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.

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Normalization

Things are moving forward here with both our family and our community.

The past two weeks have involved the administrative tasks that come with the property damage from an event like Hurricane Helene: dealing with insurance/FEMA, banking, gathering estimates, budgeting for clean-up, arranging contractors, and so forth.

Last week, the adjuster for our vacation rental came out and was incredibly thorough. We learned that the tree landing on the roof not only poked through the master bedroom ceiling (which we knew) but also damaged the rafters on that side of the house.

The impact even separated the ceiling drywall from the walls, and the oak floors will need replacing. It will require more work than we initially anticipated.

The challenge now is getting this work done before spring of next year (when the tourist season starts back up). We’ll need to find contractors to work on both the vacation rental and our residence. Fortunately, the repairs to our home are less extensive and can wait until the rental is fixed.

Our neighbors on the road are also working through everything with their insurance. Now that the road is passable, adjusters can reach each house more easily.

We’re also setting up FEMA inspections to help cover some costs that insurance may not, such as debris removal and damage to the driveway and our multi-family road.

As I mentioned in a previous update, despite misinformation spreading around, FEMA has been excellent. They were among the first on-site, checking in on everyone post-Helene, arranging supply drops, and assisting with applications. We received initial assistance quite promptly.

Goodbye, Ella Sue

Another milestone: Our beloved Subaru Forester made its final journey.

This car, which has served as a fantastic POTA mobile over the years, accumulated nearly 150K miles with our family since 2017. It’s been a workhorse and still ran like new. While I dread the search for a replacement, we’re likely to get another Subaru, though it won’t be easy with the current shortage of used cars in our area post-storm. Any used car we consider will need a thorough inspection to ensure it wasn’t previously flooded.

Yesterday in town, we noticed a lot of temporary license plates, reflecting just how many people are replacing their vehicles post-Helene.

Thankfully, we still have the C40, so we’re not in a hurry.

Our Subaru went through a lot over the years. You might remember when a bear got in and tore up the interior after opening all four doors looking for food, even though we’d been careful to remove everything edible. Earlier this year, it was rear-ended by a one-ton truck on I-40 and still got us safely to my mother’s funeral on time.

Then, during Helene, two trees landed on the hood. When the tow company arrived, they managed to start it up and drive it down the hill, even though the engine had been pinned under heavy trees for over a week.

Ella Sue was tough!

More Aftermath

As more local roads open, we’re seeing a clearer picture of what happened along the Swannanoa River.

Yesterday, my wife and I drove down Old Hwy 70 for a dentist appointment and saw that the flood line had reached over one story high in places. Trees along the road were littered with debris swept down by the floodwaters, including clothing, toys, roofing materials, and even vehicles wrapped around trunks.

Heather and I noticed a park bench still lodged high in a tree, the same one I spotted during my mountain bike ride into Black Mountain in late September–two days after Helene hit

Driving along that stretch, it looked as though the flood had just happened, even though it’s been over a month. A large section of Old 70 remains closed for road repairs, and piles of debris still line the road—remnants of so many homes and businesses.

I didn’t take photos along Old Hwy 70 because I was driving, and there were too many construction vehicles working to repair the road and clear away debris. Even after a month, the sheer amount of debris—pieces of people’s lives—piled up along the road was staggering, and it’s taken this long just to clear a path.

Gratitude

Seeing all this, we’re so grateful that none of our friends or family lost their lives in this storm. The official death toll for NC has exceeded 100, with some people still unaccounted for.

I’ve also seen news about the catastrophic flooding in eastern Spain and Andalucía. Our hearts go out to everyone affected there—the toll is just unimaginable, especially in densely populated areas.

GMRS Community Radio Update

Our GMRS radio network is coming together here on our road and in the valley.

I tested our new repeater, and it’s working beautifully across the entire road, even handling a 1,000’ (305m) elevation change. I can reach it from Swannanoa, Black Mountain, and even parts of east Asheville.

I’m currently evaluating handheld GMRS radios to recommend models that work best for our neighbors.

So far, I’ve tested a pair of Baofeng UV-5G Plus handhelds (QRPer affiliate link), which are relatively user-friendly, though the red text on a blue background (in the settings menu) is hard to read in sunlight. I’m awaiting two more models: a TidRadio TD H8 and Baofeng GM-15 Pro and I plan to get the Radioddity GM-30 Plus  (again, QRPer affiliate links).

