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Radio Amateurs Turn Up Volume

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By DAVID SOMMER

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 30, 2008

DADE CITY - DADE CITY - When a magnitude 8 earthquake rocked China's Sichuan province on May 12, Gary Mentro's sister-in-law worried about friends back home.

Some telephones still worked in the remote and mountainous province, but they were quickly overwhelmed, Mentro said.

It took more than a week, but amateur, or "ham," radio operators talking through regularly scheduled "nets" were able to relay a message from here to Sichaun.

"It took about a week and a half before it got back to us," but someone in the earthquake zone tracked down the Chinese branch of Mentro's family and then relayed back the good news that everyone was all right, he recalled Saturday.

The earthquake message is an example of what ham radio operators can do in a disaster when all other forms of long-distance communication fail, said John Mouw, also known by his call signal, WA4JM.

Mouw, Mentro, aka N3OS, and a half-dozen of their friends from the East Pasco Amateur Radio Society set up six radio stations inside Dade City's City Hall annex over the weekend for their annual Field Day, in which they compete against other amateur radio clubs throughout the United States.

The 24-hour marathon, staged this year in a meeting room that doubles as the East Pasco Emergency Operations Center during hurricanes, spotlights the ham operators' ability to contact other hams at random using low-power radio frequencies transmitted over what are often homemade antennae.

On Saturday, coaxial cable, old-fashioned flat television lines and even a pair of Slinkies were strung up behind the city hall annex, each tailored to carry certain wavelengths for the various radios set up inside.

The equipment ranged from 100-year-old Morse code keys to a laptop computer with a digital GPS hookup that showed every such station operating in Central Florida.

One radio station, dubbed the "Get-On-The-Air," or GOTA, station, was open to anyone who wanted to try their hand at being a ham, a privilege afforded on the one day each year when an estimated 34,000 licensed amateur radio operators participate in the Field Day, sponsored by the American Radio Relay League.

John Ferns, who said he used to work a CB radio in his car and was trained on military radios while in the 82nd Airborne Division, was instantly hooked.

Even though solar activity made transmitting difficult Saturday afternoon, Ferns was able to quickly contact hams up and down the East Coast on his first try at amateur radio.

"I really didn't know what it's all about until I got here," he said. "Now that I got here, it's, wow, kind of exciting."

While Ferns earned points for the club while talking on the GOTA station, the club's secret weapon sat across the room tapping out Morse code signals at as many as 45 words a minute.

Merrill Brown, the Morse code expert, was broadcasting the club call sign K4EX, much like a fisherman casts bait. He said his goal was to contact and share additional call sign information with as many fellow hams as possible to rack up even more Field Day points.

The first few hours of the annual marathon are tough because everyone is very aggressive, "bumping heads" on certain wavelengths as they try to score points, Brown said. Some try to take over ongoing conversations, and the competition can get nasty, he said.

Saturday's competition was further hampered by a passing thunderstorm. Two years ago, lightning struck the nearby Dade City police station on Field Day, and all of the phone lines in the immediate vicinity were knocked out, Mouw said.

"The radios kept right on working," he bragged.

Reporter David Sommer can be reached at (727) 815-1087 or dsommer@tampatrib.com.

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