Saving lives and preserving a dying art

Hannah Gross
NLJ Correspondent 
 
The Amateur Radio Relay League has been hosting its annual ARRL Field Day exercise the final full weekend in June since 1933 in locations across the United States. Ham operators locate contact to as many stations as possible in 24 hours during the exercise. Tom Wing and Darrel Schlup, extra-class licensed ham operators, single-handedly manned the Field Day operation just outside of Newcastle on Summit Ridge on June 25-26. 
With over 161,000 members, according to the ARRL website, Field Day brings approximately 40,000 stations on the air, Wing said, with the Newcastle area being one of them. This exercise is meant to equip amateur radio operators, known as “ham operators,” with the capability of long-term sustainability by operating an impromptu radio in abnormal or emergency conditions.
“When you’re 50 miles from home, where all your parts and all your supplies are, it teaches you to prepare to go out there and run a sustained operation where there is no other help in an emergency. So, that’s the goal of field day,” Wing said.  
Points are given based on performance by the number of contacts made. Additional points can be earned in various categories such as the set-up of the station, amateur radio promotion and the presence of a safety officer. The ham operators make their own antennas, set up their own towers and use generators, solar panels and/or batteries to operate their makeshift stations for 24-hours. 
“They determined that if you could operate for 24-hours you could probably operate quite awhile,” Wing said.
Wing said that he and Schlup received extra points for using batteries, which they charged with solar panels. He added that some groups spend thousands of dollars on a 100-foot tower and antenna, but he just uses rope and wire tossed into a 90-foot tree with a bow and arrow. 
“My antenna has about the same performance, but it doesn’t cost $2,000-$5,000,” Wing said. “It’s really rewarding when you set up a station and it works.” 
Wing said they normally have better participation, but due to unforeseen circumstances, he and Schlup were the only ones able to attend this year. They only contacted a few stations to verify that their station worked, but last year, they contacted hundreds of people.
“It’s a fun activity. You go out there and you camp out. You scream into a microphone or I use morse code, and after 24 hours you stagger out, pack everything up and go home and look forward to the next year,” Wing said. 
Wing has been a ham operator for 60 years, and he enjoys tinkering and experimenting with communications, making contacts literally around the world. One time, he even reached the South Pole from a station he set up in Greenland. 
When the Voyager completed its historic flight in December 1986 around the world without refueling, Wing tuned in on that journey and listened to all the valve problems and malfunctions the pilots experienced.
Wing described amateur radio as “a bunch of weirdos who like to play around with radios and communicate.” However, ham radio is not merely a fun hobby. Many times, ham radio operations have been life-saving and are being used in search and rescue operations. 
Ham radio provides services wherever they are needed, Wing said, and have served as backup communications for Federal Emergency Management Agency operations, wars and military affairs, as well as natural disasters, such as forest fires, floods, Hurricane Katrina and the eruption of Mt. St. Helens. According to the ARRL website, amateur radio services provided communications between New York City agencies during the 9/11 attack. 
“Hams are very resourceful, and they can get something that isn’t supposed to work,” Wing said, “to work and work well.” 
Wing said he personally has used his knowledge in amateur radio several times in emergency situations to save lives. He recalled the time he was driving from Seattle to Salt Lake City when he came across a truck driver who drove into a bridge in Oregon. They were 40 miles from the nearest town, so Wing grabbed his shortwave radio and contacted someone in Colorado who hooked him up with the local highway patrol to send an ambulance. 
Wing said his Jeep is always loaded with “radio equipment that works” for whenever it is needed. Wing mainly uses ham radio for experimentation and service, but it can also be used for communications and to receive certificates. He said it is a dying art, but they have been working with Newcastle High School science teacher Jim Stith to raise awareness and stir an interest in the younger generations. 
“Ham radio is a multifaceted hobby, and it’s a great opportunity for self-awareness and experimentation,” Wing said. “It’s a great, great hobby — really rewarding when you can save somebody’s life or ease their pain.”