CHESHIRE - When Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in 2005, almost every communications system in the region was shut down as towers were toppled and wires broken.

For the first 48 hours after the storm, the burden of communication rested mainly on amateur radio operators - hams -brought in from around the country. Harold Kramer, Cheshire resident and chief operating officer for the American Radio Relay League, ham radio's national organization, helped coordinate the efforts with rescue services, volunteers and relatives of victims.

"We had thousands of e-mails asking for us to help find people," Kramer said. The coordination of local ham radio clubs was orchestrated from the league's headquarters in Newington, where Kramer works.

"We were here seven days a week," he said.

Kramer, who got his amateur radio license when he was 14, has worked for the league for five years. He and other league staff have been sending radios to Haiti for the past few weeks in an effort to re-establish communications on the island.

Ham Aid, a program started after Katrina, has been applied to Haiti and particularly to the mountainous regions of western Haiti, Kramer said. He and others have been in contact with radio equipment manufacturers, which have been donating equipment.

"We've been supplying VHF radio equipment, mostly handheld, and base communications," Kramer said. "We had some of it on hand, but we needed more stuff."

Unlike the Gulf Coast, which has a large number of hams, Haiti has only nine or so, according to league spokesman Allen Pitts. Six of them have been accounted for since the earthquake.

The equipment being sent to Haiti includes repeaters, which relay signals 30 to 40 miles. The repeaters are set up in the mountains, where other forms of communications are inoperable, Pitts said.

Hurricane Katrina and the Haiti earthquake aren't the only emergencies in which Kramer has assisted. He and other hams have provided communications during less catastrophic events, such as ice storms.

Training for emergencies is the purpose of the league's assortment of annual contests, Kramer said, which test participants' ability to reach distant locations or convey information quickly.

Kramer inherited his interest in radio equipment and communication from his family while growing up in Waterbury.

"I can't remember not knowing about electronics," he said.

He joined the league the same year he got his license and has been a member for almost 50 years. Some of that time was spent in the league's field organization, the radio operators who provide communication during disasters.

Until five years ago, Kramer was the field emergency coordinator for Cheshire, a town with an active ham radio community, he said.

Bill Wawrzeniak, a ham who also got his license at 14, is a former president of the Meriden Amateur Radio Club. The club provides emergency communications for Wallingford, his hometown, but that aspect of ham radio doesn't interest him as much as talking with people around the world.

"I got into it because I was fascinated by talking to people over great distances," he said. "Probably some of the most interesting are those on the other side of the world: Tibet, Mongolia."

Wawrzeniak has talked to operators in 290 countries and islands, out of the 313 recognized by the league.

Kramer uses mostly text communication at work, but he still gets on the air to chat with other hams.

Conversations can touch on any topic, he said. "It could be anything: what's the weather, what kind of equipment are you on."

Kramer's career previous to his league position was with cable television in the Naugatuck valley, WNPR public radio and as vice president of Connecticut Public Television. Those positions prepared him well for his role at the league, Kramer said, noting his familiarity with Federal Communications Commission rules.

"I always wanted to work for the ARRL."

jbuchanan@record-journal.com

(203) 317-2230