Pennsylvania Hams Step Up for the Red Cross

Every busy events season tests the same weak point: what happens when tens of thousands of phones try to hit the same cell tower at once. This summer in southeastern Pennsylvania, the answer came down to amateur radio.

It's been a packed calendar of sports fixtures, celebrations, and large public gatherings across the region, and the American Red Cross Southeastern Pennsylvania disaster response team found itself calling on more local hams than ever to help keep communications solid throughout. The Philadelphia Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) was there as always, but this time the Red Cross widened the net — and hams from Delaware, Chester, Montgomery, and Bucks counties answered the call alongside them. On top of that, the effort got a further boost from members of the Red Cross's own Disaster Services Technology team, led by Cliff Hotchkiss, KC3PGT.

The World Cup Put It to the Test

The stakes were highest on 22nd June, when the FIFA World Cup arrived at Philadelphia Stadium, and again across the five matches that followed in the host city. Cliff noted that with a crowd of that size packed into one venue, there was a real risk of cellular networks becoming overloaded and communications breaking down right when they'd be needed most.

That's exactly the gap amateur radio was there to fill. As the Red Cross put it in a recent blog post, the volunteers' job was straightforward but vital — keep dependable comms on standby for emergency responders and Red Cross teams, ready the moment they were called on.