Radio Hams from Middle Tennessee join in a national deployment Public Demonstration of Emergency Communications June 27 - 28 at Old Stone Fort
Manchester -- Local area ham radio operators will be showing off their emergency capabilities in a two-day field day this weekend at Old Stone Fort.
Members of the Middle Tennessee Amateur Radio Society will be on hand Saturday and Sunday starting at 8 am Saturday till 1 pm Sunday to demonstrate how amateur radio works. They invited the public to come and see ham radio’s new capabilities and learn how the get there own FCC radio license before the next disaster strikes.
This annual event called "Field Day" is the climax of the "Amateur Radio Week" sponsored by the Amateur Radio Relay League, the national association for amateur radio.
Over the past year, the news has been full of reports of ham radio operators providing critical communications during unexpected emergencies in towns across America including the California wildfires, winter storms, tornadoes and other events 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.
When trouble is brewing, Amateur Radio’s people are often the first to provide rescuers with critical information and communications. On the weekend of June 27 - 28, the public will have a chance to meet and talk with local Manchester, Tullahoma and Winchester ham radio operators and see for themselves what the Amateur Radio Service is about. Showing the newest digital and satellite capabilities, voice communications and even historical Morse code, hams from across the USA will be holding public demonstrations of emergency communications abilities.
Using only emergency power, 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 30,000 amateur radio operators across the country participated in last year's event.
We hope that people will come and see for themselves, this is not your grandfather's radio anymore," said Allen Pitts, W1AGP, of the ARRL. "The communications that ham radio people can quickly create have saved many lives when other systems failed or were overloaded. And besides that it’s fun!
There are over 650,000 Amateur Radio licensees in the US, and more than 2.5 million around the world. Through the ARRL’s Amateur Radio Emergency Services program, ham volunteers provide emergency communications for thousands of state and local emergency response agencies, all for free.
To learn more about Amateur Radio, go to www.emergency-radio.org
View 732 Stone Fort Dr in a larger map
Location - Old Stone Fort, Manchester
When - June 27 and 28th
Time - 8am Saturday until 1pm Sunday
Chair : Michael Glennon KB4JHU - Email kb4jhu@arrl.net
Vice Chair: Jackie Greene KG4ORX - Email kg4orx@charter.net
