Thousands of ham radio operators will be showing off their emergency capabilities this weekend. During the past year, the news has been full of reports of ham radio operators providing critical communications in emergencies including the California wildfires, Oregon and Michigan storms, tornadoes and other events 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 28-29, 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 digital capabilities, voice communications and even historical Morse code, hams from across the U.S. will hold 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, “Ham radio works when other systems don’t! “ 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 Monroe County area, the Monroe Amateur Radio Club will demonstrate Amateur Radio at Kefauver Park, just off  Highway 411, from 2 p.m. Saturday, until 2 p.m. Sunday. They invite the public to come and see ham radio’s capabilities and learn how to get their own FCC radio license before the next disaster strikes. 

There are 650,000 Amateur Radio licensees in the United States, and more than 2.5 million around the world. Through the ARRL’s ARES program, ham volunteers provide emergency communications for thousands of state and local emergency response agencies, all for free.

To learn more about Amateur Radio, go to www.emergency-radio.org. The public is 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.