When Helene struck Western North Carolina, knocking out power and all the usual forms of wireless, broadcast, and cellular communications, amateur radio operators stepped into the void and became heroes. Asheville Radio Museum volunteer Thomas Witherspoon and his family first tended to damage on their own wind-torn property in Swannanoa. Sixty trees were down; one crushed their Subaru, while another landed on a second home used as an Airbnb, rendering it unrentable. After addressing their own damage as best they could, Witherspoon, his wife, and twin daughters, 17, then turned to helping neighbors by handing out hand-held radios. A-B Tech IT Network Administrator Benson Metcalf also used his amateur radio license to help his neighbors in Marshall by relaying personal messages and daily briefings from the county commissioner’s office.
According to WIRED magazine, there are more than 1 million licensed radio amateurs in the US like Witherspoon and Metcalf. When internet and cell networks fail during emergencies, the FCC lets amateur radio operators assist with emergency efforts. During Helene, radio was the primary means of communication in western North Carolina. Three main repeaters in the area, including one on Mount Mitchell, helped convey important messages such as requests for medicine, questions about family members’ whereabouts, and announcements about supplies and road closures.
For Witherspoon amateur radio has long been a family hobby. He, his wife Heather, and his twin daughters, Neva and Sylvie, both A-B Tech dual enrolled students, all have their licenses. Witherspoon said the family uses their radios for everything from communicating while vacationing in Canada without cell phones; to connecting with people all over the world for fun.
After Helene, Witherspoon’s street, perched high on a mountain and accessible by a bridge, was cut off due to flooding. Fortunately, the family was able to rely on well water and solar power, their home’s source of electricity. They also have satellite internet, making them the area’s go-to “hot spot”. Within days of the storm, the Witherspoon’s home on Long Beach Road became a makeshift internet café where neighbors filed FEMA applications, charged phones, and called family. Despite having reliable phone and internet, radio became Witherspoon’s default means of communication. He relied on a small “walkie-talkie” style radio plus a “base” radio to communicate with the Mt. Mitchell Repeater, which at 6,600 feet, is the highest point in North Carolina and transmits local requests across Western NC into surrounding states.
“The web is not effective for emergency communication,” Witherspoon reflected. “Nobody would’ve paid any attention to a guy sending an email. (With the radio) they took my messages seriously.” After calling for help, Witherspoon was able to connect with a Swannanoa fire department employee who agreed to send a helicopter with supplies, if needed.
Metcalf, meanwhile, also listening to local air traffic, overheard a man ask if anyone in Marshall could check on his elderly mother, whom he hadn’t heard from for days. Metcalf replied that he would be happy to and then learned the woman lived across the street from him and his wife. Not only did Metcalf check on her, but he also brought her a loaf of his wife’s freshly baked bread. “She was well, her home undamaged. Happy we have made contact. We relayed her status back to her son,” Metcalf said.
Metcalf also was able to connect with his stepdaughter Jamie in Morgantown, 38, who was out of reach for two days. When he got on air to ask if anyone local could check on her, a fellow radio operator agreed. He later reported back, “She’s fine except she broke down in tears when I told her that you were alright.” “You see the impact a simple communication can make,” Metcalf said.
A Purposeful Passion
What inspired Witherspoon and Metcalf to become amateur radio operators? For Witherspoon, the allure was tied to his love of technology. He got his amateur license in 1997 and has since jumped into his passion with both feet. He manages a website with a popular blog at QRPer.com and has a YouTube channel with more than 16, 000 subscribers.
For Metcalf, amateur radio is a relatively new hobby. After discovering a handheld radio in his garage three years ago, he read up on its history and decided to get his license. In addition to being a fun way to connect with people all over the world, he said he also felt called to help with communication in an emergency. “At my core, it was almost a panic to get my license, a sixth sense,” he said. The amateur radio license, he said, ties in well with his role on A-B Tech’s Emergency Response Team, which works to ensure the college is prepared in emergency situations.
“It gives another layer of communication that doesn’t rely on infrastructure, internet, or cell signal,” he said. “I enjoy being able to stay up on what’s going on and to be of service if I can. To help my fellow human beings.”
Amateur Radio Through The Ages
Radio waves were adapted for communication in the 1890s by Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi. In the US, the first commercially produced telegraphs became available to amateurs for communication in 1905. For many years afterward, amateur radio operators were required to demonstrate Morse code proficiency. In 2003 the World Radiocommunications Conference (WRC) met in Geneva, Switzerland, and voted to give member countries of the International Telecommunication Union the option of eliminating Morse code testing. The relaxing of Morse code tests in most countries worldwide has resulted in more amateur radio operators in recent years. Radio communication has been utilized in many natural disasters including Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the Sichuan earthquake in 2008, and the 2017 hurricane in Puerto Rico.
