title: When all else fails: 21st century Amateur Radio as an emergency communications medium.
abstract: Twenty-first century demand for radio spectrum continues to increase with the explosive growth of wireless devices, but authorities reserve slices of the spectrum for licensed Amateur Radio operators, recognizing their value to the public, particularly with respect to providing emergency communications. Blood banking and transfusion medicine are among the specialties that should also recognize the value of Amateur Radio as an emergency communications medium, because blood collection, testing, processing, storage, and transfusion are life-saving activities that in modern times can be separated by considerable distance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Blood Transfusion and Transplantation Immunology, Fukushima Medical University, Hikarigaoka 1, Fukushima 960-1295, Japan; Radiation Medical Science Center, Fukushima Medical University, Hikarigaoka 1, Fukushima 960-1295, Japan. Electronic address: nollet@fmu.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Kenneth E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Nollet
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ohto
mesh_terms: D003142:Communication; D003195:Computer Communication Networks; D004189:Disaster Planning / Q000379:methods*; D004635:Emergency Medicine / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D011845:Radio; D017751:Safety Management / Q000379:methods
keywords: Amateur Radio; Disaster response; Emergency communications