OCR Text |
Show Amateur radio operators head for the hills Davis County Amateur Radio Operators will head for the hills to participate in the annual Field Day Emergency Preparedness Exercise on June 22-23, near the Monte Cristo campground. Field Day coordinator, Greg Allen, said the club will set up and operate the amateur radio station powered by large solar cells as practice for possible emergency use. He said the station will not operate on commercial or mechanically generated power cells during the weekend exercise. exer-cise. The solar cells will run the station by day and charge storage batteries for night operation. The amateurs will be using voice and Morse code to communicate. They will also use Packet Radio to communicate via Amateur Satellites. Allen said the exercise will start at noon Saturday Sat-urday and requires the club to set up an operating amateur station and contact other ham radio operators throughout the United States and in foreign countries for a 24-hour period, ending Sundav at noon He said the hams will attempt to make as many contacts with other stations as possible during the operating period as part of an operating contest held in conjunction with the yearly emergency exercise. The field day location is 42 miles east of the Ogden 12th Street 1-15 exit and tliree miles below the Monte Cristo campground on Utah Rt. 39. The site is located between mile posts 45-46 and off the left-hand side of the road. Signs will be posted to allow visitors to find the site. Anyone interested in viewing the opeiation or finding out more about the amateur radio is invited to visit the operation. Club members are Davis County Amateur Radio Operators licensed by the Federal Communications Com-munications Commission. The club is active in emergency communications such as the recent evacuation at Layton during the removal of hazardous material from a local storage site. The club also provides community service communications in events such as the Bountiful Handcart Days and the March of Dimes Walk America. The club meets on the second Saturday Satur-day of each month in the Farmington Sheriff s Department auditorium. The public is invited to attend the club meetings. Ham radio differs from Citizen's Band communications com-munications (CB) in that hams are licensed for a maximum output power of 1,500 watts on a large number of radio frequency bands. CB operators are limited to only 40 channels on one frequency band, and are only permitted to use five watts output power. Newly elected officers of the Davis County Amateur Radio Club are John Mabey, Bountiful, president; with Kathy Rudnicki of Layton named nam-ed vice president. Paul K. Anderson of Bountiful was elected secretary, with Brent Thomas of Bountiful serving serv-ing as treasurer of the club that was formed shortly after the 1983 Davis Countv flooding. |