S. 1629  To request a study by the Federal Communications Commission on the interference caused by broadband Internet transmission over power lines. A draft letter is attached  (click link) and should be customized and mailed to him at :                              

Honorable Bill Nelson

716 Senate Hart Office Building

Washington, DC 20510

Phone: 202-224-5274

Fax: 202-228-2183

A copy of this letter should be sent to our lobbyist by email to John.chwat@chwatco.com  or Janet.worthington@chwatco.com.

Operation Lone Star article coming soon.

September 15, 2001

Queen Isabella Causeway  collapses

and

 Photo courtesy of smryoung1 of comcast. net

 Local Hams respond the calling

 Texas ARES/RACES teams activate following bridge collapse: Disaster struck
in South Texas early on the morning of September 15 when a 240-foot section
of the Queen Isabella Causeway between South Padre Island and Port Isabel,
Texas, collapsed after barges slammed into the bridge supports. The mishap
sent several vehicles plummeting into the water 80 feet below and claimed 11
lives. The Texas Department of Public Safety contacted John Teer, AK5Z, to
request Amateur Radio assistance with communications, because all phone
lines between South Padre Island and the mainland had been severed. "I
called around to get volunteers to place on the Island EOC and the Port
Isabel EOC," Teer reports. The DPS provided  a helicopter to the
Island for an operator. "We provided 2-meter communication for government
and Red Cross officials on Saturday and Sunday until landline telephone and
cell phone communications could be re-established," Teer said. Participating
in addition to Teer were Pat Patterson, N5SLI, Virginia Scarth, KC5SAM, Ed
Scarth, W8AHU, and Gregg Sargent, KA0ARS.