Shaken-Not-Stirred Technology Mixed Right!

Today dawned grey and cool in Brooklyn. A far cry from this same date in 2001, even so I am given to reflection. On that day the first thing that went through my head when I heard there was a fire at the World Trade Center was that getting to The Medowlands and the Citibank email team where I was consulting on Sendmail was going to be difficult as I had to drive right past the twin towers to reach the Holland Tunnel. As I watched the news report on TV I saw the second plane hit the tower. That is when I knew I was not going to work that day.

My next move was to head outside and see what I could see, but from street level my view was blocked. I quickly climbed to the roof of my building and saw thick black smoke streaming out of both towers of the World Trade Center. I kept an eye on the situation via the local cable news as over the air broadcasts went off line. It seems almost all the local TV stations had their transmitters on the WTC. The City of New York had also made the mistake years earlier of putting all their Police, Fire, and EMS repeaters on the now blazing towers. I knew communications would be crippled within the city.

I went into my office and connected my Yaesu VX-5 to the roof mounted antenna and checked into the local Ham Radio Emergency net. I was asked if I could make my way to lower Manhattan with equipment for communications to support the Red Cross. Having a good bike, and loads of batteries and portable antennas I made my way through the thick black acrid smoke that had come to blanket The Holy City of Brooklyn. What I did that day was nothing more than what was done by many, but the BBC Radio 4 chose to interview myself and other Ham Radio Operators in a piece called "Unsung Heros". Today dear reader I offer you a link to the interview.

Unsung Heros in mp3 format