Santa Maria “hams” will join with thousands of Amateur Radio operators who will be showing off their emergency capabilities June 27 and 28. 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 world-wide.

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 the Santa Maria ham radio operators and see for themselves what Amateur Radio Service is about. Showing the newest digital and satellite capabilities, voice communications and even historical Morse code, hams from across the country will be holding public demonstrations of emergency communications abilities.

This annual event, called “Field Day,” is the climax of the week long Amateur Radio Week sponsored by the ARRL — American Radio Relay League — 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.

Their slogan, “Ham radio works when other systems don’t! “ 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.

In the Santa Maria area, the Santa Maria Ham Radio and North Santa Barbara County Amateur Radio Emergency Service will be demonstrating Amateur Radio at 314 W Cook St. in Santa Maria on June 27 and 28. The public is invited to come and see ham radio’s new capabilities and learn how to get their own FCC radio license before the next disaster strikes.

There are more than 650,000 Amateur Radio licensees in the U.S., 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, visit www.emergency-radio.org.

 

 

Satellite Amateur Radio Club

Specialties: General Interest, Contest, DX, Repeater, Digital Modes, Public Service/Emergency Comms, VHF/UHF — Call sign: W6AB

Services: Help for newcomers, Entry-level classes, Higher-level classes, RFI help — P.O. Box 5117, Vandenberg A.F.B, CA 93437-0117

Contact: Eric G. Lemmon, WB6FLY — (805) 606-6340 X2238 (D)

(805) 733-4416 (N) — www.SatelliteARC.com — w6ab@arrl.net

 

Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club

Specialties: General Interest, Contest, DX, Repeater, Digital Modes, School/Youth, Public Service/Emergency Comms, VHF/UHF — Call sign: K6TZ

Services: Help for newcomers, Entry-level classes, Higher-level classes, RFI help — P.O. Box 3907, Santa Barbara, CA 93130

Contact: Michael C. Ditmore, W7HUT — (805) 569-5700 (D) (805) 569-5700 (N) www.sbarc.org — info@sbarc.org

 

ARC at University of California Santa Barbara

Specialties: General Interest, Contest, DX, Repeater, School/Youth, Public Service/Emergency Comms, VHF/UHF — Call sign: W6RFU

Services: Help for newcomers — Amateur Radio Club at UCSB

C/O S. Long, ECE Department, University of California

Santa Barbara, CA 93106 — Contact: Stephen I. Long, AC6T

(805) 893-3965 (D) (805) 967-7485 (N)

www.ece.ucsb.edu/~long/W6RFU/index.htmtm — w6rfu@arrl.net