Supporting The American Red Cross In Loudoun County, Northern Virginia

Hillsboro Red Cross Rest Station

Hillsboro Red Cross Rest Station

        Tom  Martin - KF4TNX of Berryville, the Clarke County ARES Emergency Coordinator, was Station Captain for the Hillsboro communications. He was aided by Ed Krom - WD4KHP of Berryville.

        Tom and Ed have extensive experience with County Sheriff Dispatch and EOC Operations, Emergency Medical Technician services, and the American Red Cross operations throughout Clarke County. It was nice to see them again this year; they provide outstanding 'mutual support.' They operated both 2 Meters and 40 Meters stations with good signals during the operation. They also kept a watch on the National Red Cross frequencies as the agency geared up to support the pending Hurricane Katrina relief operations in the Gulf States.

Tom Martin chats with Charlie Nelson - KG4KZY
of Lansdowne; Charlie was also wearing
his Loudoun County Red Cross Relief Hat.

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Early Morning At The Hillsboro Station

        By the time that the Red Cross and ARES leadership reach Hillsboro, Tom and Ed were already operational. Here they discuss the general situation with Tom Dawson - WB3AKD, Loudoun ARES EC and Jay Greeley, Loudoun ARC and representatives from the Virginia Defense Force.

Clarke County Red Cross Equipment

        Ed Krom - WD4KHP brought some of the gear used to support Clarke County Red Cross operations and put it through its paces. On left is digital, menu controlled general coverage HF transceiver.  The pair on the right are for VHF and UHF operations. Tom Martin also deployed a separate VHF/UHF transceiver. All equipment was powered by deep-cycle 12-volt dc batteries.

Hillsboro HF Antenna Site

        Ed Krom - WD4KHP and Tom Martin - KF4TNX strung their 40 Meter dipole antenna up in a tree and pole support in the nice clearing in front of the Hillsboro Elementary School.  About noon time, the National Red Cross Headquarters contacted Tom and Ed and request that they establish a Red Cross Liaison Net on 20 Meters SSB to support Hurricane Katrina relief operations in the Gulf. Ed figured a way to reconfigure the dipole into a long wire and began looking for a clear frequency and stations out in the St Louis area. Other stations could be copied but propagation was not quite right. Ed also kept watch on the 14 MHz National SHARE frequency.