(The unedited ARRL KY4EOC PRESS Release)
KY4EOC ICE STORM ACTIVATION
In the grips of an Ice Encased Nightmare, the Kentucky emergency communication systems were jammed with traffic or totally shut down. After the storm, over a half million were without power and up to 55 water districts would be off line for days. For some city and county officials in far western KY, the only means of communications was Ham operators. The State EOC located at Boone Nation Guard Center, in Frankfort KY, utilized Ham and MARS radio to reach out and assess the damage. No phones, no cells, the state radio system was malfunctioning, and even the sat radio system was unreliable to reach the disaster areas.
Beginning Wednesday Jan 27th we found 3960 to be the only clear channel of all the KY ARES 80 meter frequencies and found many KY stations were up rag-chewing about the storm. Some stations started to show up in the disaster area in West KY and established contact with the State EOC (KY4EOC). A few third party comms from officials were conducted as well as a flood of requests for generators, water, food, heaters, cots, and blankets, fuel, and law enforcement. Some National Guard traffic was also passed between KY and TN.
With the EOC on full activation, the station operated 8am-8pm shifts each day. AT times KY4EOC was relaying traffic on two HF radios, and three VHF radios. KY Joint MARS members activated and merged with TN MARS running HF and VOIP emergency radio nets. Most stations operated with both MARS and ARES hats, picking up traffic on ham nets and sending on MARS nets. MARS stations also maintained the KY National Guard HF net during deployment of troops to West KY. EOC traffic was heavy enough on 28th and 29th to request TN Ham/MARS operators to stand in for KY4EOC on HF and relay back via email, land-line or VOIP. By the 30th most west KY counties were linked up by local hams and could communicate with KY4EOC and local EOCs. The Station was also visited by the Lt. Governor and he was very satisfied and impressed with the ham radio support around KY. A job well done!
This is the worst wide spread disaster to hit the bluegrass, but for the many hams that provided hours of critical communications the ice can’t stop our unbridled sprint.
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PATRICK COMPTON
KF4FMZ/ AAR4QZ/ AAM4EKY
CITY OF FRANKFORT EM – COMMUNICATIONS
KY ARMY MARS DIRECTOR OF EMERGENCY OPERATIONS ARRL FRANKLIN CO., DISTRICT 14 EMERGENCY COORDINATOR AMATEUR RADIO EMERGENCY SERVICE
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