Arlington Amateur Radio Club to participate in annual emergency communications exercise

Ham Radio Operators Demonstrate Modern Capabilities

Thousands of Ham Radio Operators will be showing off their emergency capabilities the last weekend in June.

Over the past year, the news has been full of reports of ham radio operators providing critical communications in emergencies world-wide.

During Hurricane Katrina, Amateur Radio – often called “Ham Radio” - was often the ONLY way people could communicate, and hundreds of volunteer “hams” traveled south to save lives and property. When trouble is brewing, ham radio people are often the first to provide critical information and communications.

On the weekend of June 23-24, 2007, the public will have a chance to meet and talk with these ham radio operators and see for themselves what the Amateur Radio Service is about.

Showing the newest digital and satellite capabilities, voice communications and even historical Morse Code, hams from 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. Often using only emergency power supplies, many ham operators will construct emergency stations in parks, shopping malls, schools and back yards around the country. Their slogan, “When all else fails…” 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 30,000 amateur radio operators across the country participated in last year’s event.

“We hope that people will come and see for themselves, this is not your grandfather’s radio anymore,” said Allen Pitts of the ARRL. “The communications networks that ham radio people can quickly create have saved many lives in the past months when other systems failed or were overloaded.”

In the Arlington Virginia area, the Arlington Amateur Radio Club and Arlington Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) will be demonstrating Amateur Radio at the Arlington chapter of the American Red Cross, 4333 Arlington Blvd. Arlington Virginia, 22203. More information is available at http://www.w4wvp.org.

Arlington Amateur Radio Club (AARC), active since 1974, is an ARRL affiliated club. The AARC and the Arlington Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) help to provide emergency communications capabilities for their served agency, the Arlington Chapter of the American Red Cross, as well as the greater Arlington County Area.

The club meets at the Red Cross chapter in Arlington, the third Tuesday of each month. All are welcome.