COLUMBIA CITY, Ind. – Whitley County Amateur Radio Operators or “Hams” will join with thousands of other Hams who will be showing off their emergency capabilities this weekend.
In the Whitley County area, the Whitley County Amateur Radio Club
(WCARC) will be demonstrating at the Whitley County 4-H Fairgrounds (Upper Level), 680 W. Squawbuck Rd., Columbia City on Saturday, June 27, from 2 p.m. until Sunday, June 28, at 2 p.m. for 24 consecutive hours.
Operators invite the public to come and see ham radio’s new capabilities and learn how to get their own FCC radio license before the next disaster strikes.
Over the past year, the news has been full of reports of Ham radio operators providing critical communications during unexpected emergencies in towns across America including the California wildfires, winter storms, tornadoes and other events world-wide.
During Hurricane Katrina, Ham Radio was often the only way people could communicate, and hundreds of volunteer Hams traveled south to save lives and property. When trouble is brewing, Amateur Radio’s people are often the first to provide rescuers with critical communications.
Locally, Whitley County Amateur Radio operators have provided support in the past for major fires or hazardous materials incidents, winter and severe storms, power and communication outages and even training exercises and drills. Even without any major events, some of the many things local “hams” are involved with are to ensure is that all Columbia City EWS Sirens are operational twice per month, participate in the Statewide tornado and other communication tests and serve as SKYWARN severe weather spotters. They also provide non-emergency communications support for events such as the Whitley County Tour de Loops Bicycle Ride.
During the June 27-28 event, the public will have a chance to meet and talk with Whitley County Amateur Radio Operators and see for themselves what the Amateur Radio Service is about. Showing digital and satellite capabilities, voice communications and even historical Morse code, Hams from across the U.S.A. will be holding public demonstrations of emergency communications abilities.
The annual 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 radio operators will construct emergency stations in parks, shopping malls, schools and back yards around the country. Their slogan, “Amateur Radio works when other systems don’t!” is more than just words to the Hams. Watch 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 30,000 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 that amateur radio people can quickly create have saved many lives when other systems failed or were overloaded. And besides that, it’s fun!”
There are over 650,000 Amateur Radio licensees in the US, and more than 2.5 million around the world. Through the ARRL’s Amateur Radio Emergency Services program, ham volunteers provide emergency communications for thousands of state and local emergency response agencies, all for free.
To learn more about Amateur Radio, go to www.emergency-radio.org. Or at the Field Day, send a message to a friend or family member via amateur radio (need an address and telephone information) or even make a radio contact.
For more information on the Whitley County ARC log onto www.wcarc.org or attend a monthly meeting every second Thursday of the month at the Peabody Public Library, meeting room A (lower level) at 7 p.m. Or, email the WCARC at wc9ar@arrl.net.
