When the power goes out and access to internet, cell phones, email and other communication is compromised, amateur radio operators are still up and running.
Thousands of ham radio operators, who provide backup communications to the American Red Cross, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and even the International Space Station, will team up this weekend to show their stuff during a demonstration of emergency capabilities.
Southold Town’s ham radio operators are among the many who’ve provided critical communication during Superstorm Sandy, 9/11, wildfires, winter storms, tornadoes, and other events.
This weekend, on Saturday and Sunday, the public will have a chance to meet and talk with the Peconic Amateur Radio Club’s ham radio operators. The annual event, “Field Day,” finishes up “Amateur Radio Week,” sponsored by the American Radio Relay League, the national association for amateur radio.
During the event, which takes place at Horton Point Lighthouse Park in Southold Saturday from 2 to 5 p.m. and Sunday, 9 a.m. until 2 p.m., amateur radio operators will demonstrate their slogan, “When All Else Fails, Ham Radio Works,” sending messages 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 fastest way to turn a crisis into a total disaster is to lose communications,” said Allen Pitts of the ARRL. “From the earthquake and tsunami in Japan to tornadoes in Missouri, ham radio provided the most reliable communication networks in the first critical hours of the events. Because ham radios are not dependent on the internet, cell towers or other infrastructure, they work when nothing else is available. We need nothing between us but air.”
The public is invited to learn about ham radio, as well as how they can obtain an FCC radio licenses and start broadcasting.
Currently, there are over 700,000 amateur radio licensees in the United States, and more than 2.5 million around the world, according to ARRL.
To learn more about amateur radio, go to www.emergency-radio.org.
