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 Previous: QRP Community: The Minimalist QRPer |  Next: ISS Commander Talks via Ham Radio with Scottish School He Once Visited |
 The TSARC communications van set up during Field Day 2003. [Lee Walter, WD0HEO, Photo] |
NEWINGTON, CT, Mar 17, 2004--The Points of Light Foundation & Volunteer Center National Network has designated The Tri-State Amateur Radio Club (TSARC) as the Daily Point of Light for Monday, March 29. An ARRL-affiliated club, TSARC is headquartered in Cresco, Iowa. The Foundation recognized the club for voluntarily providing communication during emergencies and for supporting Red Cross and The Salvation Army relief efforts. President George W. Bush and former President George H. W. Bush, have endorsed the Daily Points of Light Award, and each will send a congratulatory letter to the club.
"Through your service you join the ranks of America's true unsung heroes--volunteers," said Points of Light Foundation President and CEO Bob Goodwin. "The spirit and energy of America's volunteers inspire us all," he said. "Your work is a shining example of this spirit."
TSARC's designation as a Daily Point of Light
did not escape the notice of ABC Radio Networks' commentator Paul Harvey, who mentioned it during his
noontime broadcast on March 12. Harvey said the nation still relies on Amateur
Radio operators to get the message through in an emergency or disaster.
 TSARC member Jeff Hosch, KB0YTQ, at the communication van's ATV station during a three-state Mississippi River drill. [Ernie Martin, WA0AUU, Photo] |
"For all of our sophisticated technology, in any real disaster, our country still relies heavily on its hams--Amateur Radio hobbyists," Harvey said in the approximately one-minute spot. Among citizen volunteers in the US, he concluded, there are "none more unsung and certainly none more unpaid, than the hams--standing by around the clock."
TSARC's Ernie Martin, WA0AUU, said it marked the first Point of Light Award to an Amateur Radio club. TSARC serves as a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) --a Citizen Corps program. A small club with just over a dozen members, TSARC still has managed to equip itself with two mobile emergency communication units and even a couple of parasail units. "The parasail units are used in search-and-rescue work," Martin explains. "We have found they can cover the area 10 times faster than units on the ground."
While the club is in Iowa, its "tri-state"
label derives from the fact that it serves parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin as
well. The TSARC communications van--which the club resurrected from an aged
auto junkyard candidate--contains equipment for both Amateur Radio and public
safety frequencies. The unit can even beam a UHF Amateur TV signal from a
disaster scene to a remote post--giving incident command personnel a firsthand
look at what's happening.
 The TSARC van and trailer ready to roll. Martin says the van and trailer carry three tents, an all-band vertical, inverted Vs for two HF bands, two 440-MHz beams for ATV, first-aid equipment, a backboard and lots of blankets and sleeping bags. [Ernie Martin, WA0AUU, Photo] |
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Martin says a lot of hard work and money went into making the 30-year-old van serviceable again. "We handmade new lower quarter panels for the old gal," he said. "We had to put in a whole new floor because you could put your foot through it." The club's "very famous" one-third pound steakburger is the focus of a lot of fundraising activities, he explained.
In 2002, TSARC also was the beneficiary of a $1500 ARRL Foundation grant to assist its emergency communication efforts. The money helped to supplement funds the club had been able to raise on its own toward the approximately $6500 cost of a 16-foot equipment trailer.
The TSARC communications trailer is packed with everything the participating amateurs will need when they get to a disaster site. "We take everything five people will need for five days," he said. "That trailer is full, and we have even more to get in somehow."
The Daily Point of Light Award is given by
The Points of Light Foundation & Volunteer Center National Network in
partnership with the Knights of Columbus and the Corporation for National and
Community Service (CNCS), which currently
subsidizes ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Communications
course training. The Award honors individuals and organizations "who have made
a commitment to connect Americans through service to help meet critical needs
in their communities and in the nation."
| Previous: QRP Community: The Minimalist QRPer | Next: ISS Commander Talks via Ham Radio with Scottish School He Once Visited |
