[A-DX] Bericht aus Sri Lanka

[Christoph Ratzer <dx@xxxxxxxxx>]

Damit man sich ein Bild machen kann, folgende Mail von Victor kam vor
wenigen Stunden.

73 Christoph

Ich hoffe weiterhin das wir wenigstens einen kleinen runden Betrag nach Sri
Lanka schicken können um denen zu helfen die derzeit selbst am meisten
helfen!  Alle Infos unter: http://www.a-dx.com


Let t me give some idea of what we are doing!

As President of the Amateur Radio Society in Sri Lanka it was wonderful
even at a tragic time to tell you that the RSSL was able to link up South
of Sri Lanka with the Prime Minister who comes from the South and that is
where his people are. So we went in and established this HF link with the
town of Hambantota..  Our Amateur friends 4S7KE (Secretary RSSL),4S7 AK
(Treasurer RSSL) and DZ went in a 4 wheel drive approaching the costal town
of Hambantota from the interior as the main road along the cost was badly
battered and full of debris and was impassable.  So  when all the cellular
and all other means failed HF Radio stood bold and proud.  It is so simple
tec  nically and although we didnt even have a TS 50 or such a small mobile
HF set, we took an Icom IC7400 the best radio we have and two 12v batteries
and dipoles some food and water and filled the rest of the vehicle with
food for the displaced.  I stood by in Colombo at the PM's along with
4S7VJ,4S7 KG and 4S7AB and 4S5BA to run the link in and coordinate. We also
had two hams on a moble going along the coast of the South to asses and
record damage..

I wish I could scream aloud and tell people in some high places that when
all else is dead HF is alive. What do you do when your power goes out,
telephones go dead and you can't even charge your batteries  of your GTS or
Mobile Phone? We had our Morse key handy if we had to operate with just 1
or 2 watts but the batteries held..

Well the Police Radio connected their links 12 or more hours later but the
hams were there before anyone else. Most of the district is so badly
battered it will take some time to restore utilities.  We operated for 48
hours from the Prime Ministers disaster room and moved out and we are in
fax contact now relaying traffic.  We also have 4S7SW Sarath operating from
another Southern Town  "Matara" and two other stations 4S7WI, 4S6NM and
others relaying and helping in the disaster traffic passing info to the
coordinating centre.  We have 3 stations out there and we are trying to
connect lost people, pass info on displaced camps and people and the
movement of food and essentials. We are trying to expand our coverage but
our resourses are limited. Many other hams like 4S7DA, 7WN, 7EA 7CF, 7MM,
and some more on HF and others on VHF are helping in the traffic.

Our roll has to change as the situation changes with Government links
comming into operations, yet civilian communication lines and most damaged
telecoms will take a long time..  I am here at my desk with my land phone
and mobile, a VHF radio and HF radio constantly tuned to our disaster
communications  frequencies trying to coordinate as best as I can.The Sri
Lankan hams are playing  part under difficult conditions and will continue
to do so.


P.S. The DW TRinco was unaffected and is in full operatioon as it is 3
miles inland and the Tidal waves didn't reach that far. However some local
staff who live closer to the sea have been affected. The station was off
the air for a few hours.


=============================================================
G.Victor A. Goonetilleke.   4S7VK
"Shangri-la", 298 Madapatha Road,
Kolamunne, Piliyandala. Sri Lanka.

E-mail:  victorg@xxxxxx
Tel:     +94  11 2614098
Mobile  072 3333 209
http://www.dxasia.info

-- 
http://www.a-dx.at


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