2002 ARRL Field Day
07/04/2002 |
W4WC
The following article appeared in "The Greeneville Sun" (Greeneville, TN) on 25 June, 2002 (Day after Field Day. Doyle/N4VV
News Article
Local Radio Hams Communicate For 24 Hours Throughout Hemisphere
Sun Photo by Bill Jones
Mark Henry, facing away from camera, and Allan Claiborne record a radio contact they had just made with an amateur radio operator in California on Saturday afternoon during Amateur Radio Field Day at Kinser Park. Local amateur radio operators, or hams as theyre often called, operated their radios for 24 consecutive hours Saturday and Sunday at the park as practice for providing emergency communications in the event of a disaster. Other hams throughout the Western Hemisphere also participated in the annual event.
By: By BILL JONES/Staff Writer
Source: The Greeneville Sun
06-25-2002
Members of the Greeneville-based Andrew Johnson Amateur Radio Club and other area amateur radio operators spent 24 consecutive hours at Kinser Park during the past weekend, communicating via radio with other amateur radio enthusiasts around the world.
Similar groups gathered from 2 p.m. Saturday until 2 p.m. Sunday throughout the Western Hemisphere for Amateur Radio Field Day, an annual event sponsored by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), club members said Saturday afternoon.
Larry White, president of the Andrew Johnson Amateur Radio Club, said the object of the event was for amateur radio enthusiasts to practice setting up and operating their equipment for a protracted period without the availability of commercial electric power.
White pointed out that, in the event of natural disasters, such as tornadoes, hurricanes or forest fires, amateur radio operators often provide the only reliable communications link from devastated areas to the outside world.
During disasters, he said, electric power, land-based telephone systems and even cellular telephones often are knocked out of service.
President Bushs Letter
A letter from President George W. Bush being circulated during the event on Saturday acknowledged the important emergency-communications role played by amateur radio operators.
"As we face the challenges of a new era, we are reminded of the importance of neighbors helping neighbors in times of need," Bush wrote. "Ham radio operators have long played an important role in emergency communications, assisting law enforcement personnel and other emergency services as they carry out their responsibilities."
The Federal Communications Commission licenses amateur radio operators. Club members said that candidates for the entry level (Technician) amateur radio license must pass a 35-question written examination. The club offers that examination, and others, in odd- numbered months.
When this Greeneville Sun reporter visited the Kinser Park picnic pavilion that was being used as a base of operations by the ham radio operators on Saturday afternoon, the trees surrounding the pavilion were draped with what appeared to be hundreds of feet of cables, and a large metal antenna towered over the pavilion's roof.
Behind the pavilion, a large, portable electric generator on loan from Sprint, the local telephone company, purred away, supplying several of the radio systems that had been set up on picnic tables.
Other participants, such as Mark Wills, a Cocke County resident who is an information systems specialist at Laughlin Memorial Hospital, were relying on battery power. Wills, who also is the District 9 coordinator for the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES), was using a portable radio system that he had packaged in a large plastic toolbox. Supplying the power was an automobile battery housed in the bottom of the toolbox.
District 9, Wills said, stretches from Johnson County in the east to Grainger County in the west and includes both Greene and Cocke counties.
Wills, whose wife, Velma, is the ARES emergency communications coordinator for Cocke County, also had on display a portable radio antenna he had fashioned from copper tubing and a tripod.
Useful In Emergencies
Velma Wills pointed out that amateur radio also can come in handy in the event of personal emergencies. She noted that while driving her car shortly after having undergone back surgery, she suddenly was seized by back spasms and lost the feeling in her legs.
"Luckily, I was able to let the car coast to a stop in a parking lot, but I couldn't get out of the car," she said.
"I had my radio with me, and within minutes after calling for help, other hams who heard me had reached my husband and had him on the way to help me."
Darlene Lemnah, an emergency room nurse at Laughlin Memorial Hospital, who is the assistant District 9 Amateur Radio Emergency Service coordinator, noted that, unlike other forms of electronic communications, amateur radio is very cost-effective.
"There aren't any roaming charges," she said, displaying her portable radio. In a demonstration of the power of simple, battery-powered systems such as the one assembled by Wills for use in emergencies, 7- year-old Whitney Hensley, granddaughter of Ralph Bible, vice president of the Andrew Johnson Amateur Radio Club, spoke with another amateur radio operator in Argentina on Saturday afternoon. Also on hand for the event was Teddy Lawing, a Greeneville police officer, who had just been named on Saturday as the amateur radio emergency-service coordinator for Greene County. Lawing was using a tiny hand-held radio that operates on the amateur radio "2-meter" band.
