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Great reading on what's happening in one neighborhood in North Carolina in terms of recovery/help. Also how amateur radio is now directly being used to make local and FEMA resource requests. #NCSTRONG #Helene #NCwx

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Helene Aftermath Update: Community, Coordination, and Misinformation (Monday, October 7, 2024)

Good Morning, Friends, If you haven’t read my previous posts, here’s the situation in a nutshell: we live in a rural mountain community in Swannanoa, NC, where the bridge connecting us to the outsi…
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#helene #ncwx #ncstrong
in reply to AI6YR Ben

AI6YR Ben
AI6YR Ben
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Incredible stories about how having that amateur radio license has such a direct, immediate impact on their neighborhood.
#hamradio #disasters #recovery #NCSTRONG #Helene
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Using amateur radio, we had arranged for a helicopter drop of supplies to the upper part of our road. The team behind this effort was absolutely amazing. They’re mostly ex-military volunteers who use their skills to get aid into areas quickly. This was all arranged with one call on the Mount Mitchell repeater on Wednesday evening. Dennis (N4DIN), stationed at the Swannanoa Fire Department (our local command center), put in the call, and Ed (N4EDX) arranged for Mike and Jay from the team to hike up our road and survey a potential landing site.
I mention this because, during our Wednesday evening neighborhood meeting, we agreed a helicopter drop would be ideal, as most aid was being delivered at the bottom of our road, and we had no idea when or how it was coming. Someone asked, “How do we even request something like this?” I told them I’d ask net control on the N2GE repeater. By the time I got back to the house, everything had been arranged—within 30 seconds of my request on the N2GE (Mount Mitchell) emergency net. Since our amateur radio emergency communications team is directly connected to our local emergency services command center, you can make requests for aid directly to the source. There’s no email, text message, or phone call to get lost in the shuffle—it just happens, without hesitation.

Helene Aftermath Update: Egress, FEMA, Resource Organization, and the National Guard (Saturday October 5, 2024)

Good Morning, Friends, If you haven’t read my previous posts, here’s the situation in a nutshell: we live in a rural mountain community in Swannanoa, NC, where the bridge connecting us to the outsi…
Q R P e r
#hamradio #recovery #helene #disasters #ncstrong
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