By LILA CHANDLER
H-P Correspondent

WATERVLIET — It was the most electronic campsite you’ll probably ever see.

Seven antennae, including a soaring, top-heavy 35-footer, towered over tents and campers circled around a large old U.S.

Navy generator on a Bainbridge Township farm field south of Watervliet this past weekend. Members of the local Blossomland Amateur Radio Association – or ham radio oper­ators – participated in the annual national Field Day emergency preparedness drills as they made contacts with other hams all across the North American conti­nent.

BARA member Larry Prelog Sr., whose “call” or signature among ham operators is KE4PM, said the simulated emergency drill helps to discover the capabilities of the communi­cations systems and the opera­tors themselves.

National Field Day organizers temper the anxiety of an emer­gency preparedness drill by turn­ing it into a contest. Operators earn points in the drill’s two main objectives: putting up an effec­tive emergency (transmission) station and effectively commu­nicating with people across the continent.

Points are tallied by the Ameri­can Radio Relay League and are posted in its magazine some six months after the event. BARA historically has done well. Mem­ber Ken Jewell (N8OL) said BARA has ranked as high as fourth place in Michigan.

By Friday afternoon, BARA members had achieved the first objective. They earned points by running on a generator independ­ent of the power company and by operating two primary transmit­ters: a code transmitter and a sideband transmitter.

From 2 p.m. Saturday to 2 p.m. Sunday, radio hams worked to meet their second objective of contacting other hams across North America. Bill Wheeler (W8JBA) said the goal of

 

 

 

HAM RADIO OPERATOR Dean Harrison operates a VHF/UHF station Saturday using an old personal computer for satellite tracking and a laptop for logging “hits” or contacts.

Lila Chandler / H-P correspondent

 
making these contacts is “to prove that in an emergency you could get the word out even in the absence of electrical power and telephone service.”

BARA President Char Harri­son said 26 of the more than 60 members of the club came to the Field Day site, and almost as many visitors participated, including several children.

Berrien County Sheriff Paul Bailey and Angie LaVanway, executive director of the Berrien County chapter of the American Red Cross, stopped by.

BARA member Tom Dum­minger (KC8MGD) got on the air and stayed until the end of the contest Sunday afternoon.

Several “pre-members,” visi­tors who have an interest in becoming members, came to Field Day and got on the air.

The visitor who may have generated the most excitement was John Harper (WB9C15) of Peoria, Ill. Harper arrived early Saturday evening, saying he “never missed a Field Day no matter where I’ve been.” Vaca­tioning in South Haven, Harper looked up the Field Day infor­mation on the Internet, and the BARA site was closest to Harper’s vacation spot. At the Bainbridge Township site, Harper “worked the code” on the CW – continuous wave – or Morse code transmitter.

Ham radio often draws in more than one generation of a family. Randy Kaeding (W8TMK) of Lincoln Town­ship and his unlicensed grand­daughter, Janet Kaeding, 10, of Stevensville worked the GOTA –“Get on the air” – station together. Janet is not a new­comer to ham radio: She takes part in Kids’ Day several times a year, an event sponsored by the ARRL to get children on the air and interested in ham radio, as BARA member Jew­ell explained. During Field Day Janet made about 30 contacts within a couple of hours, including many hams in the eastern and southern United States as well as Ontario, Canada.

Also, newly licensed ham Ron Warczynski Jr. (KD8FFL) participated in the BARA Field Day for the first time.

“My dad’s been a ham opera­tor for 30 years,” he said. Ron Sr. (K9RON) lives in the Upper Peninsula and encouraged his son to become licensed so they could communicate more cheaply. Now they communi­cate daily on Echolink, which mixes Internet and ham radio.

Warczynski’s daughter Amy, 16, was a student of BARA member Matt Severin (N8MS) at Coloma Middle School, and Severin’s class talked with the space station last year.

Warczynski called his father when Amy received her QSL card from the space station. “I told him, ‘Amy got a QSL card. I don’t think you’ll ever get one!’ My Dad said, ‘Yeah, I got one of those.’ Can you believe it? Two members of the same family talked to the space sta­tion!”

In every contact, hams exchange QSL cards, which are ham radio’s equivalent of postcards. Some active hams have collected thousands of QSL cards from all over the world.

Wheeler, a licensed ham for 53 years, co-teaches the ama­teur radio technician class. He noted that testing session num­bers went up his year in the wake of national disasters. The public is becoming better informed of the practicality of ham radio during crises when land line telephones, cell phones, electricity and other common communications are out of order.

In a “hobby” often taunted as being over-the-hill and quickly going obsolete, club members are proud to point out that three of the nation’s largest and most recent emergencies were great­ly aided by ham radio opera­tors: the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the Mississippi River floods and Hurricane Katrina.

There are virtually no requirements for becoming a licensed ham radio operator. There is no age requirement. People are no longer required to know Morse Code to take the test.

People who are interested can call Wheeler at 429-1403 or e-mail W8MAI@comcast.net.