Although Lawing's radio was no larger than a package of cigarettes, Bible said Lawing could use it to communicate with other radio hams throughout most of Greene County because the club has installed radio repeaters atop Camp Creek Bald (Viking) Mountain that receive, boost and resend 2-meter radio signals.
Using Morse Code
While most of the hams participating in the National Radio Field Day event on Saturday were using voice communications to speak with other amateur operators across the world, Greene County resident Doyle Edmondson was using his radio system to communicate by the dots and dashes of "Morse Code," or continuous wave (CW), as hams refer to the voiceless form of radio communication.
Edmondson, who is a former military and U.S. government radio operator, said, as his deft fingers keyed out a rapid stream of electronic dots and dashes on Saturday afternoon, that he prefers communicating by code.
As he made contact with other hams, Edmondson used a computer to record the radio call signs of those he had contacted, along with their locations. Most of the other hams taking part in the weekend event also were using computers to record their contacts.
Also taking part were Greene County resident Bob Gass and his son Chris, 14. As with the other hams, the Gasses were "working" other ham operators on Saturday afternoon and recording the contacts on a portable computer.
Can Track Meteors
Although they weren't doing it on Saturday, the Gasses described a unique other use they've found for their amateur radio equipment - tracking the paths of meteors passing through the earth's atmosphere.
Bob Gass explained that his son used the radio system to conduct a "Random Meteor Scatter" science fair experiment in which a stream of data is beamed from the radio and any "reflections from the ion trails left by meteors passing through the atmosphere" are recorded on a companion computer using special software.
Near the Gasses were seated Greene Countian Ed Claiborne, his son Allan, and Allan's friend, Mark Henry. The three were using another club member's radio that was operating on the "15-meter" frequency band to contact other hams.
Allan told a reporter that he had just spoken with three other amateur radio operators in California.
Ed Claiborne said he was glad to see Allan, Mark and other youngsters taking part in the amateur radio hobby locally because "not many" young people had been entering the hobby in recent years.
Bible, the clubs vice president, recalled that the local club actually got its start with youngsters, including himself, back in the late 1950s.
He said that he, Abner Richards, the club's current secretary/treasurer, and other local high school students then had taken a "radio course" sponsored by officials of the former Magnavox Company here in 1956.
The Greeneville Radio Club later was organized by participants in that class, he said. The club subsequently was renamed the Andrew Johnson Amateur Radio Club.
The club meets at 7 p.m. on the first Tuesday of each month at the Roby Adult Center at the corner of College and East Church streets. -- N4VV
News Article
Local Radio Hams Communicate For 24 Hours Throughout Hemisphere
Sun Photo by Bill Jones
Mark Henry, facing away from camera, and Allan Claiborne record a radio contact they had just made with an amateur radio operator in California on Saturday afternoon during Amateur Radio Field Day at Kinser Park. Local amateur radio operators, or hams as theyre often called, operated their radios for 24 consecutive hours Saturday and Sunday at the park as practice for providing emergency communications in the event of a disaster. Other hams throughout the Western Hemisphere also participated in the annual event.
By: By BILL JONES/Staff Writer
Source: The Greeneville Sun
06-25-2002
Members of the Greeneville-based Andrew Johnson Amateur Radio Club and other area amateur radio operators spent 24 consecutive hours at Kinser Park during the past weekend, communicating via radio with other amateur radio enthusiasts around the world.
Similar groups gathered from 2 p.m. Saturday until 2 p.m. Sunday throughout the Western Hemisphere for Amateur Radio Field Day, an annual event sponsored by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), club members said Saturday afternoon.
Larry White, president of the Andrew Johnson Amateur Radio Club, said the object of the event was for amateur radio enthusiasts to practice setting up and operating their equipment for a protracted period without the availability of commercial electric power.
White pointed out that, in the event of natural disasters, such as tornadoes, hurricanes or forest fires, amateur radio operators often provide the only reliable communications link from devastated areas to the outside world.
During disasters, he said, electric power, land-based telephone systems and even cellular telephones often are knocked out of service.
President Bushs Letter
A letter from President George W. Bush being circulated during the event on Saturday acknowledged the important emergency-communications role played by amateur radio operators.
"As we face the challenges of a new era, we are reminded of the importance of neighbors helping neighbors in times of need," Bush wrote. "Ham radio operators have long played an important role in emergency communications, assisting law enforcement personnel and other emergency services as they carry out their responsibilities."
The Federal Communications Commission licenses amateur radio operators. Club members said that candidates for the entry level (Technician) amateur radio license must pass a 35-question written examination. The club offers that examination, and others, in odd- numbered months.
When this Greeneville Sun reporter visited the Kinser Park picnic pavilion that was being used as a base of operations by the ham radio operators on Saturday afternoon, the trees surrounding the pavilion were draped with what appeared to be hundreds of feet of cables, and a large metal antenna towered over the pavilion's roof.
