Mardi Gras is an annual celebration in New Orleans that’s tied to the Christian tradition of Lent before Easter. Sixty-four parades with up to 50 floats each are enjoyed by locals and nearly 1.2 million visitors over the course of 2 weeks leading up to Mardi Gras day (literally, “Fat Tuesday,” the day before Lent starts on Ash Wednesday). The multiple daily events of the Mardi Gras celebration have been called “the world’s largest planned natural disaster.” Eric Pickering, KE5BMU, is the City’s Deputy Operations Chief in the New Orleans Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness (NOHSEP), and his team is responsible for responding to unplanned events that are real, likely, or feared. The Jefferson Amateur Radio Club, W5GAD granted access to their repeaters and club members volunteered to help man several mobile command stations along the parade routes for duration of the Mardi Gras exercises.
To read the complete ARRL ARES news article, click on this link: Communications Support for the “Greatest Free Show on Earth”
