The morning after Hurricane Helene hit the East Coast of the United States, Thomas Witherspoon inspected the damage to his home in western North Carolina. The night before, he heard the wind blow down trees and snap power lines along the two-mile access road that connects his family to his few neighbors in Buncombe County.
Like tens of thousands of other North Carolinians, the power of Witherspoon’s neighborhood I was completely out.. It was impossible to communicate with the house at the end of the street, much less with someone several miles away. Unable to text or make phone calls, radio became the only form of communication left in rural North Carolina. After fixing what he could on his own property, Witherspoon, a lifelong amateur radio enthusiast, began distributing portable radios to his neighbors.
“Hobby radio is one of those things that you get into because of your love of radio communications and the technical aspects of it or the community and the challenges you can overcome,” Witherspoon says. “It’s a lot of fun, but behind all that is this prime guideline of amateur radio that it’s always there as emergency communication when all else fails.”
Other amateur radio enthusiasts have also helped. Last Tuesday, operators responded to requests for medications, such as insulin, and announced when grocery stores, such as Sam’s Club, reopened. Most of the messages were to let friends and family know they are okay.
“Mom, your son is fine. No telephone service. Happy birthday,” WIRED heard a caller ask an operator to send his mother during a live broadcast of the broadcast.
Hurricanes have wreaked havoc across the United States over the past month. More than 200 people have been confirmed dead. As a result of Helene and many more have disappeared, making it the most destructive US hurricane since Katrina in 2005. Nearly a week after Helene made landfall, cell service dead zones plagued by carolinasleaving thousands of residents unable to contact their friends, family and even emergency personnel. As Hurricane Milton moves into the Gulf of Mexico this week, radio operators in Florida are They are also preparing to cast their net—a group of operators who communicate live over the air. Scott Roberts, North Florida amateur radio section manager, said operators in his area began checking their equipment and making plans to deploy it to shelters starting Monday.
There are more than 1 million licensed radio amateurs in the U.S. like Witherspoon and Roberts, according to a Federal Communications Commission spokesperson who spoke to WIRED last week. Some amateur radio bands are short bands that reach only small communities of people, while others cover hundreds and even thousands of miles. When communications infrastructure fails, such as cellular networks during a natural disaster, the FCC allows amateur radio operators to assist in recovery efforts.
Gordon Mooneyhan, a spokesman for the American Radio Relay League, said he knows of three main repeaters being used to transmit messages within the Hurricane Helene disaster area, including the Mount Mitchell repeater, which is located at the highest point in North Carolina. North at 6,600 meters altitude. feet and boosts localized radio transmissions to a broader network. This is where Witherspoon read the supply requests and road closures.