Field Day
Most people were too busy enjoying the beautiful weather to notice, but Butler County was hit with a disaster last weekend that knocked out both telephone and cell service.
In a field in Winfield Township, a group worked to set up antennas and restore communications around the county so police and fire departments and emergency responders could coordinate rescue efforts.
At least that was the scenario set up on the June 22 Field Day of the Butler County Amateur Radio Public Service Group, a 24-hour drill simulating just such a scenario.
Jerry Cogley, 72, of Oakland Township was one member who spent 24 hours at the site next to the Winfield Township Municipal Building attempting to contact fellow ham radio operators around the country and the world.
Cogley, the radio group's vice president, said, “Our goal was just to make contacts, as many contacts with as many people as you can.” He spent the day monitoring 300 radio frequencies on the 40-meter band.
“It's all a matter of propagation,” said the former science teacher in the Butler School District. “I couldn't get anybody, then I got 15 people in an hour.”
The exercise ran from noon June 22 to noon June 23, said Julian Savage, the president of the Butler County Amateur Radio Public Service Group. He planned to be up the whole 24 hours with the 12 to 15 other club members taking part in the drill. The group has 36 active members.
“We participate in emergency drills. We will participate in heavy weather drills where we want as many stations as possible to check in,” said Savage.He said ham radio operators can provide communication and coordination to emergency services in cases where power and telephone services are disrupted.Club members began the Field Day by assembling antennas at the Winfield Township municipal building, 194 Brose Road.Cogley said, “We had an 80-meter antenna, two 40-meter antennas, a 20-meter and a 10-meter antenna.”Meters in this case refers to radio band width not an antenna's height.Once the antennas were assembled, ham radio operators began scanning the frequencies trying to establish contact with other radio operators.“It's kind of like disaster has struck and the electrical grid has failed, phone service has ended,” said Savage. “We're going out in the field with our generators and solar panels and try to contact as many people as we can.”“Had this been a real world situation with national ramifications, we would have been out there communicating even under less than idea conditions, regardless of the issue ... that's what we do,” said Savage. “We'll be staying up all night logging all contacts.”Adding to the difficulty is the fact the radio bands change at sundown.“When the sun goes down, it's ionizing different parts of the atmosphere,” said Savage.
Tom McCracken of Winfield Township said of the Field Day, “I think it went very well. Now if there is a state or national emergency we know what to expect at that site. It is good public safety.”And the Field Day is really the whole reason for the club's existence.Savage said the Butler County Amateur Radio Public Service Group is dedicated to helping the Butler County Emergency Operations Center.Savage said, “We've had about 300 different amateurs come and go. The club has been around since the early 1980s.”The group split off from an older ham radio group, the Butler County Amateur Radio Association.“What happened was some members in the club were more interested in public service versus long-distance communications,” said Savage. “About 20 people left in the early '80s.McCracken said, “We're helping out the EOC. We're a good backup.”McCracken said ham radio operators provided vital communications during a 1985 tornado in Armstrong County, and when Flight 93 crashed in Shanksville during the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.That's why BCARPSG has a room next to the EOC Center, 120 McCune Drive.Cogley said, “We have our own room, and we use the EOC meeting room setup for our own meetings on the second Wednesday of every month.”
Robert McLafferty, the 911 coordinator for county, said, “The group does indeed have a dedicated room within the building. Physically it is directly next to our dispatch area and with the slide of a window the dispatch center and ham radio room can have direct access to each other.McLafferty said, “Julian or his team makes us aware of any events and has provided an open invitation for us to participate with the group.“During mutual training events (which can occur multiple times a year) we operationally integrate with the ham radio group to plan and train. In the event of a communications failure, the ham radio group would provide us with emergency and or auxiliary communications,” he said.Savage who lives near Meridian and works security for Iron Mountain in Boyers, said it was his uncle and mentor, Nick Schwailak, who introduced him to the hobby of ham radio in 1976.He became a novice class operator in 1976 after learning the basic electronics lore and Morse code needed to obtain the license.He's currently an amateur radio class extra operator.There are three classes of ham radio operator: technician where after demonstrating a mastery of basic electronics and on-air regulations allows the operator access to the UHF and VHF bands.“Basically you are talking similar to CB radio from years ago,” said Savage.The FCC manages the program and issues licenses with the volunteers who apply to be testers.Then an operator can upgrade to general class which opens up “a whole bunch of different frequencies all over the world.”The next level is extra class which opens the full radio spectrum to the operator.Exceptions are police band — ham operators cannot broadcast on them, but can monitor them.Radio sets are available locally but have to be bought through the Internet, said Savage.
“The Chinese have flooded the market with very cheap handsets. They are very cheap 5-watt radios,” said Savage. “I honestly don't know how regular radio manufacturers stay in business.”“For me the appeal was electronics,” said Savage.With the first class of radio, people can talk to others three to five miles away. The next level is 20 to 30 miles away.“A lot of us use repeaters which boosts the signal,” said Savage. There are five repeaters in the county in locations ranging from North Washington to Winfield Township.Savage listens to the radio to and from work and at a home base station.He said, “Ham operators can talk to the space station. The astronauts have ham operators licenses, and there is a three-minute window when its possible to contact them.“Everybody and their brother is trying to contact them. If they can, they will answer you,” said Savage.Savage said speaking with the inhabitants on the International Space Station might be a way to spark more interest in ham radio.“We need more young people getting into the hobby. They are too enamored of their computers and cellphones. What if they go down?” said Savage.“Everything is taken for granted these days. You don't realize how important it is until you lose it,” he said.Savage doesn't want to see ham radio go the way of another trendy communications method, the citizen's band radioSavage said, “CBs, well the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) lost control. There were too many people. It was the wild west.”McCracken said amateur radio operators are called hams and the FCC assigns them call signs.“That's the important point of ham radio,” said Savage. “Operators have more appreciation of the ticket. They are more self-policing. If someone is using it illegally, we try and track him down and the FCC will send an agent after them.”“We don't want to lose the bands,” said Savage.McCracken, said he's been part of the BCARPSG since it started.“It's a good pastime and you meet some pretty nice people. You get to meet people all over the world,” said McCracken.
In the 24-hour period from 2 p.m. June 22 to 2 p.m. June 23, the members of the Butler County Amateur Radio Public Service Group made more than 400 radio contacts.Here are the documented results:Total Contacts: 4063 Countries:USA — 381, Canada — 24, Belize — 138 U.S. States:Pennsylvania — 45Ohio — 44New York — 33New Jersey — 20Michigan — 19Maryland — 17North Carolina — 15Virginia — 14Indiana — 13New Hampshire — 12Florida — 11Georgia — 11Wisconsin — 11Missouri — 10Kentucky — 9Massachusetts — 9Texas — 9West Virginia — 9Illinois — 8Maine — 8Rhode Island — 7Tennessee — 7Alabama — 5Vermont — 5Colorado — 4Delaware — 4Iowa — 4Nebraska — 3South Carolina — 3California — 2Connecticut — 2Oklahoma — 2Arkansas — 1Idaho — 1Kansas — 1Minnesota — 1Utah — 1Washington — 1Total for U.S. — 3814 Canadian ProvincesOntario — 13Quebec — 6Maritime — 4Alberta — 1Total for Canada — 24Other Country:Belize — 1The Butler County Amateur Radio Public Service Group recently launched a website at www.k3psg.com.
