FLOYD HAMS PARTICIPATE
IN NATIONAL EMERGENCY
COMMUNICATION EXERCISE
By Don Johnson
June 25, 2007
This weekend, (June 23-24) members of Floyd County’s Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES) group set up a high frequency emergency radio station on a mountaintop near White Oak Grove Church. There, operating with electricity from portable generators, they exchanged information with hundreds of other stations in the United States and Canada, both far and near.
The occasion was an annual test of amateur radio operators’ (or “Hams” as they’re known) capabilities as they operate in emergency conditions from unusual locations. Field day has been sponsored by the National Association for Amateur Radio (ARRL) American Relay for almost 100 years and is the largest on-the-air operating event today.
The Floyd Event was cosponsored by the Foundation for Amateur International Radio Service, Ltd. (FAIRS) which provided the FCC license call sign the operators used for the event, “N4USA.”
FAIRS promotes goodwill through amateur radio by providing equipment, funds and training for amateurs and governments in less fortunate countries around the world. It also partners with other groups and individuals to provide radios, medical assistance and other services, such as transporting medicine, supplies and relief aid to areas in need.
According to ARRL’s Field Day coordinator, Field Day is “the time when we bring Amateur Radio to Main Street, USA. By setting up in parking lots, malls, Emergency Operations Centers, parks and even at home, amateur operators learn skills that will better allow them to serve their communities.”