Amateurs response to East TN floods

From a Facebook post  Oct 4, by Dave Thomas  KM4NYI

Amateur Radio Operators + Teamwork = Success

Kevin Duplantis, W4KEV of Knoxville, TN operates many repeaters in the eastern part of the state. Among these, is 145.410, located on Viking Mountain  (4572' AMSL) in Greene County, TN. The repeater covers much of the area in North Carolina and Tennessee that was decimated during the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, and is RF linked to 3 other TN repeaters to make a network connecting major cities like Knoxville, Nashville and Chattanooga, TN with Asheville, NC and dozens of rural towns and communities scattered across the Great Smoky Mountains.

Power lines to this repeater went down as Helene blew through, leaving the repeater on battery power. Not knowing how long it would be before commercial power was restored, the RF link was disconnected in order keep the repeater itself operating as long as possible. As it became clear power was liable to be off for an extended time, additional batteries were going be become necessary. 

A conversation with TN ARES SEC Jim Snyder, AJ4NO resulted in a call for help.  West TN ASEC Steve Kellett KF4SJU arranged a donation of an entire pallet of batteries courtesy of Dale Sanders WD4IFR of Alpine Power Systems in Memphis. The question then was "how do we get ¾ ton of batteries from Memphis to upper East Tennessee, 500 miles away"?

Tennessee ARRL Section Manager David Thomas KM4NYI put out a request for help on the evening session of the 75 meter Tennessee Phone Net (the daily section traffic net). Morning Net Manager, The Rev. Sky McCracken KO4DKI of Jackson, saw this as an opportunity to assist. He traveled to Memphis and brought the batteries to Dickson where Alex Cochran KB4LX hauled them to the office of commercial broadcasters Midwest Communications in Nashville. Through the courtesy of Midwest's General manager Michael Brody and engineer Jason Cooper, the batteries got to Knoxville, where W4KEV and others can use them. The pallet of batteries will be shared between repeater owners including W4KEV, AA4BS, the Andrew Johnson ARC, and MTEARS (a statewide network of linked repeaters).

The whole process is proof positive that good things happen when amateur radio operators come together as a team. We appreciate those in the western part of the section for coming thru for us as we attempt to serve those who are hurting in the Carolinas and upper East Tennessee.