After almost two weeks of working to establish emergency communications links in areas of Mississippi ravaged by Hurricane Katrina, volunteer ham radio operator David R. Beatson is preparing to head home to South Carolina tomorrow night to make way for incoming ham radio volunteers. Several other members of his 14-person ham radio crew in Ocean Springs, Miss., will also be heading to their homes after helping the American Red Cross as hurricane victims arrived at emergency evacuation centers in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama after the deadly storm plowed through the area Aug. 29.

On Wednesday night, Beatson and his team -- who have after been sleeping in their cars and on cots in makeshift radio communications centers since arriving -- will be treated to a hot dinner, showers and bunks aboard the U.S. Navy hospital ship Comfort, which is docked in the port of Pascagoula, Miss. "It"s kind of like a little rest and relaxation for the team," he said.

In many cases, the ham radio volunteers have been working around the clock to help the Red Cross coordinate the delivery of incoming supplies to evacuation centers and to help get medical attention to victims of the storm.

Beatson, of Lake Wylie., S.C., is one of more than some 700 volunteers who have already been posted in areas hit by the storm, which killed hundreds and left New Orleans flooded. He is a member of the American Radio Relay League Inc., a 157,000-member amateur radio group based in Newington, Conn.

Four new ham radio volunteers from Tennessee, and another from Ontario, arrived Wednesday to take over the operations center from the volunteers heading home.

Beatson said the experience has been very emotional. Earlier this week, he helped line up critical medical care for a 12-year-old boy whose family was left homeless by Hurricane Katrina, and he helped another storm victim contact a local morgue to locate the body of his brother, who was killed in the hurricane.

"We actually got a lot more accomplished than we thought we would," he said. "We normally don"t get involved directly with helping people. That"s a great feeling. We accomplished our mission."

Even so, Beatson said he"s already worrying about the latest storm -- Hurricane Ophelia, which Wednesday was skirting the coast of North Carolina. "I hope I don"t leave to go home to another hurricane," he said.