MANALAPAN — Despite the presence of the Internet, cell phones, email and modern communications, every year entire regions find themselves in the dark. Tornadoes, fires, storms, ice and even the occasional cutting of fiber optic cables leave people without the means to communicate.
In these cases, the one consistent service that has never failed has been amateur radio, according to a press release. These radio operators, often called “hams,” provide backup communications for everything from theAmerican Red Cross to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and even for the International Space Station. Manalapan’s “hams” will join with thousands of other amateur radio operators to demonstrate their emergency capabilities.
When trouble is brewing, amateur radio operators are often the first to provide rescuers with critical information and communications. On the weekend of June 23-24, the public will have a chance to meet and talk with Manalapan’s ham radio operators and see for themselves what amateur radio service is about as hams across the United States will be holding public demonstrations of emergency communications abilities.
This annual event, called “Field Day,” is the climax of the weeklong “Amateur Radio Week” sponsored by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL). Using only emergency power supplies, ham operators will construct emergency stations in parks, shopping malls, schools and backyards around the country.
Their slogan, “WhenAll Else Fails, Ham Radio Works,” is more than just words to the hams as they prove they can send messages in many forms without the use of phone systems, Internet or any other infrastructure that can be compromised in a crisis, according to the press release. More than 35,000 amateur radio operators across the country participated in last year’s event.
In the Manalapan area, the Manalapan Township Office of Emergency Management group and the Raritan Bay Radio Amateurs will be demonstrating amateur radio in front of the Manalapan municipal complex, Route 522 at Taylors Mills Road, on June 23. They invite the public to come and see ham radio’s new capabilities and learn how to get their own FCC radio license.
The team will be setting up in the morning and running local contact exercises at 11 a.m. The national communication exercise will start at 2 p.m.
Amateur radio is growing in the United States, according to the press release. There are now more than 700,000 amateur radio licensees in the nation, and more than 2.5 million around the world. Through the ARRL’s Amateur Radio Emergency Services program, ham volunteers provide emergency communications for thousands of state and local emergency response agencies and non-emergency community services too, all for free.
To learn more about amateur radio, go to www.emergency-radio.org. The public is invited to come, meet and talk with the hams.