Mike Johnson, Mansfield; N8MBZ above.
DISASTER PREPAREDNESS--
in world-class style
Visualize a disaster of epic proportions in your town—a Katrina-like hurricane, for example. Power is out and phone lines and cell towers are destroyed for miles around. Calling for help is impossible.
That’s when the folks in amateur radio step up to the plate with an essential means of public
communication.
Recently Mansfield’s Intercity Amateur Radio Club held a 24 hour field day exercise to maintain razor sharp skills in disaster preparedness.
Members gather in the “disaster” area and establish a base camp of operations. Radio communication gear is hooked to computers and networked to a generator-fed power grid. Assorted antennas snake through neighborhood trees and in this improbable stew of amazing technology, communications can be established—world wide.
This year’s annual event was held at a retreat center on SR 603 and the base camp is organized and manned for 24 straight hours; 2 p.m. to 2 p.m., the following day.
And, this is going on with countless radio clubs at the same time across the US and Canada.
Visitor’s ears are assaulted by a constant crackle of radio static punctuated by the recognizable dialog of electronic communication while the generator rattles the natural quiet of the woods.
By 7 a.m., on the second day Larry Roop of Mansfield, N8RGO, working the 80 meter band, pointed out on his laptop monitor 272 voice contacts already had been made with other amateur radio base camps from Florida to British Columbia.
In a second of five operating stations at their base camp, Mike Hartge of Shelby and John Lehman of Columbus were communicating the old fashioned way—using Morse code and a paddle key connected to their radio transmitter. Mike’s computer which was tracking their contacts showed they were only slightly behind Roop’s voice contact rig.
“We’ll probably catch up before the day is over,” Hartge smiled confidently; exuding a sense of competitive spirit.
Meanwhile, Mike Johnson of Mansfield was manning the group’s digital station in a spacious picnic pavilion. His dipole antennae’s guy wire disappeared into the edge of nearby woods.
In spite of that somewhat crude aerial assembly, Johnson had just concluded a contact with another radio station in Puerto Rico.
Digital, a somewhat recent innovation in amateur radio, codes the signal with public domain software on a personal computer then uses the amateur radio shortwave rig to send that coded message to another digital station where it is decoded and read.
These folks, much like the local volunteer fire department, provide an essential service when life kicks some sand in our face. Fogeyisms salutes them!
John Lehman, Columbus, K8PJ, a 30 year amateur veteran, (above) uses this vast array of equipment on the dashboard of his Jeep to simulate contact with hospitals operating the nation’s eye banks where instant communication in an emergency could be critical. Amateur radio today is the standby for the internet on the Eye Bank Net.
In the small photo above right Mike Hartge, Shelby, WO8R, is working his paddle key to transmit a Morse code message via the amateur radio airwaves.
(The capitalized abbreviations after these four men’s names are their unique call signs assigned by federal licensing officials.)
Links: http://www.iarc.ws/ The Mansfield radio club.
http://www.arrl.org/ The National Association for Amateur Radio
DISASTER PREPAREDNESS--
in world-class style
Visualize a disaster of epic proportions in your town—a Katrina-like hurricane, for example. Power is out and phone lines and cell towers are destroyed for miles around. Calling for help is impossible.
That’s when the folks in amateur radio step up to the plate with an essential means of public
communication.Recently Mansfield’s Intercity Amateur Radio Club held a 24 hour field day exercise to maintain razor sharp skills in disaster preparedness.
Members gather in the “disaster” area and establish a base camp of operations. Radio communication gear is hooked to computers and networked to a generator-fed power grid. Assorted antennas snake through neighborhood trees and in this improbable stew of amazing technology, communications can be established—world wide.
This year’s annual event was held at a retreat center on SR 603 and the base camp is organized and manned for 24 straight hours; 2 p.m. to 2 p.m., the following day.
And, this is going on with countless radio clubs at the same time across the US and Canada.
Visitor’s ears are assaulted by a constant crackle of radio static punctuated by the recognizable dialog of electronic communication while the generator rattles the natural quiet of the woods.
By 7 a.m., on the second day Larry Roop of Mansfield, N8RGO, working the 80 meter band, pointed out on his laptop monitor 272 voice contacts already had been made with other amateur radio base camps from Florida to British Columbia.
In a second of five operating stations at their base camp, Mike Hartge of Shelby and John Lehman of Columbus were communicating the old fashioned way—using Morse code and a paddle key connected to their radio transmitter. Mike’s computer which was tracking their contacts showed they were only slightly behind Roop’s voice contact rig.
“We’ll probably catch up before the day is over,” Hartge smiled confidently; exuding a sense of competitive spirit.
Meanwhile, Mike Johnson of Mansfield was manning the group’s digital station in a spacious picnic pavilion. His dipole antennae’s guy wire disappeared into the edge of nearby woods.
In spite of that somewhat crude aerial assembly, Johnson had just concluded a contact with another radio station in Puerto Rico.
Digital, a somewhat recent innovation in amateur radio, codes the signal with public domain software on a personal computer then uses the amateur radio shortwave rig to send that coded message to another digital station where it is decoded and read.
These folks, much like the local volunteer fire department, provide an essential service when life kicks some sand in our face. Fogeyisms salutes them!
John Lehman, Columbus, K8PJ, a 30 year amateur veteran, (above) uses this vast array of equipment on the dashboard of his Jeep to simulate contact with hospitals operating the nation’s eye banks where instant communication in an emergency could be critical. Amateur radio today is the standby for the internet on the Eye Bank Net.
In the small photo above right Mike Hartge, Shelby, WO8R, is working his paddle key to transmit a Morse code message via the amateur radio airwaves.
(The capitalized abbreviations after these four men’s names are their unique call signs assigned by federal licensing officials.)
Links: http://www.iarc.ws/ The Mansfield radio club.
http://www.arrl.org/ The National Association for Amateur Radio
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