The Philip B. Petersen Collection Broadcast April 27, 1989

     Radio amateurs provide all kinds of voluntary radio communication services for the public, as do many other volunteer organizations.  In the spring of 1980, some small tremors were noted around Mount St. Helens in Washington state.  There were indications that this long-dormant volcano was becoming restless and steam was starting to vent from the peak.  Plans were in the making to prepare for a possible emergency.  As part of this plan, radio amateurs were called upon.  The Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (known as RACES) and the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (called ARES) were activated to provide a radio communications network that was to last for several months.  Many of the radio amateurs were on duty around the mountain as scientific observers reporting the tremor activity and other observations to state headquarters.
     The United States Geological Survey Team had set up scientific instruments around Mount St. Helens and the National Geographic Society requested the assistance of radio amateurs in helping to provide communication links to remotely control their photographic equipment being placed around the mountain.  Radio amateurs were routinely reporting these scientific findings for several months from their many locations, noting increasing and then decreasing periods of volcano tremors along with the venting of steam from the peak.  Then all of a sudden, on Sunday morning at 8:32 AM on May 8th in 1980, the top of Mount St. Helens blew up, sending death and total destruction for many miles.  Radio amateur Jerry Martin, W6TQF, sent the first word of the blast immediately from his radio observation post to the state Emergency Service Headquarters.  He was ten miles from the volcano and was never heard from again and is presumed dead.  Another radio amateur, Reid Blackburn, KA7AMF, who was a few miles closer to the volcano, was not heard that morning.  That afternoon, an emergency rescue helicopter got to his site.  There were several feet of hot volcanic ash everywhere and Reid's car was burning.  They were finally able to recover his body three days later.
     The force of the explosion was estimated to be equivalent to a ten-megaton atomic bomb.  The top 1300 feet of the mountain was completely gone.  It had come down the side of the volcano across a large lake and then turned to mud, continuing on, uprooting large trees and pushing everything in its path for miles.  The force of the explosion sent volcanic ash up to 60,000 feet that covered parts of several states in the northwest with several inches of volcanic ash.
     Mount St. Helens was still active after this explosion.  A week later, on Sunday morning, another eruption sent clouds of volcanic ash in the northwest areas of Washington and again on Thursday evening a third eruption sent more clouds of ash to the southwest over the Portland, Oregon area causing the airport to close.
     The public service provided by the radio amateurs was accomplished over a period of three months and had greatly helped to give early warnings of imminent danger that did occur.  Let us not forget that these two radio amateurs, Jerry Martin, W6TQF and Reid Blackburn, KA7AMF, lost their lives in service to their fellow man.

April 27, 1989

** Broadcasts recordings preserved and presented here by Mr. Robert Buss and Mr. Bernie Ricciardi, Phil's friends and fellow Marconi Chapter 138 QCWA members **

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