I should have received both of these radios a week ago, but Amazon shipping to Swannanoa is still problematic. Even though I’ve been sending all of my shipments to official Amazon lockers (instead of to our post office) both radios from separate orders failed to deliver. Amazon cancelled the orders and I called customer service to have them replaced.

Delivery disruptions like this are understandable given the circumstances. Patience is key!

If anyone has other recommendations for GMRS handhelds with USB-C charging, please let me know in the comments. I’ll eventually post a review of all these models.

Four Words: Thank you so much!

As always, I’m incredibly grateful for the kindness and support from this community. If I haven’t responded to your emails or comments yet, please know it’s because I’ve been focused on helping my family and neighbors.

A special thank you to Vince (VE6LK), who managed QRPer.com for all of October—a massive help! Since things are starting to normalize here, I’m ready to resume site management.

To everyone who reached out with messages (well over 300!), thank you so much. Though I may not be able to reply to all of them, please know I’ve read every word, and your support means the world to us.

Thank you all for being such an incredible community and support network!

Wishing you the very best this weekend!

Cheers & 72,
Thomas (K4SWL)

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.

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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.

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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)

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.

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Late Sunday afternoon, as my wife and I were reviewing our financials and plans on the porch, we suddenly heard a group of neighbors down the road cheer, “Woo hoo!”

We exchanged a knowing look.

Power had been restored to our road.

What a moment! A dedicated power line crew from Indiana had spent several long days installing new poles and running new lines along our two-mile stretch.

As I’ve mentioned before, we installed a solar power system with battery backup (read all the details here), so the only way I could confirm grid power had returned was by checking the app that monitors our system.

This news was a tremendous morale boost for everyone. With grid power restored, neighbors no longer need to worry about propane deliveries or managing generator runtimes. They can now fully rely on their refrigerators again.

Late Sunday evening, I stepped outside into the front yard, and for the first time in weeks, the valley was quiet—no more generator hum.

Simply amazing. We’re deeply grateful to the line crews who traveled from across the U.S. and Canada to restore service.

Estimates

While I doubt Duke Energy is reading my posts, I do plan to reach out and thank them for their hard work. I also want to offer a suggestion about providing power restoration estimates to customers, particularly after such a major event like Helene.

During smaller outages (the kind that happen when a tree falls on a line), Duke’s website and app typically provide an estimated restoration time. More often than not, power is restored a bit earlier than the estimate. I think this is a good practice, as it gives customers a realistic, “worst-case” time frame.

However, during this event, Duke understandably refrained from providing detailed estimates. We were told that 90% of the county would have power by Sunday, but there were no specific estimates for harder-to-reach areas like ours.

I assume that some Duke field engineers were instructed to err on the side of caution when giving estimates to customers they encountered. In our case, a Duke employee told us last Thursday that we should prepare to be without grid power until Christmas.

This information reached us just before our community meeting that day, leading many of us to adjust plans and purchase supplies for a long-term outage.

Then, on Saturday, we spoke with a power line worker contracted by Duke who had been dispatched to our neighborhood. He informed us that power would be restored in a matter of days and that new poles had already been set on the lower part of our road. He estimated we’d have power by Monday, maybe even Sunday.

Sure enough, by Sunday evening, the lights were back on.

While we were overjoyed, the earlier estimate of “Christmas” was more than a little stressful. Many of us made decisions and spent money based on that initial forecast. Perhaps the Duke employee felt he was managing our expectations, but the result was unnecessary stress and over-preparation.

I thought this might be an isolated incident, but a ham radio friend in Fairview shared a similar experience. His community was told to expect months without power, only to have it restored within days.

I’m not here to complain. My point is simply that being straightforward and realistic in assessments is far better than offering a doomsday scenario.

Disrupted Services

While power restoration is a huge victory, we’re still facing some longer-term challenges.

For one, unless people have recently signed up for Starlink (and I’m certain this disaster has led to a massive surge in subscriptions), there’s no internet on our road, and it’s unlikely to return anytime soon. AT&T is our only service provider, and their lines were in poor condition even before Helene hit. Earlier this year, we switched to HughesNet satellite internet because our AT&T DSL was unreliable and painfully slow.

There’s been talk that AT&T might replace the old copper line with fiber, but I have my doubts. Rural communities like ours often get overlooked because we don’t have the subscriber density of urban areas.

