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Hams make contact at annual Field Day
Penny Rathbun/Staff Photo - 10-year-old Garrett Jones of Prosper writes down the radio contacts he has made in the McKinney Amateur Radio Club communications trailer during the club's annual field day held in Myers Park in McKinney. Garrett came with his dad, Mike Jones, to learn more about amateur radio.
By Penny Rathbun, prathbun@acnpapers.com
McKINNEY -- At first glance it looks like Revenge of the Geeks.
Men are sitting around in the main picnic shelter at Myers Park in McKinney listening through headphones and concentrating on computer screens.
The orange parachute material strung up as a shield from the wind gives the whole scene an odd glow in the middle of the day.
MARC members, along with members of other radio clubs all over the country, hold field days to practice communicating under emergency conditions. They set up antennae, radio equipment and generators to communicate with as many other hams as possible. There are members who concentrate on voice communications and those who concentrate on communicating with Morse code.
While it is not necessary to know Morse code anymore to obtain a ham license, it still has its uses. Fewer and fewer people are able to use Morse code, but it is still included in field day exercises.
"It's easier now to learn Morse code with the computer programs available now than it ever was before," MARC member and field day coordinator Walter Lemons said.
Lemons said MARC members will make a total of about 1,400 contacts with other radio operators during a typical field day exercise.
Knowing how to make those communications can be invaluable during a major disaster. Amateur radio operators are often the only providers of communications after a storm or tornado if the electricity and phone lines are no longer functioning.
Another service hams provide is to help coordinate communications between emergency and law enforcement entities during a disaster.
Amateur radio operators were vital after the recent tornadoes in Joplin, Mo. They also helped coordinate the search for debris from the space shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003.
"This is a public service event in a contest format," MARC public information officer Bob DeVance, call sign K5CRX, said.
"You get into it and it grows on you," he said. "You know that you are preparing for a time that if your country needs you, you can give back. You'll know what to do."
Matthew Spangler, a home-schooled sophomore from Fairview, call sign KF5LDW, said he likes computer programming a lot.
"I like geeky things," he said.
He was busy logging in many contacts with other hams in other parts of the country.
The McKinney Amateur Radio Club is affiliated with the American Radio Relay League. For information on the club or becoming an amateur radio operator send an email to info@mckinneyarc.org or visit the website at http://www.mckinneyarc.org.
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