Published: June 28, 2009 08:23 pm      

Practicing communication

Amateur radio club participates in annual ‘Field Day’ event.

Tom Denton turned the radio dial while listening for a clear channel of frequency. He stopped, picked up a hand-held microphone and began to speak.

“Whiskey nine victor mike whiskey,” he said three times.

A few seconds later he turned the dial again.

“It takes practice to find a frequency to talk to someone,” he said.

After a few minutes he hears someone else talking and takes another chance. This time he is in luck. A person from the other side responds.

“Kilo two alpha alpha, Southern New Jersey,” the voice said.

Denton wrote the information on a piece of paper and typed it into a computer next to him.

“He heard me,” said Denton, a Cass County Amateur Radio Club member who participated in a national, 24-hour event known as “Field Day.”

The event took place on Saturday and Sunday in the Emergency Management Agency building. The purpose of Field Day is to practice for real-life emergencies.

Amateur radio operators, also known as “hams,” are able to hold two-way conversations worldwide on radio frequencies using telegraphy, voice, digital and images.

Ham operators are able to assist in emergencies and disasters, since the radios can run off generators, batteries and even solar power.

Cass County event chairman Tom Murray says the annual Field Day has been held for at least the past 50 years.

Each member took a turn at trying to make as many contacts as possible with other amateur radio operators across the United States and even Canada. The operators kept communication with one another short, simply stating the groups call name and where they were from.

Once the event concluded, the group sent in the final number of contacts made. They will find out who won the event in December.

“Some clubs do it for the competition and some do it for fun,” Murray said. “We do it for both. Really, we are competing against ourselves. We try to make more contacts than the years before.”

Murray said the event is important for several reasons.

First, it allows each member to operate the radios inside an emergency building. It also allows the members to practice putting up antennas in the field, and make sure the equipment is working properly.

“We usually find something that is wrong,” Murray said. “It lets us get the bugs out.”

The club, which started in 1953, is made up of a variety of members and three different level of operators, including technician, general and extra. A technician can communicate on a local level using short distance bands, and general and extra can communicate around the world, using high frequency bands.

The event started out with 20 of the club’s operators in attendance, but a number of members join later during the day. Each operator is able to take a shift, since the group could only use four operators and three computer loggers at one time.

Dan McDonald spent most of his time helping the public make a contact with someone else. After finding a station, he told each person exactly what to say. The training room attracted many children.

“It’s very fun and educational,” McDonald said. “A lot of people start their career young. It really opens doors for people.”

The group also received extra points for every public official stopping by, as well as having an educational table set up, running on a generator for one hour and using Morse Code.

Each member has their own reason for staying involved with the hobby.

“Some people like to work with the electronics,” Murray said. “I like the public service aspect of it.”

Denton first became interested while listening to a police scanner during a storm. He heard ham operators offering information about high winds and tornadoes. He began attending meetings and decided to join.

Each member also has a different favorite part of the event.

While Denton said he didn’t have a particular favorite part, he enjoys operating the radios more than anything else.

Murray, however, prefers setting the equipment up and tearing it down.

Club Vice President Dave Rothermel said he would rather build things.

“When something is not working, I like figuring out why,” he said. “I’d rather mess with the mechanics rather than operate.”



Want to know more?

• For more information on the Cass County Amateur Radio Club, visit www.w9vmw.org



Denise Massie is a staff writer at the Pharos-Tribune. She can be reached at (574) 732-5151 or denise.massie@pharostribune.com