CULLMAN Ala. – The Cullman Amateur Radio Club held its Field Day June 27-28 at Veterans Memorial Pavilion at Sportsman Lake Park.
Chris Chaffin, call sign KY4HV, spoke with The Tribune about the event, club’s history and amateur radio’s role in emergencies.
Amateur (ham) radio started in 1933 a few years before World War II. It was put on hold for some time as the war continued. “It started with old men with two radios out in the middle of a park using surplus tents from the Army,” Chaffin explained. He said it was dangerous for civilians to continue using a radio during the war. But after the war, things changed for the future of amateur radio.
There are about 732,636 active amateur radio licenses in the United States, including all classes and both individual and group/military licenses. And with amateur radio field days available to the public, Chaffin said, he hopes to see that number grow.
Ham radio operators are casual, but they don’t always have to be, he said. Some even participate in emergency broadcasting such as delivering weather updates and real-time alerts via NOAA and Skywarn networks, coordinating logistics for search and rescue operations in remote areas and even relaying health and welfare messages during hurricanes.
Chaffin said it’s a great hobby and a good skill to have under your belt. “It encompasses so many different things,” he said. “We even work with our local EMA office. We assist them during times of disaster. We have what’s known as RACES which is Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service.”
But some people are just in it for the social aspects and the wonders that keep them curious. Chaffin said what he enjoys most is getting outside the house and introducing people to ham radio. He says field day is about going out and being a part of the community. “It’s the fellowship of the club being together but also just getting to be able to make contacts and meeting with other people.” That includes people who aren’t at field day – people who are across the globe. The radio club was proud to say that on June 27, they were able to talk to some as far away as Belize.
Chaffin said that as the day shifted into night and the sun moved they would start to get communications from further out. He said he has personally spoken with a gentleman in Saudi Arabia. “Myself, the furthest I have ever talked was with a man named Omar. He was out in the middle of the Saudi Arabian desert. And I was talking from my house using 100 watts. And we had a good five-minute conversation.”
Chaffin says the hardest place to reach is Antarctica but it’s not impossible. “It’s a great hobby and really makes you learn geography.”
He said testing is open to anyone unlicensed or licensed. And that any student or graduate interested in STEM would greatly benefit from obtaining a license. Club dues are $20 a year, and there are no age restrictions for who can obtain a license. The club offers testing on the first Thursday or the second Thursday night of each month, and club meetings are the third Tuesday night of each month at 7p.m. at the Cullman Senior Center at Sportsman Lake.
The Cullman Amateur Radio Club welcomes everyone, Chaffin said, saying the group is just “a bunch of people who like playing radio.”
Find out more at www.facebook.com/CullmanARC.
