[K3CAL] CARA in the news

Mon Jun 25 18:19:20 EDT 2012

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Ham radio operators plan for annual emergency training day

By MEGHAN RUSSELLStaff writer

They provided support during Hurricane Isabel in 2003, to La Plata during
its devastating 2002 tornado and to the Pentagon during the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks.

They are amateur radio operators, and during emergency situations, they
could end up being Calvert County's only source of communication with the
rest of the world.

That's all according to the word of Les Dickey of Prince Frederick, a member
of the Calvert Amateur Radio Association, the oldest amateur radio club in
the county, dating back to the 1950s, the group's website states. Dickey,
other members of CARA, volunteers and officials from the Calvert area are
gearing up for the annual CARA Field Day, when amateur radio operators try
to make contact with other emergency communications participants throughout
the U.S. and Canada for a 24-hour period.

This year's event starts at noon on June 23 and ends at noon on June 24 at
the Broomes Island Community Center at 4080 School Road in Broomes Island.

"Regardless of the increased complexity of communication systems they have
out there, everyone still has to keep in mind that modern devices can fail
at any time," Dickey said, citing the need for ham radio and the field day.
"The radio amateurs are focused more on the ability to respond to areas and
make things happen in the event of those kinds of failures."

State and county systems, utility and power lines and even backup systems
can fail during an emergency like an extreme weather event, he said.

That's why the field day "teaches us how to set up emergency communication
systems with nothing," said CARA President David Weaver of Owings. "We try
to make contacts throughout the United States because we are a last resort
backup."

For this reason, ham radio has a presence in the Emergency Operations Center
at the Calvert County Circuit Courthouse, he continued.

"If communication in the county or in the state is down, we can actually
send an email through the air to another state that has Internet," he said.

The event is organized nationally by the American Radio Relay League, and
Weaver said he expects about 35,000 people to participate during that
24-hour spread in which radio operators "make ourselves completely
self-sufficient."

The guest list this year includes county commissioners, county emergency
management staff, Calvert County Sheriff Mike Evans and local fire
department volunteers and Boy Scouts, but Weaver said anyone from the
community is invited to attend and learn. Food will be provided.

"We're just general people of all walks of life - lawyers, engineers, anyone
who enjoys ham radio," Weaver said.

Last year, CARA teamed up with the Drum Point Community Emergency Response
Team "to bring some attention to their emergency services; they're part of
our club," he said. "This year we're looking for someplace remote to just
set up," which is why the Broomes Island location was chosen.

John McCall, president of the Drum Point CERT, stressed the importance of
amateur radios at a public hearing for the community's budget last Tuesday,
saying, "The Drum Point radio club was virtually the only communication tool
available to us" during Hurricane Irene last August.

And the technology keeps getting better. Weaver, who's been operating ham
radio since 1986, remembered when he first started using the radios he
referred to them as "boat anchors, because they're so heavy and awkward."

"It's changed dramatically," Weaver said. "Now I can actually call somebody
here locally through my cell phone or my computer."

CARA organizes other events in addition to the field day. On Aug. 18 and 19,
it will attempt to establish an emergency communication system in the Cove
Point Lighthouse as part of another nationwide event, called "Lighthouses
On-the-Air," in which ham radio teams across the U.S. will set up systems in
various lighthouses.

For more information about the field day or CARA, go to www.k3cal.org.

mrussell at somdnews.com

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