Amateur radio operators – called radio amateurs – are always ready to spring into action to provide a vital communication link in the worst conditions, including when there is no electricity and telephones, and even for fun events such as rallies and concerts.
The American Radio Relay League, the national association of amateur radio operators, describes amateur radio — which is known as amateur radio, although the reason remains a mystery, though there are several plausible explanations — as “a mixture of entertainment, public service and experimentation.”
Locally, members of the Marion County Emergency Radio Communications Team exemplify the contributions of radio amateurs during emergencies.
Marion County Sheriff’s Office public information officer Lauren Letellier said the ham radio operators on the team allow for a “proactive support method” to provide back-up communications when needed during events such as shelter activation, tropical storms or hurricanes , political rallies, concerts, parades and forest fires.
“MERT members are not just volunteers, they are an integral part of the community and emergency management system and as such are held to the same standards as emergency responders,” Letelier said.
She said team members worked last year in shelters set up during Hurricane Matthew at Belleview and Vanguard high schools
“Emergency Management has provided amateur operators with 14 ‘Go-kits’ which are self-contained, portable ham radios capable of operating autonomously wherever needed and capable of sending not only voice but also data/text messages back to Emergency Operations Center,” she said.
The recent American Radio Relay League 24-Hour Field Day, held across the country on June 24-25, gave members of the Silver Springs Radio Club a chance to test and hone their emergency response skills by making contacts while working at mock emergency conditions using mostly quick-fit temporary antennas.
Mike Hanna, president of the 60-member, nearly 70-year-old club, said no commercial force was used at the event. Typical of many radio amateurs, Hannah has been active in radio since she received a crystal radio as a youth.
During the field exercise, about 16 club members were involved in operating eight transceivers, or transmit and receive radios, located around a large open field near St. George’s Anglican Cathedral in southeast Marion County. The event ran from 2:00 PM on June 24th to 2:00 PM on June 25th. Heat indices around 102 degrees and storms added to the realism.
“Even with the bad weather, we still made contacts all over North America as well as a few international contacts,” said club member Carl Berry.
Berry also participates in SKYWARN, a network of trained weather observers who act as the eyes and ears of the National Weather Service. They can report weather events to the NWS and related damage, such as a bridge outage, to local law enforcement.
Berry is the assistant emergency coordinator for the Marion County Amateur Radio Emergency Services. He said during the last field day, the group made 106 Morse code contacts, 24 digital contacts and 282 voice contacts, with each operator exchanging their local information.
Andy Allen is a retired FM radio personality who played artists such as Jethro Tull and Eric Clapton while working at a station in St. Louis, Missouri. He started as a radio amateur when he was exposed to the station’s transmission equipment. He received his amateur radio license in 1978.
He worked with equipment during the field day, which included a cell phone monitor.
“It’s a chance to test our ability to get out of our comfort zone and make it work,” said Allen, who uses a tree-mounted antenna.
Wayne Brown, 74, is a retired Air Force pilot who flew F-106 fighter jets. He worked at a station alongside Jim Bilancio, transmitting and receiving Morse code on a platform that uses a Windows 10-based program in a system known as “software defined radio, or SDR.”
Brown, who has 60 years of Morse code experience, traded contact information with fellow radio amateurs in places including Tennessee, Illinois, Puerto Rico, New York and the Dominican Republic. He said that even when all commercial power is down and cell phone towers are down, radio amateurs can still communicate around the world.
Elbert Wilkinson and Maurice Schietecatte operated a station using a digital signal that took less power than conventional radio. The duo uses a portable antenna about 10 feet tall.
Bert Garcia of Summerfield, accompanied by his wife Kathy, established a connection in Ontario, Canada, at his station.
According to http://arrl-nfl.org, field days have been held since 1933 and now involve 40,000 radio amateurs across North America. The exercise is a way “to showcase the science, skills and service of radio amateurs to our communities and our nation. It combines public service, emergency preparedness, community outreach and technical skills into one event.”
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