a bit for the California quake and a LOT for the Mexico City quake.
N0AX stresses the importance of knowing procedure and I agree that it is
important. Absolutely NOTHING replaces being loud, though, even perfect
procedure. During the Mexico thing, since I was not up to snuff on
procedure, I did not participate in any organized net, thinking I might do
more harm than good for them. Rather, I freelanced on my own frequency,
developed a rapport with a Mexico City station, and he stayed with me
because he could copy me with his lousey antenna and right through everybody
else! There was a rather massive number of U.S. stations constantly trying
to break in and I had my own agenda an so did my Mexico City contact. We
had all we could handle without more traffic from would-be breakers. (I
live in Aloha, OR which is just 5 miles from Hillsboro, OR where thousands
of Mexican farm workers live so you can see why I had my hands full.) I got
phone calls from all over the U.S. from hams pleading with me to take their
traffic for Mexico City. The called me on the phone because they heard me
being successful on the air and they could not seem to break in. One guy
who phoned me from somehwere in the Southeast said a local TV station had
announced an offer by the Red Cross to take health and wefare messages since
he had offered his services to the Red Cross. He said the Red Cross called
him with 900 messages! He had traffic, all right, but he did not have the
ability to get through during that mess. I had to turn him down, of course!
I was already working at 100% capacity.
The moral to this story is that being LOUD can be much more important than
procedure. Being LOUD is what contesters specialize in . . . and their
procedure ain't bad either because they tend to use common sense. They are
understandable, fast, efficient, loud . . . exactly the same stuff is needed
for contests and emergencies. To some guys I know, the risk of coming in
second place in a contest IS an emergency! Don't underestimate your ability
to help. Just use good sense in how you do it.
Stan W7NI@teleport.com
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