Despite the Internet, cell phones, email and modern communications, every year regions find themselves in the dark. Tornados, fires, storms, ice and even the occasional cutting of fiber optic cables leave people without means to communicate. In these cases, one consistent service has never failed: amateur radio.
These radio operators, often called “hams,” provide backup communications for everything from the American Red Cross to FEMA and even for the International Space Station. Texas County “hams” will join with thousands of other amateur radio operators showing their emergency capabilities this weekend.
Over the past year, the news has been full of reports of ham radio operators providing critical communications during unexpected emergencies in towns across America, including California wildfires, winter storms, tornados and other events worldwide. When trouble is brewing, amateur radio’s people are often the first to provide rescuers with critical information and communications. This weekend, the public will have a chance to meet and talk with Texas County’s ham radio operators and see for themselves what the Amateur Radio Service is about as hams across the USA will be holding public demonstrations of emergency communications abilities.
This annual event, called “Field Day” is the climax of the week long “Amateur Radio Week” sponsored by the ARRL, the national association for amateur radio. Using only emergency power supplies, ham operators will construct emergency stations in parks, shopping malls, schools and backyards around the country. Their slogan “When All Else Fails, Ham Radio Works” is more than just words to the hams as they prove they can send messages in many forms without the use of phone systems, Internet or any other infrastructure that can be compromised in a crisis. More than 35,000 amateur radio operators across the country participated in last year’s event.
On Saturday and Sunday, the Ozark Mountain Amateur Radio Club will demonstrate amateur radio in front of Pizza Express in Houston. The public is encouraged to see ham radio’s new capabilities and learn how to get their own FCC radio license before the next disaster strikes.
To learn more about amateur radio, go to www.emergency-radio.org or locally contact Willy Adey (NØTPE) 573-674-2174 or Kent Sturgeon (AKØDS) 573-674-2608.