The Big Island Amateur Radio Club invites folks of all ages to stop by its annual BIARC Field Day at Wailoa Center in Hilo on Saturday and Sunday, June 23-24.
Learn about ham radio and its capabilities, and find out how to get your own FCC Amateur Radio license before the next disaster strikes. There is no age limitation on becoming a ham operator, and parents are encouraged to bring children, said event chairman Robert E. Oliver, NH6AH. He can be reached at 969-9993 for questions.
Interested people will be given the opportunity to try operating the radio transceivers on the air with supervision. Testing for radio licenses and upgrades will be at offered at 2 p.m. on Saturday. Anyone interested in testing should contact Milt Nodacker, KH6I, at 965-6471.
To learn more about amateur radio, please visit www.biarc.net.
“The public is most cordially invited to visit, meet and talk with the hams. See what modern amateur radio can do. They can even help you get on the air,” said Oliver. “Please be aware this is a non-smoking and no-alcoholic-beverages event.
Across the United States and Canada on that weekend, thousands of ham radio operators will be showing off their emergency capabilities at hundreds of field days.
“Over the past few years, the news has been full of reports of ham radio operators providing critical communications in emergencies worldwide. 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,” said a spokesman at national headquarters in Connecticut.
When trouble is brewing, ham radio people are often the first to provide critical information and communications.
At the field days, the hams will be showing the newest digital and satellite capabilities, voice communications and even the historical Morse code.
The field days are 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 back yards around the country.
The 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. Many thousands of amateur radio operators across the country participated in last year’s event.
