Good Morning, Friends,

For those who haven’t followed my previous posts, we live in a rural mountain community in Swannanoa, NC, and were hit hard by the unprecedented destruction caused by Hurricane (later Tropical Storm) Helene. I’ve been sharing regular updates to chronicle our recovery efforts and, naturally, to highlight the vital role amateur radio has played throughout.

As I mentioned in my last update, now that we have a road open to all vehicular traffic and our community has been reconnected to the grid, we’re all looking toward the future—our new “normal”—focusing on returning to work (those of us who have work to return to), repairing our property, and helping those in our community who are still in need.

The Vast Impact of Helene in WNC

Over the past three days, we’ve ventured further from home, and we’ve seen the broader impact of the storm in our county.

Many local businesses we relied on are simply gone. Grocery stores are still struggling to replenish refrigerated and frozen items, which means we must drive 35-40 minutes (one way) to find these essentials. Due to damaged or wiped-out bridges and road closures, the trip is longer than it used to be. All traffic is now concentrated on the functional roads, so driving times are extended even more.

Two local grocery stores, our pharmacy, post office, hardware store, produce store, and numerous restaurants were all flooded. Some have announced they will not re-open.

A woodworking shop my wife and I visited the day before Helene—where they were making a sign for us—was completely washed away. Only part of their cinder block walls remain.

The tire shop where we bought tires the day before the storm was severely damaged by flooding, as were the dozens of shops and stores nearby, including two grocery stores. Even our local Lowe’s in east Asheville was severely damaged by floodwaters. See photos here.

On Friday, I took my car to the dealership for a safety inspection follow-up and alignment. They were also flooded by about two feet of water, but were able to continue most operations. Their building had been stripped from the floor up to two feet for future repairs.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t perform the alignment because that machine was damaged. Fortunately, the general manager moved their entire inventory of cars to higher ground.

While driving through north Asheville a few days ago, I saw numerous historic homes split in half by large, old-growth trees.

The storm was selective. Areas within a 500-year floodplain were devastated. Some communities, like ours, faced tornadoes and high winds that downed many trees. Yet just a few miles away, there might be little sign of wind damage. Isolated communities along rivers—Chimney Rock, for example—were completely wiped out. Simply erased from the face of the planet.

Everyone I know has friends or family who lost their homes or businesses. Some even know those who lost their lives. The stories are heartbreaking and hard to process.

Despite everything, the community here is strong and resilient. I haven’t spoken to anyone who plans to leave permanently. Frankly, there are few places where you can be sure you’ll never face a natural disaster. Meteorologists believe big storm systems like Helene will become more frequent.

Back to (Some) Normalcy

At home, my daughters will return to their community college classes (they’re dual-enrolled as high school seniors) next Monday. It will have been a full month since they’ve been in class. One of my daughters’ Shakespeare classes resumed rehearsals last Friday after ensuring everyone could travel to the venue safely.

A few friends have pointed out that I’m starting to relax a bit, noting that I wrote an email that was all about radio. A good sign.

POTA and SOTA Plans?

This weekend, I told my wife, “You know? Maybe I could fit in a POTA activation this week. I think I’m ready.”

Of course, she fully endorses the idea.

There’s a small issue, though: to activate a POTA park, I’ll need to drive at least an hour away.

I checked this weekend, and all my local POTA sites are temporarily closed. This includes national parks, state parks, and historic sites. Even some trails I often activate, like the Mountains to Sea Trail, are only accessible via the Blue Ridge Parkway, which is also closed.

Pisgah National Forest is vast—tens of thousands of acres—so I might be able to find an accessible spot that isn’t barricaded. But I’m hesitant to activate a site that’s technically closed due to Helene–no matter how accessible.

One possibility is to combine a POTA activation with visiting my father in Hickory, NC. Most of the parks east of Hickory are open, as storm damage was minimal in those areas.

Someone recently suggested I take this time for a little SOTA, but that’s even more complicated than POTA. Many of the local summits I enjoy activating are either accessed via the closed Blue Ridge Parkway or trailheads on rural roads that have been damaged.

Even if I could reach a trailhead, most trails are likely littered with blowdowns, making the trek slow. Later this year, I hope to help with trail clean-up crews once more trailheads are accessible and my right shoulder has fully-recovered.

That said, I can reach some of the smaller summits in the foothills of NC when visiting my father. While there will likely be some blowdowns, I expect fewer than in the high country. If timing works out, I might be able to hit one!

If all goes well, I plan to make a video this week regardless—perhaps something from my property as I hunt stations. Who knows?

One thing’s for sure: I could use some proper radio therapy. Although I’ve been using radio heavily these past three weeks, it’s been all about emcomm and community organization. It’ll be nice to play radio just for the fun of it again!

Four Words…

Thank you so much!

As always, we are deeply grateful for the kindness and support we’ve received. If I haven’t had a chance to respond to your emails or comments, please know it’s because I’ve been focused on helping my family and neighbors during this challenging time.

A huge thank you to Vince (VE6LK) and all the fantastic contributors on QRPer.com! I’ve read every comment and message, though I haven’t had the time to respond to each one.

I’ve been thoroughly enjoying all of the guest field reports! What a wonderful escape! Thank you!

You are an amazing community and support network. Thank you so much!

Wishing you all the very best this week!