We’re also still without mobile phone data service. My 4G hotspot, which we rely on to supplement bandwidth for our daughters’ online classes, hasn’t worked since September 27th.

Our road, too, remains a challenge. The Kentucky DOT crew did an excellent job patching up two rough areas on flat parts of the road, but it’s still not easily passable by vehicles with low ground clearance. Our road will stay one-lane until the NC DOT can step in and fully repair it to their standards and add guard rails at some point int he future. NCDOT has never faced destruction on the scale of Helene before, so it’s going to take time to address all the damaged roads and bridges that were compromised or wiped out by flooding and debris flows.

Even simple things like grocery shopping take longer now. Ingles, the dominant grocery chain in western North Carolina, was hit hard by Helene.

Our local store was flooded (see photo above), and many locations remain closed. Their massive distribution center in Swannanoa/Black Mountain was also damaged. In the Asheville area, we have other options, but Ingles is the only grocery store in some of the rural towns in WNC. Hopefully, they’ll get back on their feet soon.

Our favorite local produce shop was almost certainly damaged beyond repair. The owner, Mr. Ledford, is a family friend and a valued member of the community. We always tried to shop locally and relied on his store for fresh produce.

It’s heartbreaking to see how many local businesses in Swannanoa were affected by the storm. This disaster is going to change the business landscape here for years to come.

Some school services are expected to resume by October 28, provided water restoration in Asheville stays on track. Our daughters will have missed a full month of their senior fall term. Since they’re dual-enrolled at the community college, all of their classes will go on their college transcripts. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that this break has given them time to focus on university applications and scholarship opportunities.

Proud Papa: I must say, I couldn’t be prouder of my daughters (K4GRL and K4TLI). They’ve been doing an incredible job helping both at home and within our community. Both have taken on net control duties for our local simplex frequency and have been passing traffic on the N2GE (Mount Mitchell) repeater. Their dedication and skill have been vital to our recovery efforts and the broader communications network in the area. Thank you, ladies!

Arborists Update

Yesterday morning, the arborists we hired to remove the trees from our property called to let us know they wouldn’t be able to bring their cranes up our tricky road. There are two sections that are too steep and rough.

That news was a bit of a blow, as we’d spent days finding an arborist with an opening in their schedule and who could make it to our area.

But within an hour, a neighbor called on the radio to tell us that a family friend from Ohio, who owns a tree service, was on the way to help—free of charge. They’d traveled overnight to Western North Carolina just to lend a hand.

When the arborist saw our rental house, he said, “You don’t need a crane if you can use mechanical advantage. Let’s get this done.” Using ropes and pulleys, he and his crew made quick work of the tree.

They’re coming back this morning to help with the tree our residence as well.

Their generosity has been overwhelming, and although they’ve offered to do this for free, we will pay them to help pay it forward—so they can continue helping others who might not be able to afford tree services and perhaps keep them in the community a bit longer.

As I’ve said before, this disaster has truly brought out the best in humanity, and we feel fortunate to be surrounded by such kindness.

In summary

Things are certainly improving, and we are incredibly grateful for all the progress made so far. Rather than expressing concerns, I hope this message offers a constructive perspective from those of us navigating life in a post-disaster environment, with the intention of highlighting opportunities for improving communication in the future.

Thank you

Once again, 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 through this challenging time.

A huge thank you to Vince (VE6LK) and all the fantastic contributors submitting articles on QRPer.com!

Vince has been an absolute lifesaver, stepping in to handle the formatting and posting of field reports and articles. It’s been such a pleasure to read all the incredible reports and witness QRPer.com truly flourishing while my attention is focused on recovery at home.

On that note, I’ve been reading every comment and message, but simply don’t have the time to reply back to everyone. My time on the internet is very limited these days because I’m still outside working most of the day.

What an amazing community you all are! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Wishing you the very best!

Cheers & 72,

Thomas (K4SWL)

Good Morning, Friends,

If you haven’t read my previous posts, here’s the situation in a nutshell: we live in a rural mountain community in Swannanoa, NC, where the bridge connecting us to the outside world was swept away during the 1 in 1,000-year flood event caused by Tropical Storm Helene.

