[AusNOG] Fwd: IAA Disaster Coordination - support for members and community affected by the fires

[Ross Wheeler]

On Sat, 4 Jan 2020, Narelle Clark wrote:

> Has anyone heard from Ross in Albury?

Thanks for the concern. I'm fine, and my home/office is an underground 
bunker with independent power and water so quite survivable.

I've been an amateur operator since about 1975 and was one of the hams 
providing national and international comms for people during the major 
phone strikes back in the late 70's (or was it early 80's? I forget now!)

At the time, although illegal (as pointed out by another - amateurs are 
not permitted to pass 3rd-party traffic), but sometimes the greater good 
must over-rule stupid, inflexible laws.

I know quite a few of my amateur friends have been passing basic 
information to and from some of the fire zones - mainly at least letting 
family know that people are alive and ok, when no other comms are 
available.


Every penny-pinching person along the chain who actively took the decision 
to intentionally NOT provide every cellphone tower with at very least a 
decent battery bank, and preferably a generator - should share in the 
responsibility of some of the loss of life. These are critical 
infrastructure and should have been built and maintained as such.