[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 141 (Thursday, October 3, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S12331]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   VOLUNTEER AMATEUR RADIO OPERATORS

 Mr. COHEN. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to 
volunteer amateur radio operators who provide an essential emergency 
communications service to government and private relief agencies during 
times of national disasters.
  After floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, and tornados, amateur 
radio, or ``ham'' operators as they are often called, provide emergency 
communications when other forms of communications are down. They are 
often the only ones who can relay messages from victims in disaster 
areas to loved ones in other locations. There are over 4,000 ham radio 
operators in Maine, over 650,000 nationwide, and several million 
internationally.
  To give you an example of the valuable public service that ham radio 
operators provide, I want to tell you about a story that came to my 
attention last year. A couple honeymooning on St. Maarten were lost 
during Hurricane Luis. The hurricane caused massive destruction to the 
island, leveling neighborhoods, tearing apart hotels and restaurants, 
and washing out roads. Thousands of tourists were stranded without 
electricity, running water, or telephone service.
  George Foss, a ham radio operator from Franconia, NH, worked with 
Linda Leeman and David Seaborn of my staff, and ham radio operators in 
Cuba, Panama, North Carolina, and Aruba to contact the U.S. Consulate 
on the Dutch side of the island where one of the diplomats was 
operating an amateur radio station on emergency power. At the time, 
there were only two cellular telephones in service for the entire 
island. All other forms of communication had been destroyed by the 
hurricane. The hard work of these amateur radio operators made it 
possible to locate this couple and let their friends and family back 
home know they were alright.
  Mr. President, I want to publicly thank George Foss and the millions 
of amateur radio operators worldwide who volunteer their time to aid in 
these search and rescue efforts. We all owe them our thanks and sincere 
gratitude.

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