Recovery Period

Since my last update, I’ve had to take a break from chainsawing and heavy lifting due to an old mountain biking injury that flared up, causing significant pain in my right shoulder. I’m currently on medication prescribed by my doctor and focusing on giving that arm a rest.

Fortunately, one of our amazing neighbors is a physical therapist and gave me an evaluation on Friday. She has me on a treatment plan that seems to be working, and she taped my shoulder with therapeutic tape to help stabilize it. I’m incredibly grateful for her help.

In many ways, I’m my own worst enemy. Like my grandpa, I have a hard time stepping back when there’s work to be done or someone who needs help. If my mom were still around, I’m sure she’d be quick to point this out! But I realize I need to take it easy for now to heal properly so I can help later.

Amateur Radio’s Vital Role

Over the past 17 days, the N2GE (Mount Mitchell) repeater has shifted from being the primary source for gathering real-time information and conducting wellness checks to now serving as a liaison between aid groups and those needing assistance. If you’ve been monitoring, you’ll hear it’s as busy as ever.

This week, I’ve been focused on connecting aid groups with the parts of Western North Carolina most in need. I can’t overstate the importance of amateur radio in facilitating these connections.

Government resources and private aid groups often operate on different communication networks, making coordination challenging. This has led to some areas being overlooked while others are inundated with supplies they can’t manage. For example, one local church in north Asheville has become a relief hub due to social media posts but is now overwhelmed with donations and lacks the logistical infrastructure to manage them. It’s a bit crippling for an all-volunteer group.

I’ve been attempting to: 1) gather information on resource hubs, 2) compile a list of communities in need along with their specific requests, and 3) link the two and arrange deliveries. So far, I’ve made good progress, especially with some amazing resources here in central Buncombe County willing to drive supplies to more remote areas in Yancey, Mitchell, and Avery counties.

Aid Coordination

On that note, yesterday, my wife and I headed into town to connect with one of the largest aid resources in Swannanoa: a coalition of churches and private individuals from various states that have taken over a large facility near I-40. They’re as organized as a private aid agency can be.

We met with one of their logistics managers and set up direct communication, so I can provide them with specific community needs. We also informed them about a local church that needed heavy equipment like skid steers (with forks) to manage palletized donations.

Their site was buzzing with activity, with trucks coming and going, and volunteers lining up for tasks ranging from chainsaw work to laundry services. It was incredible to witness the coordination.

We also checked in with the Swannanoa Fire Department to relay the status of our community and see if they needed anything. They’ve been a critical hub for both government and private relief efforts.

On our way home, we couldn’t leave without accepting meals prepared by the Swannanoa First Baptist Church—such loving persistence! Their generosity was deeply appreciated.

At the post office, we helped out a bit too.

They were open on Saturday to accommodate those in the community collecting mail and packages

They’re based in a brilliant temporary mobile post office and have an additional shipping container (that lacks lighting) to manage larger  packages and parcels.

Our amazing postal workers and friends were pretty busy, so Heather and I helped set up some battery-powered lanterns and headlamps they’d just acquired so they could locate packages more easily in that dark shipping container.

I may have mentioned that our local post office was flooded, so this mobile setup could be in place for a long while. We love our hardworking postal workers–they’re such valuable members of our community.

A Few Photos

Heather took some photos as we drove around town. Many of these appear blurry mainly because everything (and I do mean everything) is covered in fine silt that was left over from the flood. When the wind blows in town, it looks like a dust bowl. The town is even spraying down the roads with water just to keep it somewhat at bay.

Tree Removal

As I mentioned in the last post, we’ve contracted arborists to remove the trees from our houses. They’re scheduled to come today, but it’s unclear if they’ll make it. The crane they need may not be able to handle the dips and dodgy conditions on our patched-up road. The crane operator was supposed to assess the situation this weekend, but I haven’t heard back yet. Two other homes on our road are also awaiting tree removal, so we’ll see how things unfold.

In addition, the Kentucky DOT is continuing to patch our road. We’ve confirmed they’re bringing it up to DOT standards, just adding more stability. We certainly welcome any repairs. The road is still our biggest concern, aside from power restoration.

We’ll roll with the punches. Removing the trees is a priority, especially before the weather turns. While we’ve been blessed with dry days, our vacation rental has no protection from rain pouring through the ceiling where a tree came down.

Power Restoration?

