Ham radio operators
participate in field day
By JEFFREY SAULTON
jsaulton@newsandsentinel.com
POSTED: June 27, 2010
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Ham radio operators
Dr. Ari (Rick) Levitt-Sawyer (WV8DOC), left, and Terry Mills
(KC8TUE) log a contact during the American Radio Relay League’s
Field Day on Saturday. (Photo by Jeffrey Saulton) |
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WALKER - Making contact with other amateur operators,
or ham radio operators, near and far was the goal of a 24-hour field day
sponsored by Wood County Emergency Communications
Ken Harris, director of Wood County Emergency
Communications, said the American Radio Relay League's Field Day began at
2 p.m. Saturday and ends at 2 p.m. today at the Hendershot Farm off Laurel
Creek Road.
He said the purpose of the field day is for local
operators to make contact with as many other ham radio operators as
possible from across the U.S. and Canada.
"We are operating under emergency conditions," he said.
"This is an annual event to test our equipment and to work out any bugs in
the system."
Harris said the groups are participating in the field
day for a listing in the American Radio Relay League magazine. Last year
Wood County Emergency Communications finished in the middle of similar
groups using five transmitters with 568 contacts with other operators from
the country and around the world.
"A group in New Hampshire had 6,357 contacts and on the
other end was a group in Idaho with 181," he said. "While this field day
is only for the U.S. and Canada we are allowed to count contacts with
operators from around the world."
Harris said the local group has made contacts in every
state except Alaska and Hawaii.
"Alaska may be bigger than Texas but they have fewer
operators than West Virginia," he said. "Because of that they are hard to
reach. One year we were able to reach the International Space Station
since it was right over us."
Harris said the space station was over the area Friday
night as they were setting up for the field day, but they were not ready
and missed the opportunity to contact them.
Amateur radio has a following among the teens in the
area. He said at the field day there were several participating and one,
Jason Stahl, was taking the test for his technician license.
"We tell them on amateur radio we can talk with people
all over the world and some say they can do that on the Internet," he
said. "We have to compete with that but it is important to keep this
alternative up."
Harris said after the earthquake in Haiti the first
contact with the outside world were made through amateur radio.
"They were the ones getting the information out until
the big boys got there with their satellite dishes," he said.
Harris said while Wood County Emergency Communications
were not involved in a relay from Haiti, there were members monitoring in
case they were needed.
"In something like that you keep your mouth shut and
ears open," he said. "It was the same way with Hurricane Katrina, radio
was the only communication until the big boys got there."
Harris said he was continuing his experiment from last
year with solar panels to run his equipment with additional panels and
positioning them differently. Other operators were powered by generators
but they get points in the field day for incorporating alternative energy
sources.
"Last year I had them on a table but this year I put
them on the ground and they will be exposed to the sun all day charging
the batteries for use over night ," he said. "Next year we hope to have a
wind turbine for more points for using alternative energy sources."
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