Our emergency communications team has been working disasters for many years and there were always problems deploying needed communications. We decided to try something different – get a grant to purchase a mobile tower, power and lighting unit that would deploy anywhere. The Unit, seen here, can be used in the states of Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin as the grant we wrote was for providing regional disaster communications. Our club received the Presidents POINT OF LIGHT AWARD for our efforts and creative thinking. Our club is small and has a budget to match – so we need to think outside of the box – and it worked!

You can read the official story and account on the League web.

You can visit the Tri-State Club on line.

Behind that story are some interesting questions that have been asked, and below are the answers and explanations:

Did your ham radio club receive the money? NO! Because as it turns out the Federal Government ONLY makes grants to states, counties and cities. So I worked with our county Sheriff and county emergency management person and had the money sent to our county and the county spent it. That worked to our advantage because our ham radio club did not have the money for the insurance needed on this $150,000 unit. The county emergency managers office owns the unit and the county will pay for the insurance and put the license plates on it and provide a place to store the unit.

How long did it take you to get the grant? Over 5 YEARS! The problem started when we applied for a grant through the old FEMA. We had received a letter from FEMA telling us we were going to receive a grant, the next day it was on the news that FEMA had been taken over by Home Land Security. HLS was not going to write a check for the old FEMA so we had to start all over. Then there were many other delays and problems along the line hat had to be worked out one by one. I worked with the county Sheriff and emergency manager and we all had to give to get this done. This is a great example of what can be done when people work together.

Why did you need a unit like this? Our emergency communications team has been going to disasters for over 20 years and in that time we found when we arrived at the disaster we all ways had the same three problems, first, the trees are all gone and it was hard to get any antennas up, next even though we take three generators with us we never had enough power and here, there was never any light for working at night. This unit has 6 lights; each is 1,500 watts to light up the dark.

How high does the tower go? 80 feet, after the unit is level it will go up in about 4 minutes

Who built the tower for you? The unit was built by Tower Solutions you can find them at www.towersolutionsinc.com any questions about units should go to olsenr@charter.net

How long did it take to build your unit? After we received the money, the county made the first $50,000 payment and we were lucky to get a place in line in a few days. In all it took about 30 days by we took delivery.

How much does it weigh? 14,000 pounds.

How did you find this unit? I was looking around one night on Goggle, I spend way to much time there

Who will use the unit? Well, in my book ham radio comes first but don't forget I have to work with the county emergency manager. Hams will have antennas on it, the county emergency manager will have one, the fire and police will have antennas and we should have one for the state emergency or FEMA if they ever need one. Our ham radio plan is to have antennas on it for 2, 440 , a beam on 20 and an inverted V on 75

How big is the unit? It is about 40 feet long, 12 feet wide and 12 feet high, with the tower down.

How did you get the grant? That can be a very long story, the short answer is, first when I wrote the grant I never used the words, Cresco ( our city ) or Howard County, I said we were a multi-jurisdictional regional three state group of public safety agencies working together. WOW what a mouth full. The Federal Government likes to spread its money around as thin as possible and by saying this unit would be used in a three state area, that spreads it real thin. The government likes that. The unit can be used in three states all we need is time to get it there

What do you move it with? Good question. We have a problem there. When I wrote the grant I asked for 300,000 dollars ! Well, you have to ask for enough to get their attention! Our grant was cut in half, we were told we would get half last year and half next year. The money needed for the truck to move the unit was cut! Right now we have been able to use a truck from Featherlite MFG. Plant here in town. They make trailers and move it for us. We are looking at a Ford F 450 or even something larger by Chevy.

Have you tried to get other grants? Yes, the problem is, people just do not know about ham radio, they do not understand what ham radio can do for them in an emergency and most of the time you might as well talk to a rock, they just don't get it. OH how soon we forget all about 9 11, and after the twin tower went done, there was No emergency communications. The word has never gotten out that is was ham radio guys from New York that went there with their own equipment and provided the emergency communications till other arrangements could be made. I know it would be much easier to get grant money for a dog park or a bike trail than it was to get money for ham radio. I have spent thousands of hours looking on the net and I know. IF you are looking on the net for grant information, here is a hint, first NEVER buy that book offered by LESKO, I spent several hundred dollars of my money, not club money, that book is junk. (( in my option)) First it is way out of date, all the phone numbers are wrong and there is nothing in it about ham radio. Next, never buy any of the thousands of offers for cd;s on how to get a grant, they are no good. There is some information there but not everything you need to know. Talk to your county emergency manager and Sheriff, you need to work through them. Most groups that get these large grants have people in Washington that walk the paper work through, that takes a lot of money, money we didn't have. I did it by e-mail and the phone

Has your club received any awards? Yes, we are the first ham radio club EVER to receive the Presidents POINT OF LIGHT AWARD and on the 22 of this month we will receive the Governors volunteer award. We have also received an award from TV channel ten out of Rochester, MN, we are one of ten who made a difference

What is the yearly budget for your club? Three thousand dollars, no it does not come from dues, as a matter of fact we don't even have dues! We do a lot of fund raising. We are famous for our 1/3 pound 100 percent ground sirloin steak sandwich and our real foot long hotdogs. Two years ago when that great Iowa bike ride came through town for an over night stay we had a large lunch stand and made 8,000 dollars! But that all takes WORK, a lot of work

If I can ask, how much money does your club have? Right now around 800 in checking and 10,000 in savings, but this new tower is going to take about 5,000 by the time we are done.

Was it your club Paul Harvey talked about? Yes, I sent him information and he talked about ham radio on his world wide AM radio news program for about 1 minute and 30 seconds. And I got that time for free, any idea what that much time on his show would cost?

How long have you been a ham? 49 years ! I received my novice in 1958 when I was in 7th grade. I now hold the extra class with CW.

Why are you so interested in emergency communications? I have been doing emergency communications for over 20 years; I have been there and seen what happens. Just look at 9 11, their communications was a disaster!