Hurricane Katrina Amateur Radio Communications Support by Tangipahoa Parish Amateur Radio Emergency Service (Tangi ARES) and Southeast Louisiana Amateur Radio Club, Inc. (SELARC) for Tangipahoa Office of Emergency Preparedness, Amite Emergency Operations Center

Operations on 147.000MHz repeater with Tangipahoa and Washington Parish EOC in Bogalusa, and direct contact with Louisiana State Office of Emergency Preparedness in Baton Rouge on 147.285MHz and with St. Tammany Parish EOC on 146.715MHz.

Sunday Evening, Aug. 28, 2005 & Monday, Aug. 29:
Richard Cutrer WA5TQX with Amite Fire Dept. also monitoring the ARES radio station at Amite EOC on 147.00 repeater. Monday, 29th, about noon the 147.00 repeater went off-air during peak of the storm. Operations switched to simplex.

Tuesday, Aug. 30:
Alvon Brumfield KB5DLN operating at Amite EOC.
On Tuesday morning, Robert Priez WB5FBS made his way to the Tickfaw repeater site since 147.00 repeater had gone off-air Monday during the hurricane. At the tower site the back-up battery and repeater equipment were still functioning. Upon further investigation, Priez discovered that approximately 100' of feedline cable had torn loose from the tower ties and, because of flapping in the wind, had been broken apart at the junction of the cable tray and the tower. He made a temporary cable patch to put the repeater back on the air but with a reduced coverage area.

Wednesday, Aug. 31:
7:30 am Alvon Brumfield KB5DLN operating ARES/RACES station at Tangipahoa EOC
8:10 am St Helena Truck stop at I-55 Fluker exit, west toward Greensburg is fully operational.
8:20 am Lallie Kemp Hospital out of phone service. POC is Kevin Brady
8:30 am Ed Hoffman K5AH is attempting to establish some HF for us. No response to call for radio to go to Lallie Kemp.
9:13 am K5AH now has HF communication. Madisonville EOC is back on 146.715.
9:37 am Robert Madden K5NDT will drive to Lallie Kemp Hospital to see what the status is.
10:00 am K5NDT currently monitoring from Lallie Kemp and willing to help on 147.000
10:03 am Currently monitoring the 145.13- repeater. NO ONE answered.
10:12 am Available for work later today Nathan Gifford N5BFC Tickfaw, will bring his HF radio.
10:37 Bob K5NDT gave report from hospital, 1wk of O2, will give full brief in person at noon
10:57 Called for who is monitoring: KB5XNC, n5xes n5xcf?
11:30 Sent a message from John Ballard, Tangipahoa Director of Homeland Security, to FM radio stations WHMD & KSLU - FEMA will be here in three days.
12:45 Asked/RX info: We have a FEMA truck at Tangi OEC, advise route to Luling EOC. ANSWER: Take I-12 to B.R. then I-10 to Laplace, it will be unloaded there and boated in.
This log ended, switched purely to the message receipt method, to simplify and expedite traffic.

On Wednesday morning, Robert Priez WB5FBS returned to the repeater tower site to install a fresh back-up battery and to make an improved, but still temporary, repair to the repeater feedline. At the site, Tangipahoa Parish Deputy Tommy Davidson was fueling the emergency generator to operate the Sheriff's Department radio system. He offered the use of the extra 110VAC outlet on the generator to run the 147.00 repeater, thus eliminating the need to keep replacing the back-up batteries.

Thursday, Sept. 1:
Alvon Brumfield KB5DLN, Richard Hight N4IOB, Ralph Shaw K5CAV operating at Amite EOC.
On Thursday morning, Robert Priez WB5FBS and Tyrone Burns N5XES returned to the repeater tower site to replace the temporary cable patch with a permanent feedline. Priez served as the ground crew while Burns climbed the tower to remove the hardline that had torn loose of the ties and install a new section of cable. Burns then continued up the tower to secure cable ties to both the new and remaining sections of hardline. After the repairs were concluded, signal strength and coverage area of the repeater were much improved, and provided an excellent VHF signal into Washington Parish and the State EOC in Baton Rouge.

Friday, Sept. 2:
Larry Jacobson KD5LWJ, Richard Hight N4IOB operating at Amite EOC.
On Friday, Richard Hight N4IOB and Alvon Brumfield KB5DLN went from Tangipahoa Parish EOC to the Washington Parish EOC, to relieve their only operator for one day. The trip was made due to the fuel donated by Tangipahoa Parish President Gordon Burgess; a small amount of Ice and water was also sent on behalf of Mr. John Ballard (Director, Tangipahoa Department of Homeland Security). After a full day at Washington EOC Hight and Brumfield were relieved by a ham radio contingent from the Baton Rouge Amateur Radio Club.

Saturday, Sept. 3:
Robert Priez WB5FBS, Larry Jacobson KD5LWJ at Amite EOC.
On Saturday, a permanent 24-hour link between State EOC in Baton Rouge and the EOC in Washington Parish was established via the Hammond repeater on 147.00MHz and the DOW repeater in Baton Rouge on 147.345MHz. This allowed James Coleman AI5B at Washington Parish OEP to maintain direct contact with the LA Office of Emergency Preparedness station WB5LHS in Baton Rouge via Hammond.

Sunday, Sept. 4:
Larry Jacobson KD5LWJ, Michael Hernandez KD5PCM at Amite EOC.

Monday, Sept. 5:
Ralph Shaw K5CAV, Robert Priez WB5FBS at Amite EOC.

Amateur Radio operations from the Office of Emergency Preparedness in Amite were concluded on the evening of September 5, 2006 upon direction of Tangipahoa Parish President Gordon Burgess.

The Emergency Communications Net with Washington Parish (Bogalusa and Franklinton) continued on the 147.000MHz repeater and with State OEP amateur station WB5LHS until commercial communications were restored to Washington Parish. The link from Bogalusa to Baton Rouge via the Hammond repeater was concluded at 5:55 PM on Sunday, Sept. 11, 2005.

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