From courant.com
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Training Essential To Radio Operators
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By REGINE LABOSSIERE
Courant Staff Writer

February 27, 2005

NEWINGTON -- Before ham radio operators can assist victims of bombs, plane crashes and smallpox outbreaks, they have to train.

And so, about 60 hams, as they are called, gathered in the Newington Fire Department's headquarters on Main Street Saturday morning to review, discuss and prepare.

The hams, also known as amateur radio operators, are members of Amateur Radio Emergency Services, a national program of the American Radio Relay League, whose national headquarters are in Newington.

"Training, everything we do is about training. We have to be ready to serve," said Rod Lane, one of the speakers on Saturday and an assistant section manager for ARES. "In a post-9/11 world, it's even more important."

Amateur radio operators set up and operate organized communication networks locally for government officials and emergency services. They are usually most active when power outages and downed telephone lines render other communication ineffective. According to Allen Pitts, a spokesman for the league, amateur radio, unlike other forms of communication, can never be blocked or tied up.

"Ninety-five percent of other emergency communication services go through some type of a choke point," Pitts said, naming emergency dispatch and cellphone towers as examples. "There's always something. If that something is overloaded or dysfunctional, the system's dead."

However, Pitts said, every amateur radio is self-contained and fully functional on its own, so there's never any "choke point."

Pitts used the recent tsunami disaster in Southeast Asia to explain the effectiveness of amateur radio.

"The first thing that happened in the tsunami, a lady was talking on the radio and she just said the word tremors and the hams heard her," he said. Hams alerted emergency and governmental services when the telephone wasn't working.

Dozens of radio operators came from all over the state to Newington Saturday to prepare for Top Off, an emergency disaster drill run by the federal Department of Homeland Security. The drill will take place in Connecticut, New Jersey and foreign countries. The radio operators will learn how to assist the Red Cross and the Office of Emergency Management during emergencies.

Pitts said the drill is scheduled for April 4-8 in the New London and Groton areas and will be the biggest disaster drill ever in Connecticut.

Anything can happen during those four days, he said. The Department of Homeland Security was planning on replicating anything that terrorists could cause.

Many members of the group who gathered in Newington have taken part in major disasters. Some were also radio beginners. All of them sat in a room in the fire station intently listening to the various speakers.

The speakers talked about several important factors of being a radio operator. For instance, everyone should have a jump kit - a mini-radio station that operators have handy in an emergency. Several jump kits were on display in the back of the room. The speakers also discussed staying calm in emergencies and where to buy materials. During breaks, people traded barbs and experiences.

Michael Abramowitz, a 71-year-old Stratford resident, said he became a licensed operator 15 years ago because of all the opportunities it afforded him.

"I wanted to give back something to the community, meet other people on the air, try other means of communication," he said.

Rose-Anne Lawrence, a 51-year-old radio operator who lives in Newington, said she became licensed about five years ago.

"I thought it was interesting and I found there were a lot of challenges in the hobby and you meet a lot of interesting people," Lawrence said.

She and her husband went to Torrington in 2002 when a major ice storm destroyed power lines and amateur radio was the only means of communication.

Tom Barnhart, 49, from Groton, helped in Torrington and also in the Sept. 11 disaster. He said he first heard the news on television and then went on the air where he heard hams were collecting resources and looking for people willing to go to New York. He was there for 10 days.

"We were definitely helping," Barnhart said. "That's the big thing. The people that are here in this room are here because they want to help."

Pitts said that amateur radio operators are key in all disasters, but they are no amateurs: "It's called the amateur radio service but it's no more amateur than your amateur volunteer fire services."
Copyright 2005, Hartford Courant


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