Making friends around the world with ham radios
What do science, public service, and emergency communication have in common?
They are all associated with ham radio or amateur radio.
There are more than 3 million ham radio operators across the globe.
A unique mix of fun and public service, hams are making headlines on Earth and above it.
An amateur ham radio operator in Portland, Oregon, connected kids to the International Space Station from his home.
During a wildfire in Colorado, volunteer amateur radio operators helped save lives and property.
When it comes to local ham radio operators, Jeff Richardson gets the job done.
This man has connections.
He works for the San Bernardino County Fire Department Office of Emergency Services, and has mastered the art of wires and cable, and radio frequencies.
Believing that emergency communication is a top priority in a disaster, Richardson serves as special projects coordinator for the Disaster Communications Preparedness Program of the San Bernardino County Fire Office of Emergency Services.
One function of ham radio operators is to promote good will around the world.
We would expect law enforcement to use ham radios but even the veterans’ hospital and Loma Linda University Medical Center have ham radio equipment and staffs to operate it.
There’s the Citrus Belt Amateur Radio Club, which shares its information with local community groups.
Citrus Belt was organized in 1938 and then reactivated after World War II, and established as a club in 1947.
Citrus Belt Amateur Radio members work with many organizations, including Multiple Sclerosis Society, March of Dimes, and help with walk-a-thon events.
There’s also the two-way public safety services for fires or other emergency radio services provided by the Mountain Top Amateur Radio Association.
You’d be surprised, Richardson told me, how many people don’t know what the club does.
They also have members who provide communications for the Baker to Vegas law enforcement run, while others help with the US Forest Service, CalFire, and San Bernardino County Fire and Search and Rescue relaying radio traffic.
Although ham radios can be critical during emergency situations, their operators also use science to have fun.
Jo Stringfield, a Cedarpines Park resident and retired Caltrans planner who is a member of the Celtic Belt Amateur Radio Club and Mountain Top group, loves ham radios almost as much as she loves sailing.
In November 1977, she and her former husband took their 21-foot sailboat down the Pacific Coast of Baja to Cabo San Lucas and into the Sea of Cortez.
“We had no navigation, no GPS, no VHS Marine radio and no ham HF radio. And of course there were no cell phones. We had a compass, charts and EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon,)” she said.
They had more fun than expected, Stringfield said, and chose to trailer their boat home so they could spend more time in Mexico.
They returned home and decided for their next trip they would have a ham radio to check the weather, make phone patches and meet other hams. “We also decided it would be nice to have a little larger boat and one we could also stand up in,” she said.
After returning to
Dana Point, they prepared for a return trip, purchasing a bigger boat, and a ham radio to check the weather and talk to other hams. They started preparing and outfitting their new boat for the next cruise.
“We went to HRO to look at amateur radios. With HRO, experience with helping boaters, we picked out a radio. HRO gave us the frequencies for the Baja and Mananas net to check out when we’d head south,” Stringfield said.
They gave the couple some phone numbers of local hams who would help with setting up the radio and antenna on the boat. They did not know what to expect because they were calling strangers to help them “out of the blue.”
“Same day, hams came down to the marina to help set up the radio and antennas. That was the start of meeting some of the best hams,” Stringfield said. She still uses her ham equipment. “The mountains are full of opportunities to use ham radios.”
Richardson’s wife Megan is also an amateur ham radio operator.
During the Old Fire, Richardson set up phone service for the fire command vehicle.
“If you tell us it can’t be done, we’ll figure out a way to get it done,” said Richardson, who has volunteered more than 100,000 hours during his 30-year career serving the community.
Many of the clubs are affiliated with the American Radio Relay League, the national association for amateur radio, connecting hams in the US with news, books, and study material.
The ARRL is a primary source of information about what is going on in the ham radio world.
The local group has its meetings in the Staff Development Center at Patton State Hospital, 3102 E. Highland Ave., San Bernardino, 92413.
Information: w6jbt.org. Or email them at info@ w6jbt.org.
Visit www.arrl.org/ what-is-ham-radio