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Amateur radio enthusiasts have a Field Day
By Kim Nguyen, Staff writer
Hundreds of amateur radio enthusiasts filled Hoblitzelle Park in Plano to send signals into the airwaves, attempting to make contact with other enthusiasts across the metroplex and country.
The annual Plano Amateur Radio Klub (PARK) Field Day started in 1933 and encourages FCC-licensed amateur radio operators - ham operators - to set up and maintain communications with counterparts throughout the nation.
The 24-hour event kicked off at 1 p.m. Saturday.
“The event was very successful,” said Charlie Taylor, PARK president. “We were able to deploy seven antennas, connect five radios and network six computers in less than five hours and then get on the air to make more than 1,200 contacts.”
Taylor said more than 60 operators successfully made contact during the weekend event.
There will be a Get On The Air Station for the public with assistance of an experienced Ham Operator, to try to make contacts with hams somewhere in the world. Children as young as 7-years-old, will have the opportunity to operate ham radios. All radio operators will receive a QSL card when contact is made.
To establish contact with other ham radios, operators will tune to a frequency and broadcast a general call. Any other ham radio operator who happens to be on the same frequency will receive the original signal and respond accordingly.
In addition, each ham radio operator is assigned a call sign, much like the letters representing an FM radio station, which help identify who is on the air. In the United States, call signs start with K, N or W and are typically a combination of four letters and one number.
Nearly one million licensed amateur radio operators are registered with the FCC, about 968 of which operate locally in 968 Plano, 606 in Allen, 239 in McKinney and 206 in Frisco.
Many radio amateurs are active as communications volunteers with local public safety organizations. Ham radio operators often contribute personal time to volunteer activities that include storm spotting, public service event coordination and disaster relief through city, county, state and federal agencies, said Shane Stovall, Plano’s director of Homeland Security and emergency preparedness.
“Ham radios oftentimes provide backup when primary communication lines fail in the event of a natural disaster,” he said. “Radio operators also operate on a day-to-day basis in events such as weather spotting.”
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
Allen Peacock wrote on Jul 2, 2009 7:00 PM:
" Fantastic article for hams. More exposure to amateur radio is needed. "
Bob Bytheway wrote on Jul 2, 2009 8:07 PM:
" Missed one prefix letter. Actual letters are A, K, N, and W.
Nearly one million operators licensed by the FCC is much closer to 725,000, of which 49,000 are in Texas.
Glad to see the Star print an article on Amateur Radio. Good suggestion would be to print the call signs of those mentioned in the article. "
Nearly one million operators licensed by the FCC is much closer to 725,000, of which 49,000 are in Texas.
Glad to see the Star print an article on Amateur Radio. Good suggestion would be to print the call signs of those mentioned in the article. "
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