Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (B)
To : All
From : Daryl Stout
Date : Fri Nov 03 2017 05:48 pm
SPECIAL REPORT: DISASTER PREPAREDNESS IN RETIREMENT COMMUNITY
PAUL/ANCHOR: Now, what happens if the amateurs happen to be older -
a whole lot older - than college students? There's a very unique
team of trained hams helping to safeguard their California community
too - and it include retirees well into their 90s. Caryn Eve Murray,
KD2GUT, has that story.
CARYN'S REPORT: The operators of amateur station AI6PV are not your
typical rookies. In fact, many have waited a lifetime - a long
lifetime - to get their tickets. These hams are in their 70s, 80s,
and even their 90s. Their shack is hardly typical either: It's located
at Plymouth Village, a continuing care retirement community on a
sprawling 37 acres in Redlands, California.
Keith Kasin, AI6BX, executive director of Plymouth Village, said the
3-year-old station, started with a singular mission.
KEITH: We got into it a lot for the disaster preparedness. We live
right on top of the San Andreas Fault, so we kicked a lot of it off,
as part of our emergency communication for the disaster preparedness
team. People have taken to it, and they are doing more of it on their
own. I have had residents come to me and say "I am getting ready to
take a trip to see children or grandchildren. Can you help me identify
some repeaters along the way?"
CARYN: The 32 licensed hams are part of a 64-member resident disaster
response team connecting to staff administrators, as well as area
hospitals, city agencies, and other organizations. Whether they live
independently on the grounds, or receive nursing or assisted living
care, almost every resident can have a role.
KEITH: Most, yes, are in the residential area, but here's one of the
best ones - and to me, this is a great success story - about how
amateur radio kept someone socially connected to his friends: He had
a situation, and needed to go to our skilled nursing facility, and he
became a permanent resident there. He took his HT, and he would be
rolling down the hallway in his wheelchair, talking to friends on the
radio. His great-grandson would come in and say 'Great grandpa, what's
that? Tell me about it' and he would get him engaged. This is someone
who had been licensed years ago when he was a storm chaser, and
relicensed when he got to our community. It is disaster preparation,
it is a new social engagement. I have heard residents calling each
other to set up a game of ping pong on their radios.
CARYN: The hams have begun upgrading their licenses, and studying to
become Volunteer Examiners. Others spend time DXing on HF. Meanwhile,
other facilities including Plymouth Village's sister locations in
Arizona and Washington State, are interested in replicating the model.
His advice?
KEITH: Find a couple of residents if you can who were hams, and would
be interested in getting back into it. Look for those retired from the
military who were radio officers -- and make it fun.
CARYN: Amateur station AI6PV: making it fun and keeping it safe. For
Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Caryn Eve Murray, KD2GUT.
**
DISASTER PREPAREDNESS: BRACING NEAR NUCLEAR POWER PLANT
PAUL/ANCHOR: For the final part of our report, we look to Montgomery
County, Pennsylvania, where hams are gearing up for a drill this month
to ensure safety surrounding a local nuclear power plant. We hear more
from Heather Embee, KB3TZD.
HEATHER'S REPORT: In Pennsylvania, the Reading Radio Club is preparing
to take part in the Limerick Power Plant Exercise on Tuesday, Nov. 14th,
and is looking for 18 to 24 radio operators to assist, starting at 5 p.m.
The Limerick Generating Station in Limerick Township, Pennsylvania is a
nuclear power plant, that can produce enough electricity for more than
1 million homes - but its presence also produces concerns about public
safety in the surrounding 10-mile emergency planning zone.
The amateur radio club provides communications support for these tests
every two years. Since the exercise covers a number of different
municipalities, the club is hoping to have two or three hams stationed
at each location, as well as some assigned to the Montgomery County EOC.
Hams who are participating for the first time will be paired up with an
amateur who has assisted in the exercise before. Food will be provided
at each location.
For more details, send an email to Don, WA1ELA, at joni hyphen don at
att dot net (
[email protected]). Joni is spelled "j o n i."
For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Heather Embee, KB3TZD.
**
DEATH OF A BLETCHLEY PARK 'LISTENER'
PAUL/ANCHOR: A woman who used her mastery of Morse Code to help make
World War II history, has died. Jeremy Boot, G4NJH, tells us her story.
JEREMY'S REPORT: One of the heroic Bletchley Park "listeners" of World
War II, has died. Alison Robins, who taught herself both Morse Code,
and German, during the war, and intercepted messages from U-boats around
the coast of Britain, was instrumental in passing along those messages
to Allied codebreakers at Bletchley Park. Her assignments placed her at
various coastal listening stations.
She was described in various newspaper reports as the last surviving
secret listener of that era.
Alison had been in the Women's Royal Naval Service during the early
part of the war, and also worked at the Royal Naval College.
Her daughter, Jill Hazell, told the Mirror newspaper, that the Royal
Navy Wren, spoke very rarely about her wartime experiences, which
involved monitoring communications late into the night. Her husband,
Maurice, who also spoke German, was sent to that nation before the
Nuremberg Trials to help with translations.
Alison Robins was 97. She died on the 15th of October, in the Westbury
Nursing Home in Bristol, where she was receiving care for dementia.
For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jeremy Boot, G4NJH.
(FORCES NETWORK, THE MIRROR, DAILY MAIL)
**
BREAK HERE
Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio Newsline,
heard on bulletin stations around the world, including the W6ZN Repeater
Group in Palomar Mountain, California, on Tuesdays, at 7:30 p.m. local
time.
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