By Tim Mandell
Before the invention of the Internet, cell phones or text messaging, if there was a disaster, the main way to get emergency information was via the radio.
Despite advances in technology, people still turn to the radio when usual forms of contact are lost.
Even if weather conditions are fine and dandy, operating on the radio works much the same way as cell phones, text messages and chat rooms, offering people a chance to communicate with anyone across the globe.
“If an emergency occurs, we can be activated to provide communication for an emergency event or a scheduled event,” said Herb Pettit, president of the Central Kentucky Amateur Radio Society.
“A lot of the members participate in the weather spotter program,” he said. “The National Weather Service provides us training on reporting a storm.”
Pettit, who has been involved in amateur radio for six years, said he uses the radio on a daily basis.
Other club members, such as Mike Rogers, also use the radio every day, not only to stay informed and to inform others, but to communicate with old friends or meet new ones.
“We’re able to talk to people around the world,” said Rogers, 61, who first became interested in amateur radio when he was in high school and was introduced to the medium by his uncle.
“We talk to a lot of people we’ve never seen before or heard before, but the nice thing is we all share the same hobby,” Rogers said. “Any time I’m driving, I have the radio on and if I hear someone, I’ll chime in and talk to them.”
Amateur radio is not only for those who enjoy speaking to others. Morse Code still is widely used.
“I have more fun with that than the rest of it,” Pettit said.
When getting on the radio, operators often use the term CQ.
“If someone calls a CQ, they’re basically calling, ‘I’m here and I’ll talk to anybody willing to talk to me’,” Rogers said.
Rogers said his uncle has a scheduled time when he speaks with others on the radio and any time a group of people get together it is called a network.
Often, after having a conversation, radio operators will offer to send each other QSL cards, which are written confirmation of two-way contact.
QSL cards resemble postcards and have various information about the radio operators.
Other operators try to make contact with a radio operator in all 3,120 counties in the United States, Rogers said.
The club conducts various events throughout the year, including the Field Day, where radio operators take all their supplies and generators to Camp Catalpa and spend 24 hours operating in a simulated emergency situation.
The event is scheduled this year for the fourth weekend in June.
“It’s a good, clean hobby,” Rogers said. “There’s room for everybody.”
The Central Kentucky Amateur Radio Society has meetings the third Thursday of each month at 7 p.m. at the Madison County Joint Operation Center on South Keeneland Dr. in Richmond.
For more information visit the group’s Web site at www.qsl.net/ckars/.
Tim Mandell can be reached at tmandell@richmondregister.com or 623-1669 ext. 6696.
