Shortwave again proved to be lifeline during the category 5 (weakend to cat 2 later) tropical cyclone Yasi that hit the Queensland coast in Australia.
ABC Local Radio Queensland started non stop coverage of cyclone on shortwave (9710 kHz during local daytime & 6080 kHz during night) but later was carried by all the Radio Australia's shortwave channels.
Here's an audio excerpt recorded last night on 9475 kHz, ABC Local Radio QLD's Kelly Higgins with non-stop coverage......live call-in reports, repeated announcements of emergency phone numbers, weather updates and all.
Listen to the audio file : http://tinyurl.com/4z2ovur
An interesting quote form David Sharp in the dxld list .....
Quote ....
Have been listening to coverage on ABC-Queensland. They have been repeatedly mentioning, that people should tune to 9710 or 6080 kHz, "if (their) local ABC transmitter goes off." Then the announcer added: "Shortwave is 'crackly' but at least IT WORKS!"
First World broadcasters, who think shortwave is redundant...TAKE NOTE.
One final thought-- it's good to see the Australian government acknowledge the benefits of HF broadcasting, especially when in the past, Radio Australia's future was uncertain. If the axe had fallen on RA, how would people impacted by Yasi get their news (if the local stations are off the air)?
73s
David Sharp, NSW Australia
Related links :
For reliable broadcasts during disaster, turn to short wave
http://blog.marxy.org/2011/02/for-reliable-broadcasts-during-disaster.html
The ABC show us the way again with Cyclone Yasi
http://james.cridland.net/blog/the-abc-show-us-the-way-again-with-cyclone-yasi/
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