ARLA/CLUSTER: Radioamadorers americanos demonstram capacidade de resposta à emergencia

[João Costa > CT1FBF]

Radio hams demonstrate emergency capability

The San Antonio Express-News reports ham radio operators have been
demonstrating the value of old technology

When Hurricane Maria battered Puerto Rico last year, the island went
dark and it lost modern forms of communication.

Most cell phones were useless. Landlines died. It was difficult to
communicate with the outside world.

But a reliable technology that’s more than a century old was still
functioning: Ham radio.

“In an emergency, it can be highly desirable,” said Harold Fleischer
III AE5AS, president of the San Antonio Radio Club, which was founded
in 1919.

Amateur radio operators gathered Saturday outside Shavano Park City
Hall for a national “field day” that simulated an emergency. They set
up temporary shelters, electrical generators and a variety of radio
antennae to talk to fellow radio enthusiasts across the United States.

Their goal was to educate the public about an old-school hobby that’s
still relevant in an age of Google Fiber and iPhones.

Radios work when cell phone towers don’t. The Federal Communications
Commission issues licenses to amateur radio operators as a “voluntary,
noncommercial” service, and more than 750,000 people in the United
States have active licenses.

“It allows licensed operators to improve their communications and
technical skills, while providing the nation with a pool of trained
radio operators and technicians who can provide essential
communications during emergencies,” the commission says on its
website.

As ham radio operators will tell you, it’s also fun.

Watch the video and read the full article at
https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/San-Antonio-ham-radio-operators-demonstrate-value-13020792.php