Iroquois County Amateur Radio 147.030+ and 444.625+ - Meetings 2nd Thursday at the Red Cross Office in Watseka, IL

In Iroquois County Sam’s HAMS provide voice in emergencies

By Jo McCord

The HAM radio philosophy — Helping All Mankind — is one the 10 members of the Iroquois County Amateur Radio Club have adhered to through deed and action.

The club participates in Skywarn Net Operations to track threatening weather, and was last involved when a severe thunderstorm came through the county on August 10. A description of the evening is provided on their Web site www.icar.com by their Web master, Justin Kaiser of Sheldon.

Vice-president Carl Schroeder of Woodland said the club is valuable when emergency service agencies need secure back-up communications.

He is working on a secure system. “It’s basically just a different form other than by voice, not Morse code, and you send it digitally,” he said. “We’re trying to be available and prepared,” Schroeder added.

The club also will help Iroquois Memorial Hospital in Watseka set up a radio system provided by the Illinois TerrorismTask Force, a division of Homeland Security. It’s for use when a disaster, manmade or natural, wipes out electricity and telephones. The club will use code to accommodate stricter privacy laws.

Sherry Garrelts, coordinator of emergency services at the hospital, contacted secretary-treasurer Sam Ripple for help when she heard the system was approved.

“I’m very impressed with the HAM radio operators,” she said. “I never got such a good reception as I got from them.” And this is Iroquois County where “people come out of the woodwork and help you,” she added.

If an event occurs, some club members will go to the scene and others will come to the hospital to operate the communication system.

“They opened up their arms and are very willing to help us,” Garrelts said.

Volunteer of the year

That’s what the club has done since the 1960s with the Iroquois County American Red Cross, which named Ripple its volunteer of the year in July for his work organizing the HAMs into a support group for emergency services.

That’s what HAM radio operators have been doing since the organization was launched in Canada 100 years ago.

The club also makes radio equipment available to Red Cross volunteers when they need reliable, alternative communication equipment, Ripple said.

Ripple has been the guiding force behind the revival of the club in the past three years or so, Schroeder said.

“It’s primarily through the efforts of Sam Ripple that this thing got started again. He’s really a mentor to the club.”

Sam’s HAMs can cover the whole county with hand-held radios and even go up into the Kankakee area, down to Champaign, west into Ford County and east into Indiana.

“All the members of the club have their own radios and some have portable ones in their vehicles and walkie talkies,” Schroeder said.

The repeater systems are housed at undisclosed places for security reasons, he said.

Being a HAM

So what’s the attraction of sitting in front of that tabletop radio at home, being a HAM?

“One of my main interests is in talking to people in countries around the world,” Schroeder said.

Hi wife, Christine, agrees. “I like talking to people in other countries — just seeing how they live and their priorities,” Christine said.

They’ve talked to radio people in almost every country of the world — English is universal.

“I’ve not radioed Iraq recently. Iraqis have more important things to worry about,” Carl said. “Some of the service people are able to get on HAM radio once in awhile.”

He prefers radios to the Internet. “It’s more of a thrill to know that I’m talking into a microphone and being heard directly in Australia.”

100 years

of HAMs

– B3

Iroquois County Amateur Radio Club

What: Iroquois County Amateur Radio Club meets at 7 p.m. the second Thursday of each month at the American Red Cross office, 214 E. Walnut St. Watseka.

Membership: Anyone with a sincere interest in ham radio operation may join. Dues are $30 per year.

Officers: President Steve Farrington, Loda; vice president Carl Schroeder, Woodland; and secretary-treasurer Sam Ripple, Watseka.

Web site: www.icarc.com.

Licensing: For information, call American Radio Relay League (800) 594-0200 or visit the Web site, www.arrl.org.