For technology junkies looking to leave their mark on the world, Saturday and Sunday’s annual amateur radio field day was the place to do it.
But for the 100 or so people who set up their portable radios at the Wolcott House in Maumee, they were not looking for recognition — they just wanted to do their part for the community.
Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, has been around since “before the Titanic,” one enthusiast said, and predates commercial radio. Licensed radio amateurs use radios to communicate by accessing a set of frequencies distinct from AM and FM radio, where “hams” can connect with other amateurs anywhere on the planet.
“We provide communication free of charge,” Mike Kehr, the Toledo Mobile Radio Association’s public information officer, said. The reason, Mr. Kehr said, is that in times of war or natural disaster, typical means of communication — phone, e-mail, text messaging, radio — that would be used to reach emergency services may be inaccessible.
In those moments of crisis, radio amateurs step in and set up mobile command stations at firehouses, police stations, and organizations such as the Red Cross to connect first responders to each other and to the community.
In 2003, Mr. Kehr said, radio amateurs sprang into action here in Toledo when a power outage across much of the northeast rendered communication channels in the region useless.
“In 25 minutes, everything was up and running,” Mr. Kehr said. Ham radios must connect to their own source of power, which ranges from solar to battery to automobiles.
The ARRL — American Radio Relay League, the body that oversees radio amateurs across the country — organizes an annual field day, in which hundreds of thousands of amateurs across the United States and Canada hone their skills and try to reach as many people as they can. As of noon on Sunday, the Toledo amateurs had made close to 600 contacts.
The field day, which lasted 24 hours from Saturday afternoon to Sunday afternoon, is an opportunity for amateurs to prepare for those worst-case scenarios in which their skills might be needed. But according to most of the participants in Toledo, it’s fun — and a chance to get to know fellow enthusiasts (over the radio, of course).
Rob Hall, a factory automation engineer, got his start with amateur radio in the Boy Scouts. He became curious after listening to his dad’s police scanners, where radio amateurs’ voices sometimes sneaked through, leading him to wonder how he could hear people a thousand miles away.
“I got to talk around the world, and I never wanted to stop,” Mr. Hall said.
The Toledo club has close to 200 members, and worldwide almost two million people are licensed amateurs. They aren’t prone to bragging, but the participants in Toledo made sure to point out the prominence of amateurs everywhere and their creations — noting, for instance, that for 20 years, NASA astronauts have had to obtain amateur radio licenses.
“Radio lovers play around with this and then invent things,” Steve Bellner, the event’s chairman, said. “A lot of innovative things get created.”
Contact Gabby Deutch at: gdeutch@theblade.com, 419-724-6050, or on Twitter @GSDeutch.
First Published June 27, 2016, 4:08 a.m.
