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Amateur Radio Operators HAM it up

pirate_girl

legendary ⚓
GOLD Site Supporter
This was on the local news here.. thought some of you guys and gals might enjoy watching it.

Video
In times of natural disasters, it's often the amateur radio operator that can provide the needed communications.
Thousands of ham operators across the country were showing off their emergency capabilities this weekend as part of the Amateur Radio Relay League's field day.

Gary Clements with the Northwest Ohio Amateur Radio Club based in Lima says this exercise is good practice in case they're pressed into action. He says "this is a chance for HAM's to get together and simulate emergency conditions".

In Van Wert, hams were operating at the Emergency Management Agency location.
They had operators in the basement as well as in two trailers outside the facility trying to contact other hams across North America .
Amateur radio operator Jack Snyder says "in an emergency they can communicate if conventional means fail. He says many cell phone towers don't have emergency generators so when normal communications go down ham radio is important".

In another trailer on the property, "Cork" Poling was using C.W. or Morse code to contact other amateurs. The dots and dashes translate into words and in some cases may be the only way to communicate long distances. He says it "still will perform when other things won't. It has the ability to with low power and a poor antenna to be able to communicate when you really can't get through perhaps with intelligible voice. "It's estimated there are more than 685 thousand ham radio licensees in the United States and more than 2 point 5 million around the world.
 

muleman

Gone But Not Forgotten
GOLD Site Supporter
There could easily come a real trial when the sunspots peak. Regular communication will be difficult if at all. They are a vital part of emergency communications that are rarely given a thought by the public.
 
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