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HAM radio operators practice emergency response skills
FARMINGTON, Jun 28, 2009 (The Daily Times - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
Three years ago, Floyd Bowman, an amateur or "HAM" radio operator from Cedar Hill, received a message via HAM radio from a man in Durango, Colo.
The Colorado man was trying to find his father in Kentucky after a big ice storm knocked out phone service there.
Bowman, an operator since 1966, got on the radio and spread the word across the country.
Within hours, the man from Durango received the message that his father was OK.
The use of HAM radio is instrumental for communicating during disasters. San Juan County Emergency Management, along with licensed HAM radio operators, participated Saturday in Field Day, a nationwide 24-hour preparedness exercise.
"HAMS are another vehicle for us to communicate when all else fails," said San Juan County Emergency Manager Don Cooper.
Operators practiced setting up and testing emergency equipment and communicating with operators across the country, simulating what might happen during an emergency.
The operators set up and establish emergency communication using only auxiliary power.
HAM radio has existed for a century and became a global community of licensed operators who use the airways to communicate.
The volunteer group of 20 HAM radio operators are members of RACES, or Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Services, and participate in extra training and drills, said RACES coordinator Paull Holmes.
San Juan County Emergency Management supplies the volunteers with specialized equipment so they can
be on the air and communicating in a matter of minutes, Holmes said.
Most of the funding for the HAM operators comes from Homeland Security money, Cooper said.
For emergency management nationwide, HAM radio operators are the shining stars in communications, Cooper said.
HAM radio was on the back burner and seen only as a hobby until disasters such as Sept. 11, 2001, and Katrina.
Prior to Katrina, FCC rules forbid operators to use HAM radios for commercial purposes. Following the disaster, HAM radios can be used in the course of emergency services, Cooper said.
"One of the big advantages of HAM radio operators is that there are so many of them and they're all over the world," Cooper said.
The wide spectrum of communication allows people to quickly link up across the globe.
"In the 11 years that I've lived eight miles north of Aztec, I've received QSL cards from 304 different countries, including the most wanted country in the world, North Korea," Bowman said.
QSL cards are written verification that two people communicated via HAM radio. Bowman hoped to contact a HAM operator who is stationed on the International Space Station during the Field Day.
"I don't know why they call it amateur radio because they're truly professionals," Cooper said.
Elizabeth Piazza:
epiazza@daily-times.com
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