I mentioned previously that a Duke Energy employee estimated we might not have power restored before Christmas. While our community accepted this as reality, a crew from Indiana working on our lines gave us more optimistic news yesterday. Barring any unforeseen complications, power could be restored this week. Possibly in a couple of days! This doesn’t mean everyone will get power immediately—some homes with slab-mounted transformers have additional damage—but it’s a positive development.

At our community meeting, though, we all agreed: “We’ll believe it when we see it.”

Again, we’ve been incredibly fortunate to have solar power throughout this ordeal. Still, restored power will be a huge relief for our neighbors, and we’re hopeful it’ll happen soon!

Thank You So Much!

Once again, we’re overwhelmed by the kindness and support we’ve received. I apologize if I haven’t been able to reply to emails and comments—I’ve been spending most of my energy helping my family and neighbors through this challenging time.

Also, a HUGE shout-out to the amazing Vince (VE6LK) and all of the contributors here on QRPer.com! THANK YOU!

Vince has completely taken over formatting and posting field reports and articles to QRPer.com. It’s been so fun reading through all of the brilliant field reports and see QRPer.com in full-swing.

What an amazing community you are! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Here’s wishing you a wonderful week ahead!

Best & 72,
Thomas (K4SWL)

PS: I’ve tagged all of my Post-Helene updates so that you can bookmark this url to read all of them in one collection. Each new update will be included.

Good Morning, Friends,

If you haven’t read my previous posts, here’s the situation in a nutshell: we live in a rural mountain community in Swannanoa, NC, where the bridge connecting us to the outside world was swept away during the 1 in 1,000-year flood event caused by Tropical Storm Helene. We’ve also confirmed that a tornado swept through our valley, which explains the large number of trees down on houses and roads.

Arborists in High Demand

One profession in particularly high demand here, post-Helene, is arborists.

As a community, we worked together to clear our road and driveways within days of the storm hitting—an enormous task. But some trees require professional equipment and expertise, especially those needing cranes.

About 80% of the homes in the upper part of our road had trees fall on them, including our two homes—our primary residence and our vacation rental cottage.

At our main house, three trees fell: two landed on our Subaru, and one hit our roof, damaging two solar panels.

Thankfully, after a thorough two-hour inspection by an insurance appraiser, we were relieved to learn there was no structural damage or water penetration.

The vacation cottage wasn’t as fortunate. A tree punched through the master bedroom ceiling. I attempted to trim the branches around the hole, but the weight and tension of the tree made it too dangerous to cut without risking further damage.

In both cases, we need a crane to safely remove the trees.

I’ve been in touch with arborists we’ve used before, but they’re a small company, and the wait could be up to two weeks. With perfectly clear and dry fall weather right now, we knew we had to act quickly before the rains return.

Most arborists in Western North Carolina are so overwhelmed that they’re only doing “chop and drop” jobs—removing trees from homes, dropping them to the side, and moving on. No debris cleanup or additional work.

After numerous calls, we’ve contracted a well-recommended arborist who may be able to remove the trees from both of our houses and two others in the neighborhood.

I should note that any job involving a crane is incredibly expensive, but neither of our insurance companies raised concerns about the cost.

Fingers crossed that the arborists keep their schedule and safely remove the trees. It will be a relief to stop hearing the tree groaning on our roof and to prevent more water damage in the vacation home!

Grid Restoration

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, we’re incredibly fortunate to have solar power with battery backup. It allows us to live in relative comfort, keeping the fridge and freezer running if we manage our energy use carefully.

It’s now been two weeks without power on our road.

Duke Energy, along with line workers from across the U.S. and Canada, have been working around the clock to restore electricity in Buncombe County.

Yesterday, while we briefly had cell phone service, we received this text:

Duke Energy: We are making more progress than anticipated repairing the considerable damage left by Helene and restoring customers. Of the 50K remaining outages in NC mountains, we estimate restoring about half by Sunday night. The remaining outages will require significant construction of roads, bridges, and/or electrical infrastructure. We will provide you with additional details about your outage as soon as possible. Rest assured we will not stop working until we have restored every customer who is able to receive power.

We’re among those outages that will require major reconstruction of infrastructure.

While we’ve known this from the start, we’ve been holding out some hope as we’ve seen rapid progress on other areas. Some neighbors were thinking we might get power back in a few weeks.

For a few days, hope grew as we saw a parade of line workers along the two-mile stretch of road connecting us to the Bee Tree reservoir and the rest of the world.

