Ham radio operators have annual field day

When Hurricane Hugo devastated South Carolina in 1989, emergency personnel turned to ham radio operators to stay in touch with isolated communities and the outside world. It is a partnership that has lasted for decades.

“Part of the reason the federal communications division gives us ‘real estate' is because of our ability to provide voluntary services in emergencies,” said Sumter Amateur Radio Association Vice President Hap Griffin.

Ham radio, or amateur radio, dates to the beginning of radio, when inventors such as Guglielmo Marconi were first unraveling the mystery of how electromagnetic waves travel through the atmosphere.

“Basically what we are doing is the continuation of what the pioneers started,” Griffin said.

Since ham radio operators are transmitting signals that can travel around the planet, operators must be licensed by taking tests that show their proficiency with the equipment, including how to avoid interfering with other electronic signals.

Several members of the local amateur radio club were at the Sumter Enduro Riders Motorcycle Association clubhouse near Wedgefield on a recent Saturday to take part in the American Radio Relay League’s annual Field Day activities.

Each year during the last weekend in June, ham radio operators and amateur radio clubs such as Sumter Amateur Radio Association set up broadcasting stations and attempt to make contact with other ham radio operators across the country and around the globe.

“It’s part of our training,” Griffin said. “That’s the whole idea, to keep skills sharp and make sure we have the necessary equipment.”

The field day is a competition, which includes setting up a transmitter at a location which does not normally have one. The competition is judged by which operators and clubs can log the most contacts in a 24-hour period – from 2 p.m. Saturday to 2 p.m. Sunday.

Griffin said some clubs get really into setting up in remote locations with tents and electric generators.

“We are a little older, and we try to find a place with air conditioning, electric power and a place to use the restroom,” Griffin said, laughing.

On that Saturday, club members were erecting a directional antenna at SERMA, as well as a line antenna. Each type of antenna broadcasts at a different frequency, or band.

The lower, 80-40-meter band and the 20-15-10-meter band can be used to communicate with most of the U.S. and several countries, Griffin said.

Ham radio frequencies operate by bouncing signals off layers in the ionosphere, which must be charged up by solar radiation to work most efficiently.

As the sun’s most intense radiation travels west during the day, so do the optimum conditions for most of the bands used by ham radio operators.

The higher-frequency E band works a little differently, Griffin said.

“It’s really persnickety,” he said.

Don Mask said he has been an amateur radio operator for 43 years.

“My grandfather was a ham radio operator, and I can remember seeing his equipment,” Mask said. “He built all kinds of amplifiers and stuff.”

In previous generations, everybody built their own equipment, Mask said, but few people do that today.

“Now it’s so much easier to buy it because you get so much bang for the buck,” he said.

He said anyone interested in becoming a radio operator should talk to someone doing it now and watch for an opportunity to take classes to receive a license from the Federal Communications Commission.

“Starter licenses classes take about two hours a week for eight to 10 weeks,” he said.

Sumter Amateur Radio Association President George Mudd said he became involved in ham radio after using CB radios in the 1970s.

“CB radio got to be terrible,” he said.

Mudd said he started learning ham radio on his own and taught himself Morse code.

“Novices had to use Morse code,” he said.

Club members say it is difficult to get younger people interested in ham radio.

“Competing with cellphones, computers and the web is hard to do,” Griffin said.

But the chance to talk to people thousands of miles away by bouncing signals off the ionosphere, without going through any phone or Internet companies, has a unique appeal.

“It’s interesting how the signal changes, how the ionosphere changes and unchanges,” Griffin said. “You bounce a signal off the atmosphere 1,000 miles away and talk to someone another 1,000 miles away. It’s fascinating.”

This story was originally published July 10, 2016 at 6:27 PM with the headline "Ham radio operators have annual field day."