Radio to the Rescue

Luiz C Ribeiro/AP Images for scholastic Inc.

After Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico in September 2017, the entire island lost power. Family and friends in the U.S. couldn’t contact their loved ones in Puerto Rico using phone calls, texts, or emails.

That’s when John Hale got an idea. He’s a science teacher at Garden School in Queens in New York City and the faculty sponsor for K2GSG, the school’s amateur radio club station. Amateur radio operators bounce radio signals from tower to tower to communicate with one another as opposed to professional radio stations you can tune in to.

Hale taught the club to send radiograms to Puerto Rico using the century-old technology. A radiogram is a short message—25 words or less—relayed by amateur radios.

It’s important to Hale that his students perform community service. “Part of amateur radio is helping others,” explains Hale. During disasters, amateur radio operators can be particularly helpful. Radios need very little power to send messages. This makes radios one of the best ways to communicate when the power goes out.

Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico in September 2017. The entire island lost power because of the storm. Family and friends worried about their loved ones couldn’t contact them. Because the power was out, phone calls, texts, and emails couldn’t reach the island.

That’s when John Hale got an idea. He’s a science teacher at Garden School in Queens in New York City. He’s also the teacher in charge of the school’s amateur radio club station. It's called K2GSG. Hale taught the club to use their amateur radios to send radiograms to Puerto Rico. A radiogram is a short message relayed by amateur radios. It must be 25 words or less.

Amateur radio operators bounce radio signals from tower to tower to communicate with one another. Professional radio stations only send out radio signals. Anyone can tune into professional stations on their home or car radio.

It’s important to Hale that his students help their community. “Part of amateur radio is helping others,” explains Hale. Amateur radio operators can be very helpful during natural disasters. The century-old technology uses little power. This makes radios one of the best ways to communicate when the power goes out.

Amateur radio communication relies on a series of nets to move messages—through a city or around the world. A net is a group of amateur radio operators who join a specific radio channel at a set time to share messages. Nets usually meet weekly or monthly. But during emergencies like a hurricane, they meet more frequently to send messages faster. Depending on the distance, it can take a few hours or a few days for a radiogram to travel from a sender to its recipient.

People in Queens who wanted to contact family in Puerto Rico emailed their radiogram messages to K2GSG. After receiving the request, K2GSG members called into their local net. Then the message was sent from region to region down to Florida. In Miami, radio operators reached Puerto Rico via the local net. Finally, an operator in Puerto Rico living near the recipient then told the message in person. All told, K2GSG sent about 25 radiograms.

When Jasmine Petrov, 18, joined K2GSG, she had no idea she’d be able to help during a disaster such as Hurricane Maria. “I thought we were going to broadcast our own messages about sports and maybe fashion,” she says. Now helping others is one of her favorite things about being in the club. “It was stunning to know that I would be able to help and affect lives positively in Puerto Rico without leaving this room,” she says.

Amateur radio communication uses nets to move messages. A net is a group of amateur radio operators who join a specific radio channel at a set time to share messages. They can send messages within a city or across the world. Nets usually meet weekly or monthly. They meet more often during emergencies like a hurricane. They can send messages faster that way. It can take a few hours or a few days for a radiogram to travel from a sender to its recipient. How long it takes to send a message depends on the distance.

Many people in Queens wanted to contact family in Puerto Rico. They emailed their radiogram messages to K2GSG. K2GSG members sent the radiograms to their local net. The message was then passed from region to region down to Florida. In Miami, radio operators reached Puerto Rico via their local net. Finally, an operator in Puerto Rico living near the recipient delivered the message in person. K2GSG sent about 25 radiograms in total.

Jasmine Petrov didn’t know she’d be able to help during disasters like Hurricane Maria when she joined K2GSG. “I thought we were going to broadcast our own messages about sports and maybe fashion,” the 18-year-old says. Now helping her community is one of her favorite things about being in the club. “It was stunning to know that I would be able to affect lives positively in Puerto Rico without leaving this room,” she says.

Use the map below and its scale to answer questions about sending radiograms. A map scale is a ratio that compares a measurement on a map to the real-world distance it represents. The scale on this map is 1 inch = 400 miles. Record your work and answers on our answer sheet.

A) Using the map’s scale, find the distance between the pairs of cities in the chart above. Then find the total distance between Queens and San Juan.

B) An average radio tower can receive messages from up to 125 miles away. How many towers would you need to relay a message this total distance?

A) What’s the distance between Garden School in Queens, New York, and San Juan, Puerto Rico, if you were to travel in a straight line?

B) If you could place radio towers along this direct path, how many would you need?

A radio tower in Richmond, Virginia, can receive messages from up to 100 miles away. Could this tower receive a message from Washington, D.C.? Explain.