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Ham Radio On Display Here This Weekend

Douglas County ham radio operators will join with thousands of other “hams” showing their emergency capabilities this Saturday and Sunday.

On the weekend of June 22-23, the public will have a chance to meet and talk with Douglas County ham radio operators and see for themselves what the amateur radio service is about as hams 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 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.

In the Douglas County area, the DCAR Club will be demonstrating amateur radio at the Upper Ava City Park across from the softball field on June 22-23 starting with setting up the antennae at 9 a.m. and will be on the air by 1 p.m.

They plan to go until Sunday at 12 p.m.

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. Amateur radio is growing in the U.S. There are now over 700,000 amateur radio licensees in the U.S., and more than 2.5 million around the world. Through the ARRL’s Amateur Radio Emergency Services program, ham volunteers provide both emergency communications for thousands of state and local emergency response agencies and non-emergency community services too, all for free.

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. See what modern amateur radio can do. They can even help you get on the air!

Over the past year, the news has been full of reports of ham radio operators providing critical communications during unexpected emergencies in towns across America including the California wildfires, winter storms, tornadoes and other events world-wide. When trouble is brewing, amateur radio’s people are often the first to provide rescuers with critical information and communications.