The Hams

U.S. hams (amateur radio operators) like to think that they are invaluable 1) in disasters, and 2) as agents of international good will. Last week the hams had good proof of both contentions:

P: At Lake Success, the United Nations invited the world's 100,000 hams to be a global network for broadcasting U.N. information to 37 countries.

P: From what remained of the municipal building in blasted Texas City (see NATIONAL AFFAIRS), the voice of a ham station piped into action almost immediately after the first explosion. For the next two days & nights, the amateur was one of the busiest lines of communication between the charred city and the outside world.

Shortly after the first explosion, Veteran Ham B. H. Standley (W5FQQ) of Houston rushed to the scene, set up his emergency unit and began transmitting messages. Samples: "Joe Vasquez not expected to live. Is in Room 323, St. Joseph's Infirmary [Houston]." "To Fort Crockett: send all available officer-type gas masks." "To Houston Boilermakers' Union: please send 50 bottles of oxygen and acetylene Texas City."

While Standley's first messages were crackling along the Gulf Coast, the hams of STEN (South Texas Emergency Network) were given a red alert, went on the air to monitor the messages along to their destinations. In Washington, FCC hastily authorized STEN to use emergency frequency bands. Amateurs all over the U.S., Bermuda and Puerto Rico stood by to pick up and relay the messages.

For some 36 hours Standley broadcast almost continuously. At first, only priority messages (requests and instructions for Red Cross workers, embalmers, blood donors, etc.) were handled. Later, he sent and received "personal welfare" transmissions (inquiries about individuals). When the second explosion came at 1:11 a.m. Thursday, Standley flung himself to the floor and went on transmitting in a shower of glass. After 250-odd messages, with the emergency over, dog-tired Standley went off the air and home to bed.

Who are these mildly fanatic amateurs who call themselves hams? During the war, the armed forces found that they were a ready-made pool of trained communications experts. Since the war, the number of hams in the U.S. has risen to nearly 80,000 operators, with 50,000 stations (two-thirds of the world total). The FCC is now granting over 1,000 new licenses a month. Some predict that within five years there will be 250,000 U.S. hams.

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