Please do not accept any messages for delivery into the Hurricane affected areas!
Please read this entire post carefully!
Guidance on Puerto Rico Health and Welfare Traffic was received from Steve Ewald, WV1X, Supervisor of the Field Organization Team at ARRL HQ. Here is the content of Steve’s email:
Hello, ARRL Field Organization member.
Here is an advisory regarding requests for information from the public and the press. Thank you for your attention and help.
73,
Steve Ewald, WV1X
Supervisor, Field Organization Team
ARRL, the national association for Amateur Radio®
860-594-0265
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Advisory: Requests for Information from the Public and the Press
Many individuals have loved ones in Puerto Rico and they are understandably hopeful that Amateur Radio operators can relay messages to them. As a result, some are contacting amateurs with requests to pass message traffic to the island.
At the same time, individual amateurs and clubs have reported that local press representatives have contacted them to request information about Amateur Radio involvement in Puerto Rico. This is likely to increase as word spreads in the national media about our activities.
For press inquiries, please ask reporters to contact ARRL directly at newsmedia@arrl.org. A system has been established at ARRL Headquarters to respond to press inquiries in a timely and accurate manner.
Our Section Manager, WB3W, and Section Traffic Manager, AF4NC, request that all EPA Section Members check in to the Section Traffic Nets to help with any possible messages to our Section from the Hurricane affected areas. AF4NC recommends the following nets:
EPA Emergency Phone & Traffic Net 6:00PM Daily 3.917 MHz
3rd Region Phone Net 4:00PM Daily 3.918 MHz.
3rd Region CW Net 9:30PM 7:45PM Daily 3.557 MHz.
PA Traffic Net 7:00PM and 10:00PM Daily 3.585 MHz
All times given are EDT.
AF4NC, the EPA Section Traffic Manager, again cautions against accepting any messages to be sent to the Hurricane affected areas. There is no means of delivering any messages on the islands. All Amateur Radio message activity is outbound from Puerto Rico and the affected areas.
Advise anyone who needs to know the status of their loved ones in the affected areas to check the web site listed above.