McMinn County Amateur Radio Club
Field Day Coverage

www.mcminnarc.com

23 June 2008

Monday, June 23, 2008

Ham radio field day set for Saturday at Regional Park

Greg Moses DPA Staff Writer

Thousands of amateur radio operators worldwide are expected to show off their emergency
communication capabilities this weekend during their annual Field Day, part of Amateur Radio Week.

The McMinn County Amateur Radio Club (MCARC) will be demonstrating amateur radio operations -
often called "ham radio" -- at Athens Regional Park during this year's Field Day on Saturday, June 28.
"The public will have a chance to meet and talk with ham radio operators and see for themselves what
amateur radio service is all about," said MCARC Board Member Scott Duckworth.

Amateur radio has come into the news over the past few years with reports of ham radio operators
providing critical communications in emergencies across the globe.

"During Hurricane Katrina, amateur radio was often the only way people could communicate, and
hundreds of volunteer ham radio operators traveled the South to save lives and property," said
Duckworth. "When trouble is brewing, ham radio people are often the first to provide critical
information and communications."

Using only emergency power supplies, ham radio operators will construct emergency stations in parks,
shopping malls, schools and back yards around the country. With these stations, ham radio operators
send messages in many forms over the airways without the use of phone systems, Internet or any other
infrastructure that can be compromised in a crisis.
There are 650,000 amateur radio operators in the U.S. and more than 2.5 million worldwide. Last year,
more than 34,000 ham radio operators participated across the nation during Amateur Radio Week's
Field Day.

"We hope that people will come and see for themselves that this is not your grandfather's radio
anymore," said Allen Pitts of the National Association for Amateur Radio. "The communications
networks that ham radio people can quickly create have saved many lives in the past months when
other systems failed or were overloaded."

The 24-hour Field Day at Athens Regional Park begins on the morning of Saturday, June 28, and runs
through the following Sunday. There is no admission charge and the event is open to the public, as the
MCARC invites everyone to come see ham radio's capabilities and to learn how to get licensed by the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) before the next disaster strikes.

For more information about amateur radio, visit www.emergency-radio.org

E-mail: greg.moses # dailypostathenian.com