Fires and Hurricane Predictions Motivate Ham Radio Operators’ Field Day This Weekend

The Amateur Radio Operators of the Flagler Emergency Communications Association, all of them licensed by the Federal Communications Commission, will join thousands of such hams around the country testing  their abilities to keep communications links open during the most challenging of emergency conditions.

With one eye on predictions of a much more active hurricane season and another eye on fires threatening from every direction, FECA hams will operate under emergency conditions for 24 hours beginning 2 p.m., Saturday, June 25^th from Flagler Beach Fire Department facility at 320 South Flagler Avenue, Flagler Beach, FL 32136.  The public is welcome to stop in at any time to view the operations, meet and greet the operators and learn more about Ham Radio.  There is no charge; no advance arrangements need be made.

The Flagler event is part of an annual national American Radio Relay League Field Day test during which thousands of hams operate using emergency or alternate power sources under simulated emergency conditions. Over the past year, the news has been full of reports of ham radio operators providing critical communications in emergencies including the Arizona wildfires, tornado outbreaks in the Midwest and South, earthquakes and tsunamis in Japan and other events world-wide. Within 90 minutes of the Sunday, May 22nd tornado strike at Joplin, Missouri, ham radio operators were in action supporting the American Red Cross and Freeman Hospital as cellphone and radio towers lay crumbled on the ground.

Amateur Radio – often called “Ham radio” – was often the only way people could communicate, and hundreds of volunteer “hams” traveled to the area to save lives and property. On an international level, the earthquakes and tsunami in Japan have proven the worth of the readiness, resourcefulness and resilience of ham radio operators.  When trouble is brewing, ham radio people are often the first to provide critical information and communications.

During the June 25-26 event, the public will have a chance to meet and talk with these ham radio operators and see for themselves what the Amateur Radio Service is about. Showing the newest digital and satellite capabilities, voice communications and even historical Morse code, hams from 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 back yards around the country. Their slogan, “Ham radio works when other systems don’t! ” 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 30,000 amateur radio operators across the country participated in last year’s event.

“We hope that people will come and see for themselves, this is not your grandfather’s radio anymore,” said Allen Pitts of the ARRL. “The communications networks that ham radio people can quickly create have saved many lives in the past months when other systems failed or were overloaded.”

Thursday evening (June 23), the Flagler Beach City Commission celebrated Amateur Radio Week in a proclamation, read by Mayor Alice Baker, who singled out hams and highlighted this weekend’s event. Baker was surrounded by many local ham radio operators.

There are 650,000 Amateur Radio licensees in the US, and more than 2.5 million around the world. Ham volunteers provide emergency communications for thousands of state and local emergency response agencies, all for free. To learn more about Amateur Radio, go to www.emergency-radio.org. The public is invited to come, meet and talk with the hams.