As Hurricane Ida bore down on the Gulf Coast, Amateur Radio Operators throughout the Southeast and Midwest geared up to respond to communication needs.

Knowing that commercial power would be at a premium and providing information about the status both of people and of property, amateur radio stood in a good position to respond to multiple needs, and Winlink offered many the opportunity for exchanging information that they might otherwise find impossible.

Knowing that, James, KF4LXS, and Ken, K9KDJ, quickly talked on Sunday evening and decided to implement our plan to help make RMS Gateways more available during Ida’s move inland and her march across the southeast and into the northeast.

Knowing that most traffic in the affected areas would move on 80m and 40m, James decided to scan only those frequencies to allow less scan time and more opportunity for connecting by other stations. Ken brought up K9KDJ HF on 20m and 30m to provide greater distance capabilities and more opportunities for connections with fewer scanned frequencies. This points to the value of redundancy in our area and how fortunate we are to enjoy two RMS Hybrid Gateways who work in concert with each other. Additionally, Ken monitored and provided his SHARES RMS Gateway on HF.

Of course, currently, we don’t know how many used our stations, but we do know that preparation and coordination allowed us to offer capabilities to meet the catastrophic power that Hurricane Ida created.

Ken, K9KDJ