Despite the Internet, cell phones, email and modern communications, every year whole regions find themselves in the dark. Tornadoes, fires, storms, ice and even the occasional cutting of fiber optic cables leave people without the means to communicate. In these cases, the one consistent service that has never failed has been 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. Kent County’s “hams” will join with thousands of other Amateur Radio operators showing their emergency capabilities yet again this year.
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.
The Kent Amateur Radio Society (KARS) will be demonstrating Amateur Radio and their support for Kent’s Office of Emergency Management at Worton Park on June 28 – 29. They invite the public to come and see ham radio’s new capabilities and learn how to get their own FCC radio license before the next disaster strikes.
The KARS Field Day site will be located just off of the Worton Road entrance, on the left side of the main driveway near the tennis courts. Setup begins early in the morning and official on-air operation times are the 24 hour period between 2PM Saturday and 2PM Sunday. For more information, email Bobby Kelley Jr. at [email protected].
To learn more about Amateur Radio, go to www.emergency-radio.org. The public is most cordially invited to come, meet and talk with the hams and see what modern Amateur Radio can do. They can even help you get on the air!
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