I am very willing to bet that the public service that those amateurs are now performing will go further to ensure the re-establishment of amateur radio on the islands than the 50 or 60 thousand QSOs that will be logged. It is, after all, by performing such service that amateur radio has won its spurs in many similar applications around the world.
If there were some kind of international award for Ham of the Year, I would be right there to nominate Bharathi and her colleagues on VU4.
A big Bravo Zulu to all!
73, and best wishes for a hppy, healthy and prosperous 2005.
Phil Irons / VE1BVD Sydney, Nova Scotia
----- Original Message ----- From: "Charles Harpole" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, December 27, 2004 7:46 PM
Subject: [DX-NEWS] All OK in VU4 land !!!
6. By that afternoon, the team had set up one rig outside with a mobile whip and tuner...powered by the Hotel generator... and Bharathi was taking health and welfare messages from the people standing around there. Many wanted to tell relatives on the Indian mainland that they were ok, and Bharathi established contact with many India ham stations in various cities as needed. Traffic was being passed. She told my wife in Thailand that I was ok via contact with an HS station who passed the message by telephone in Thailand.... very nice to be a ham !
7. The team got cots from the hotel and, along with most others, slept out in the open that night. I slept fitfully near the lobby door on a couch inside, reasoning rightly this time, that the worst was over.
8. I will have more reports later, but the main news for ham radio is THE TEAM IS COMPLETELY OK AND SAFE. They have suspended normal DXpedition operations while helping out with health and welfare messages and whatever other duties may have come to them after I departed Port Blair vy early this morning (as I was originally scheduled to do). I suspect they will go back to DXpedition work soon because Port Blair escaped the worst damage and the after shocks apparantly have also stopped.
---------------------------------------------------------- Archives http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] THE DXR is sponsored by the North Jersey DX Association. Please visit our website: http://www.njdxa.org/index.php scroll to bottom for subscribe/unsubscribe options ----------------------------------------------------------