Cheers & 72,

Thomas (K4SWL)

Good Saturday Morning, Friends,

For those who haven’t followed my previous posts, we live in a rural mountain community in Swannanoa, NC, and were hit hard by the unprecedented destruction caused by Hurricane (later Tropical Storm) Helene. I’ve been sharing regular updates to chronicle our recovery efforts and, naturally, to highlight the vital role amateur radio has played throughout.

Let me say that it’s a comforting feeling to no longer have a tree leaning against and pinned to the roof of our home. It’s nice not to hear the creaking sounds of it rubbing against the metal roof every time the wind blows.

I’m incredibly grateful to the arborist crew that removed the trees from our vacation rental house and QTH. I mentioned that earlier this week the original arborist team we’d scheduled had informed us that they couldn’t remove the tree because they couldn’t bring a crane up our dodgy road.

Our new crew worked without a crane— which, of course, took more time— but they skillfully removed the tree using ropes, pulleys, and a solid understanding of physics. True pros!

We’re so thankful for their efforts.

This same crew ended up removing trees from several other homes on our road. They’re doing incredible work.

More Road Improvements

Our two-mile-long, steep, and curvy road has been getting a lot of attention from the Kentucky Department of Transportation this week. Even though Kentucky is two states away, crews from all over the country have come to help. This particular road crew has been amazing.

The road is now mostly two lanes again. While it’s not paved— and likely won’t be anytime soon— it’s passable by nearly any vehicle. We are all so grateful, and it looks like these improvements might even hold up against future weather challenges.

Improvements and Challenges

Now that our mountain community has electricity (and water), a stable and safer road, and access to every home (except one with a particularly long and mud slide-damaged driveway), life is beginning to normalize.

We’re feeling stable enough here to plan a visit to my father in Hickory this weekend. We’ve postponed visiting him for three weeks because of how unstable things were here, and we’ve kept all our travel within half an hour of the QTH.

After speaking with many neighbors, I feel like their experiences are reflective of everyone in WNC right now. Some are back to work, especially those who can work from home with satellite internet. Some want to work, but their employers— many in the tourism industry— were hit hard by Helene. One friend who works as a solar installer said that literally all of his company’s inventory was destroyed in the flooding along the Swannanoa River.

Tourism, the biggest industry in the mountains, has ground to a halt. A friend mentioned that many people he knows under 30 are now unemployed. For instance, the Grove Park Inn, one of our largest resorts, laid off all of its employees. They hope to reopen soon, but I imagine many guests have canceled for the rest of the year.

Helene couldn’t have come at a worse time, as the fall leaf-peeping season is upon us. Many businesses (including our vacation rental)  make the bulk of their income during this period.

While some WNC counties are still open for business, others— like Buncombe County— are discouraging tourism. I can’t imagine tourists descending on the area right now, as they would only get in the way of recovery.

A Neighborhood Radio Network

In the background, I’ve been exploring the idea of creating a robust off-grid radio communications network for our rural, remote community.

As mentioned in previous posts, we’ve been using amateur radio (VHF) to communicate within our community. While most operators aren’t licensed amateurs, in times of emergency, that’s not an issue.

As things return to normal and our mobile phone network is fully restored, I want to find a long-term, off-grid communications solution.

In an upcoming episode of the Ham Radio Workbench Podcast, I’ll be discussing this in more detail.

I recently spoke with my friend George (KJ6VU), who has gone through this process in his own neighborhood. He provided insight based on experience and I’m most grateful.

While I’d love for everyone in my community to become licensed hams, I know that’s not realistic. That said, I think we’ll gain a couple of new hams after my evangelizing! For now, we need off-grid communication options that are more accessible and use something more akin to channelized radios. Here are some options I’m considering:

• FRS (Family Radio Service): These radios are surprisingly effective but have low power output, and you can’t replace the built-in antenna. This won’t work across our entire two-mile road, especially with the 900-1,000 foot elevation change. This is really the option of last resort for us.
• GMRS (General Mobile Radio Service): This is a more viable option. GMRS radios are more robust, you can replace the antennas, and there are even 50-watt mobile/base options. The downside is that each family would need to apply for an FCC license ($35) and use the same family callsign. There’s also a lot of GMRS traffic, so even if we standardize on tone and channel settings, interference could be an issue. We could install a repeater for better coverage.
• PLMRS (Private Land Mobile Radio Service): This option would require more paperwork and upfront costs, but it has benefits. A frequency coordinator would find unused frequencies for our region, and if enough households sign up, the cost per household would drop. We could standardize on channelized DMR units, and interference from outside users would be minimal. Households wouldn’t need individual callsigns, and we could opt for a repeater if necessary.

I’ll be sorting through these options in the coming weeks and reaching out to neighbors to gauge interest. There are already enough people interested to make this a reality—it’s just a matter of deciding which service to use. At this point, I’m leaning toward PLMRS. If you have any experience or advice, feel free to comment!

Thank You

As always, we are deeply grateful for the kindness and support we’ve received. If I haven’t had a chance to respond to your emails or comments, please know it’s because I’ve been focused on helping my family and neighbors during this challenging time.

A huge thank you to Vince (VE6LK) and all the fantastic contributors on QRPer.com! I’ve read every comment and message but haven’t had the time to respond to each one. My time on the internet is limited, as most of my energy is going into normalizing life.

You are an amazing community and support network. Thank you so much!

Wishing you all the very best!

Cheers & 72,

Thomas (K4SWL)