Behind the pavilion, a large, portable electric generator on loan from Sprint, the local telephone company, purred away, supplying several of the radio systems that had been set up on picnic tables.
Other participants, such as Mark Wills, a Cocke County resident who is an information systems specialist at Laughlin Memorial Hospital, were relying on battery power. Wills, who also is the District 9 coordinator for the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES), was using a portable radio system that he had packaged in a large plastic toolbox. Supplying the power was an automobile battery housed in the bottom of the toolbox.
District 9, Wills said, stretches from Johnson County in the east to Grainger County in the west and includes both Greene and Cocke counties.
Wills, whose wife, Velma, is the ARES emergency communications coordinator for Cocke County, also had on display a portable radio antenna he had fashioned from copper tubing and a tripod.
Useful In Emergencies
Velma Wills pointed out that amateur radio also can come in handy in the event of personal emergencies. She noted that while driving her car shortly after having undergone back surgery, she suddenly was seized by back spasms and lost the feeling in her legs.
"Luckily, I was able to let the car coast to a stop in a parking lot, but I couldn't get out of the car," she said.
"I had my radio with me, and within minutes after calling for help, other hams who heard me had reached my husband and had him on the way to help me."
Darlene Lemnah, an emergency room nurse at Laughlin Memorial Hospital, who is the assistant District 9 Amateur Radio Emergency Service coordinator, noted that, unlike other forms of electronic communications, amateur radio is very cost-effective.
"There aren't any roaming charges," she said, displaying her portable radio. In a demonstration of the power of simple, battery-powered systems such as the one assembled by Wills for use in emergencies, 7- year-old Whitney Hensley, granddaughter of Ralph Bible, vice president of the Andrew Johnson Amateur Radio Club, spoke with another amateur radio operator in Argentina on Saturday afternoon. Also on hand for the event was Teddy Lawing, a Greeneville police officer, who had just been named on Saturday as the amateur radio emergency-service coordinator for Greene County. Lawing was using a tiny hand-held radio that operates on the amateur radio "2-meter" band.
Although Lawing's radio was no larger than a package of cigarettes, Bible said Lawing could use it to communicate with other radio hams throughout most of Greene County because the club has installed radio repeaters atop Camp Creek Bald (Viking) Mountain that receive, boost and resend 2-meter radio signals.
Using Morse Code
While most of the hams participating in the National Radio Field Day event on Saturday were using voice communications to speak with other amateur operators across the world, Greene County resident Doyle Edmondson was using his radio system to communicate by the dots and dashes of "Morse Code," or continuous wave (CW), as hams refer to the voiceless form of radio communication.
Edmondson, who is a former military and U.S. government radio operator, said, as his deft fingers keyed out a rapid stream of electronic dots and dashes on Saturday afternoon, that he prefers communicating by code.
As he made contact with other hams, Edmondson used a computer to record the radio call signs of those he had contacted, along with their locations. Most of the other hams taking part in the weekend event also were using computers to record their contacts.
Also taking part were Greene County resident Bob Gass and his son Chris, 14. As with the other hams, the Gasses were "working" other ham operators on Saturday afternoon and recording the contacts on a portable computer.
Can Track Meteors
Although they weren't doing it on Saturday, the Gasses described a unique other use they've found for their amateur radio equipment - tracking the paths of meteors passing through the earth's atmosphere.
Bob Gass explained that his son used the radio system to conduct a "Random Meteor Scatter" science fair experiment in which a stream of data is beamed from the radio and any "reflections from the ion trails left by meteors passing through the atmosphere" are recorded on a companion computer using special software.
Near the Gasses were seated Greene Countian Ed Claiborne, his son Allan, and Allan's friend, Mark Henry. The three were using another club member's radio that was operating on the "15-meter" frequency band to contact other hams.
Allan told a reporter that he had just spoken with three other amateur radio operators in California.
Ed Claiborne said he was glad to see Allan, Mark and other youngsters taking part in the amateur radio hobby locally because "not many" young people had been entering the hobby in recent years.
Bible, the clubs vice president, recalled that the local club actually got its start with youngsters, including himself, back in the late 1950s.
He said that he, Abner Richards, the club's current secretary/treasurer, and other local high school students then had taken a "radio course" sponsored by officials of the former Magnavox Company here in 1956.
The Greeneville Radio Club later was organized by participants in that class, he said. The club subsequently was renamed the Andrew Johnson Amateur Radio Club.
The club meets at 7 p.m. on the first Tuesday of each month at the Roby Adult Center at the corner of College and East Church streets. -- N4VV
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