>Radio amateurs test their mettle
Sunday, June 29, 2008
BY STEPHANIE AKIN
STAFF WRITER
If you turn on the radio today, you probably won’t hear the thousands of amateur broadcasters exchanging simulated emergency signals thoughout the country.
But the frequencies have been buzzing since early Saturday afternoon.
Amateur broadcasters at five stations in North Jersey are participating in the 24-hour, nationwide display of their emergency broadcasting skills. During the event, called a field day, they will send signals from mountaintops and parking lots, using microphones and Morse code, broadcasting on frequencies usually too high or low to register on the commercial radio dial.
“This is really a drill,” said Joel Wagoner, a member of the Ramapo Mountain Amateur Radio Club. “It’s to test our ability to set up a station at any time and under any conditions.”
Wagoner spoke as his fellow club members set up a makeshift station in a clearing off Skyline Drive in Ringwood.
As they wiped sweat from their faces and swatted at flies, the group of mostly middle-aged men put together a showcase of modern radio technology.
Club members, among them a high school teacher, an accountant and a retired electrical engineer, hung antennas from the trees that could send signals as far as California. They wired high-frequency portable radios to microphones. They installed Morse code transmitters in a tent. All the equipment was powered by an emergency generator, so club members could practice working without electricity.
Club member Michael Mutascio of Ringwood created a command center in a trailer he usually uses to store his snowmobile. Inside, he sat at a desk with two laptop computers, a desktop connected to an early version of a police emergency tracking system, and – of course – several radios.
The club’s radios can send messages to the other side of the country, bounce signals off meteor showers and even use the moon as a reflector, he said.
“Those space sounds you’re hearing is actually text being sent to a computer server,” he said as one of the computers emitted an eerie series of blips. “The sounds are converted into text.”
For this event, though, the goal is to exchange as many signals as possible with other broadcasters operating from similar stations.
Clubs that contact the most stations win an award. But club members said completing the exercise is more important than winning the contest.
Amateur radio operators help communicate with the outside world during disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina and 9/11, when cellphone and Internet service are severed.
Because operators can’t predict which equipment or technologies will be available when they need them, it’s important to practice transmitting signals on several frequencies and with a range of equipment.
“Even though there is a lot of technology out there, we prepare for failure,” said Mutascio, who is a paramedic by profession and volunteers in international disaster response.
In an actual disaster, amateur radio operators can broadcast from their homes, from parking lots or from several emergency broadcast systems in the region.
The mountaintop site allows the club to send its signals farther. It also allows operators to simulate some of the stresses they might encounter in a real emergency, such as working for long hours with little sleep. Several club members planned to camp on the mountain, but only after they were too exhausted to send signals.
“This keeps me better-rounded in case something goes wrong,” Mutascio said.
E-mail: akin@northjersey.com