Yesterday, while on our way to a 4:00 PM community meeting and potluck, we passed a Duke Energy vehicle on our road for the first time.

One neighbor stopped the worker and asked, “Are you surveying the damage?”

The lineman replied, “I came up here to count how many power poles were destroyed. I stopped counting after ten, further down the road.”

When asked about the timeline for restoration, he said, “I think we’ll be doing well if we can restore power here by Christmas.”

Sobering news, but we weren’t shocked. We’ve all adjusted our expectations, and most of us have some form of backup power. The community meeting and potluck helped keep spirits high.

Ham Radio Workbench

Last night, I had the pleasure of recording an episode of the Ham Radio Workbench podcast. While I’m a regular on the show, this time I was also the guest, sharing my experiences post-Helene and discussing how radio played a crucial role in emergency communication.

It was so energizing to hang out with friends—it was the first “normal” thing I’ve done in two weeks.

Our “priority bandwidth” renewed the previous day, so my connection via Skype was solid. We still have no mobile internet here, only voice and basic texting. So I couldn’t rely on my mobile hotspot as a backup.

The discussion was fantastic, and I feel fortunate we have solar power and satellite internet to make this possible. All other internet here is still down, and it could be that way for a while.

Feeling Fortunate

I was telling George, Vince, Mike, and Mark last night (sadly, Rod was traveling) that for most people, things improve each day after a disaster like this. Recovery is a process. I overheard a Samaritan’s Purse volunteer say to a homeowner whose house flooded, “What happened here was horrible, but you’re a survivor, and your life will improve each day from now.”

It’s a powerful sentiment, but it made me think of those in war zones. For them, there isn’t one event followed by recovery. It’s constant devastation. My friend Wlod (US7IGN) in Kyiv, Ukraine, has lived through years of uncertainty and attacks. Power outages, explosions, and devastation are part of daily life for him.

Natural disasters are tough, but I really feel for those in places where the struggle never seems to end.

Thank You

Once again, we’re overwhelmed by the kindness and support we’ve received. Thank you so much!

I apologize if I haven’t been able to reply to emails and comments—I’m spending most of my energy these days helping my family and neighbors navigate this challenging time.

Have a wonderful week ahead!

Best & 72,
Thomas (K4SWL)

PS: I’ve tagged all of my Post-Helene updates so that you can bookmark this url to read all of them in one collection. Each new update will be included.

Good Morning, Friends,

If you haven’t read my previous posts, here’s the situation in a nutshell: we live in a rural mountain community in Swannanoa, NC, where the bridge connecting us to the outside world was swept away during the 1 in 1,000-year flood event caused by Tropical Storm Helene. We’ve also confirmed that a tornado swept through our valley, which explains the large number of trees down on houses and roads.

No Power Interruptions at Home Despite Grid Outage

Although the power grid on our road is down and likely will be for weeks, if not months, we haven’t experienced any interruptions in power at our home.

Living in a remote, rural community, most of our neighbors have some form of backup power. Many have either 1) whole-house propane generators that kick in automatically during outages, or 2) critical load systems that connect to portable generators for essential power needs. Very few homes lack integrated backup power.

Until March of this year, we relied on the second option: a 7,700-watt portable generator connected to the house via a dedicated 220V outlet. This primarily powered our well pump but also ran essential appliances like the microwave and lights.

We also had a dedicated 490W solar/PV system that powered our DC refrigerator and freezer, which were always off-grid, running on a 360Ah battery bank. When power was out, the fridge and freezer stayed operational, and we could use the generator when we needed water.

This system served us well for 13 years, although I had to frequently maintain the generator and deep-cycle flooded Lead Acid batteries.

The New Solar PV System

In March 2024, we installed a 10.13 KW grid-tied solar PV system, something we had dreamed of since we finished building our home in 2011. We couldn’t afford it back then, but we finally made it happen in 2023, after signing a contract in August.

We wanted to include a whole-house battery backup but were initially hesitant due to the cost. Our installer designed the system to allow for battery integration in the future. Then, in mid-January, while dealing with my mother’s final days battling cancer, we got an offer from our solar installer: a significant discount on Tesla Powerwall Version 2 units, as they were transitioning to Version 3.

Honestly, my wife and I had so much going on in the family, we had no bandwidth to do a cost analysis. We simply decided to go for it. We committed to purchase two Powerwalls, which was the minimum needed (for Version 2 Powerwall) whole-house backup.

