I wrote in a diary yesterday that we Progressives need to take gathering of media information into our own hands, by putting our people on the ground where news is happening. My spouse, a long-term techie, had signed us, along with our VSAT, up for deployment under Part-15.org, the organizational group for Wireless Internet Providers, due to their longstanding relationship with the feds. However, as of a few minutes ago, FEMA had not called upon a single one of the 300+ members who had signed up to deploy. Many members, fed up with waiting, are organizing themselves and heading out. The stories coming out of the Gulf indicate a complete decimation of the communications infrastructure, and hospitals, emergency officials and survivors are badly in need of VSAT and other reliable communications equipment. This is particularly true in the wake of FEMA turning back the ARRL (Amateur Radio Relay League) just yesterday.
We have a completely self-contained 30 ft. trailer, with 880 Amp hours of deep cycle battery, a 2000 watt inverter, a mobile tripod internet VSAT/modem, and a wireless router. The only thing we need is a more powerful generator. Our current 1KW Honda knock-off only puts out 8 amps an hour, fine to stave off power loss between plug ins to shore power we normally deal with, but certainly not enough to be completely off the grid for long periods of time. We need at least one, possibly two, 2KW generators, preferably of the fuel-saving, low-emission Honda variety. These run about $900 a piece, and we just do not have it in our budget (already heavily stressed by $3.59/gallon gas prices) for such an expense, particularly since it looks as though we'll be footing the rest of the trip ourselves.
We also want to urge people to volunteer to come down and meet us, even for a week or two, to help run the VSAT operation. It's not at all complicated, and with our disabled kids, we'll have to rotate out of the area every few weeks, and do not want to have to remove the VSAT and wireless.
If we can get this up and running, I strongly urge other Progressive groups to consider doing the same. Mobile tripod VSATs have only just been made legal by the FCC, and the technology is not only within our means (as groups, if not individuals), but can truly change our position as part of the new media.
See Wampum for more details and how you can help.
