Haiti: Amateur radio comes through when all else failed

Do you think phone patch is really outdated and useless? An amateur radio operator in Miami provided a phone patch to a Haitian to pass along a welfare message from Port-au-Prince to Miami. From the video description:

When telephones, internet, and power are cut off, Amateur Radio fills vital communications needs. Fred Moore of Florida, callsign W3ZU provides a radio/telephone patch for Jean-Robert Gaillard, callsign HH2JR, of Port au Prince. Audio captured by Brian Crow.

This is a great example of hams pulling together to assist in passing health and welfare traffic and assisting in disaster relief in other ways. This is an international, ham-to-ham, non-ARES effort, and it’s what’s been on several of the designated frequencies around the clock over the past several days.

• 7.045 and 3.720 MHz – IARU Region 2 nets
• 14.265, 7.265 and 3.977 MHz – SATERN nets
• 14.300 MHz Intercontinental Assistance and Traffic Net
• The International Radio Emergency Support Coalition (IRESC) is also active on EchoLink node 278173.

Unfortunately, IARU Region 1 is reporting that a convoy of amateur radio operators from Radio Club Dominicano (RCD) had to abort their mission after they were fired upon.