Note that we originally preferred a Kyocera LiFePO battery system, but it was too expensive and complicated to install compared to the Powerwalls. Looking back, this decision has been a blessing for us and our community, especially post-Hurricane Helene.

Staying Powered During the Crisis

Thanks to the Powerwalls, we’ve had no power interruptions at home during this disaster. These two batteries have kept the lights on, the water pump running, and our satellite internet operational.

It’s worth noting, though, that our system wasn’t designed to keep us fully off-grid for weeks. Additionally, two of our solar panels were damaged when a tree fell on the house, reducing our PV system’s output to about 60%, likely because the failed panels also affected other panels in the same series.

By managing our energy consumption carefully, we’ve kept everything running.

Managing Power Consumption

Right after the storm, I shut off the circuit breakers for our HVAC system and water heater, the biggest power users apart from our well pump. I also appointed one of our daughters, “Phantom Load Czar” and gave her absolute authority to hunt down, turn off, and unplug anything that wasn’t necessary.

If we didn’t reduce our usage—if we ran the HVAC, water heater, and cooked all our meals on the electric stove—we’d only have 8-12 hours of battery life. But by cutting out those heavy loads, we can stretch that to nearly 48 hours.

The Advantages of Solar

Unlike our neighbors with propane generators, who have to ration fuel, our system recharges every day thanks to the sun. Even though our output is lower on cloudy days, we still get daily “fuel deliveries” from the sun.

Keep in mind that our road is in rough shape and most propane delivery companies will not refuel customer tanks at present.

When solar production is lower–when it’s overcast or cloudy–we scale back by skipping hot water, cooking on a camping stove, and using minimal lighting. So far, we haven’t dipped below 50% battery capacity.

This week, we’re expecting clear skies, so by early afternoon, our batteries should be fully charged, allowing us to use excess solar energy to heat water for showers and run the dishwasher—true luxuries during a crisis like this.

Helping Our Community

As I mentioned, many of our neighbors with whole-house generators only run them for a few hours each day to conserve fuel. They’ve been bringing their devices to our home to charge, and because we have satellite internet, we’ve opened up free Wi-Fi. We’ve jokingly renamed our porch the “Witherspoon Internet Café,” where neighbors use our internet for everything from filing FEMA applications to contacting loved ones.

One big advantage is Wi-Fi calling, which has been crucial since cell service remains unreliable. While we now have some mobile voice and texting capabilities, the connection is unstable and frequently drops. Wi-Fi calling bypasses these issues, making it easier to deal with complicated phone trees and long hold times.

Challenges and the Road Ahead

We’re preparing for the possibility of being without grid power for another two months—or longer. The road to our home, with a 1,000-foot elevation gain, was severely damaged, and nearly all the power poles are down. Some transformers are wrecked, and our local substation was wiped out by flooding.

Duke Energy will have restored power to 90% of its customers by next week, but we’re in the 10% that will take much longer. Our entire power delivery system needs to be rebuilt, and the road might need to be repaired first to make this possible.

With winter approaching, we’ll have shorter days and more overcast skies, which will further reduce our solar production. We plan to repair the damaged panels and hope that gives us enough output to make it through the colder months. Otherwise, we’ll have to be even more conservative with our power usage, possibly shutting off devices like our satellite modem during the day.

Before you ask: don’t worry about our heating during the winter. Our house is passive solar and we also built it around an efficient RAIS wood stove. We can typically heat our home on less than two cords of wood per winter. We’ve got plenty in stock and, in fact, will have a nearly unlimited amount starting in a couple of years when our sawed up wood has cured.

Change in mindset

We now know that we can live comfortably off-grid, and while we’d consider making it a permanent arrangement, our main reason for staying connected to the grid is to sell back our excess solar energy.

As long as our solar system continues to function, we should be in good shape until the grid is restored.

Four Words…

Thank you so much!

We feel so incredibly fortunate compared to many who have lost their homes, their businesses, and members of their family.

Once again, our family is overwhelmed by the kindness and love you’ve shown us.

We know many who live in Florida where they’ll soon be receiving the full force of Cat 4 or 5 Hurricane Milton. Know that we’re here for you too.

Have a wonderful day.

Best & 72,
Thomas (K4SWL)