FALLON - Despite the Internet, cellphones, 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.
Nevada "hams" will join with thousands of other amateur radio operators showing their emergency capabilities this weekend.
The public will have a chance to meet and talk with Churchill 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.
"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."
The amateur radio club of Churchill County will be demonstrating amateur radio on June 22-23 in the day use area of Lahontan State Recreation Area on the Churchill County beaches side of the reservoir. Club members invite the public to come and see ham radio's new capabilities and learn how to get their own FCC radio license.
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!
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