Iroquois County Ham Radio Operators Demonstrate Modern Capabilities
June 25, 08 by Iroquois County Amateur Radio ClubPublic Demonstration of Emergency Communications June 28th in Watseka
This activity gives Amateur Radio operators the opportunity to practice
communication skills under primitive conditions with generators, battery
powered equipment and portable antennas. Field Day is a competition as well
as a ‘trial run’ for emergency communication skills used during disaster
situations such as severe weather. The lessons learned in the aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina demonstrated factually that even the best state-of-the-art
communications systems were no match in a severe storm. Amateur Radio
remained viable to save lives and provide the vital communications so
desperately needed. The Iroquois County Amateur Radio Club is a regular
participant and major player in the Multi-County SKYWARN severe weather
spotting activities. During a time of severe weather threats, they dispatch
volunteer spotters into the field to report back to the National Weather Service
via Amateur Radio of weather conditions in their immediate
area, providing the National Weather Service with additional ‘eyes in the
field’. The Crescent City VHF (2-Meter) repeater, manned by Iroquois
SKYWARN control operators and ICARC members, provides coverage for all of
Iroquois County and to our local ESDA coordinator.
Thousands of Ham Radio operators will be showing off their emergency capabilities this weekend. Over the past year, the news has been full of reports of ham radio operators providing critical communications in emergencies world-wide. During Hurricane Katrina, Amateur Radio – often called “Ham radio” - was often the ONLY way people could communicate, and hundreds of volunteer “hams” traveled south to save lives and property and during the recent flooding in East Central Illinois and West Central Indiana ham radio operators worked directly with local authorities to pass along critical communications. When trouble is brewing in our Illiana skies, ham radio people are often the first to provide critical information and communications to the local ESDA office and work in conjunction with local radio. On the weekend of June 28-29, the public will have a chance to meet and talk with these ham radio operators and see for themselves what the Amateur Radio Service is about. Showing the newest digital and satellite capabilities, voice communications and even historical Morse code, hams from across the USA will be holding public demonstrations of emergency communications abilities.
This annual event, called “Field Day” is the climax of the week long “Amateur Radio Week” sponsored by the ARRL, the National Association for Amateur Radio. Using only emergency power supplies, ham operators will construct emergency stations in parks, shopping malls, schools and back yards around the country. Their slogan, “When all else fails…”is more than just words to the hams as they prove they can send messages in many forms without the use of phone systems, internet or any other infrastructure that can be compromised in a crisis. More than 34,000 amateur radio operators across the country participated in last year’s event.
“We hope that people will come and see for themselves, this is not your grandfather’s radio anymore,” said Allen Pitts of the ARRL. “The communications networks that ham radio people can quickly create have saved many lives in the past months when other systems failed or were overloaded.”
In the Watseka area, the Iroquois County Amateur Radio Club will be demonstrating Ham and Amateur Radio communications at the Watseka Glenn Raymond School on SATURDAY FROM 1-6 (or anytime you see a ham operator outside at the school). They invite the public to come and see ham radio’s capabilities and learn how to get their own FCC radio license before the next disaster strikes.
There are 650,000 Amateur Radio operators in the US, and more than 2.5 million around the world. Through the ARRL, ham volunteers provide emergency communications for the DHS Citizens’ Corps, Salvation Army, FEMA and hundreds of state and local agencies, all for free.
To learn more about Amateur Radio, go to www.emergency-radio.org. The public is most cordially invited to come, meet and talk with the hams. See what modern Amateur Radio can do. They can even help you get on the air!
