Amateur radio operators are often overlooked in favor of flashier means of communication. As communities across the gulf coast and America learned this year, technology can be highly vulnerable. HAM radios, entirely self-contained transmitters, require no cell towers or satellites, simply a battery and a strip of wire as an antenna. 

Just as after major earthquakes, tornadoes, and the terrorist attacks of 9/11, HAM operators around the country received an alert to stand by their radios to listen for calls for assistance. Following Hurricane Katrina, when cell phones and e-mail were useless, a HAM operator located in Connecticut alerted authorities about a woman trapped for 4 days without food or water and a Coast Guard Auxiliary in Cleveland arranged for a medevac for a woman in labor in New Orleans. These are just a few examples of the many lives that were saved with the critical intervention of HAM operators throughout the country. 

Now more than ever, I am proud to be a licensed amateur radio operator. It is important to realize that every HAM radio operator in the Amateur Radio Emergency Service is a volunteer. This year, when disaster struck, hundreds of HAMs moved to the gulf coast to help in every way they could. Every one of which did so on a volunteer basis and their only goal was to assist in what became one of the worst natural disasters in America. 

The dedication displayed by HAM radio operators in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina sets a tremendous example for us all. The people whose lives were rescued as a result of the tireless dedication of HAM radio operators will forever be grateful to these selfless public servants.