There was a different kind of field day at Worton Park over the last weekend. Rather than players taking to the field to compete in lacrosse or baseball, The Kent Amateur Radio Society (KARS) took their positions on Worton’s playing fields for a full-scale international exercise to encourage emergency communications along with at least 30,000 other radio clubs in the United States.
The KARS works around the clock to earn points for experimenting with unusual radio modes, making contacts via satellite, and involving young people for the annual event, which has been sponsored by American Radio Relay League since 1933.
The rapid deployment of radio communications, while great fun for volunteers Bobby Kelly of Rock Hall and Ed Plaisance of Chestertown (pictured below), it is also an important rehearsal for that worst case scenario that could hypothetically wipe out internet and telephone operations of an entire region. With state of the art equipment, including a brand new $30,000 communications trailer provided by the Chester River Health Center, the KARS is capable of serving emergency communications to each major community in Kent County.
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For more information about the Kent Amateur Radio Society, chick here
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