Massive Earthquake Jolts Bay Area

Even before the shaking stopped ham radio operators were establishing communication links with the San Francisco area. Hundreds of volunteers, many staying up all night, pinpointed and communicated information about need for emergency services, damage reports, and handled health and welfare inquiries to and from the area.

The major ham radio FM communication link between Northern and Southern California is the Condor system of several linked repeaters (relay stations). This system, built entirely by hams at their own expense, is very reliable because it is not hampered by changes in atmospheric conditions. It handled continuous high-quality emergency communications throughout the nights and days following the San Francisco earthquake. It did the same after the Whittier quake.

Condor uses the lower end of the 220-megahertz ham band to connect its repeaters. Under very suspicious and unusual circumstances the Federal Communications Commission recently ruled that the use of this spectrum of frequency will be taken away from the hams and made available to commercial business interests. The loss will be a major one to the brilliant and dedicated hobbyist who built the system but it will be an even greater loss to the citizens of California when the next disaster strikes.

ALAN GINSBURG

Seal Beach