Amateur Radio Operators Hone Skills

COURT HOUSE – Solar panels and portable generators powered the transmitters and receivers members used in the Cape May County Amateur Radio Club June 25-26 marathon to contact peers everywhere in North America and across the Atlantic in Europe. 
This test of off-grid powered gear was the annual 24-hour American Radio Relay League (ARRL) challenge that holds an almost magical allure for operators. They gathered in the Lockwood 4-H Center with about 15 other members.
They hone their skills in the event the county was cut off from other means of communications by a natural disaster. Then, they would become the conduit of information for the county. So, they realized, like military reservists, they know it is not a matter of if they will be called upon, rather a matter of when. Thus a well-versed knowledge of how to operate under off-grid conditions is essential.
Radio operators hunched near receivers listening for an answer to their calls. For Steve Duda and Robert Myer about 6:30 p.m. June 25, four and a half hours into the exercise, they had already logged contacts in Italy, Canada and in Alaska on the 14 MgHz band. A Honda generator hummed outside providing the electricity to push their voices into the atmosphere high above the continent.
Outside the building in the recycled County Library’s former bookmobile, Ed Snyder, a retired Navy chief radioman, and Bob D’Imperio were operating radio sets on power generated by an array of three small solar panels. Although the sun was far in the west, those panels were producing over 12 volts of power.
According to Ed Taylor, of the county Office of Emergency Management, the office supports the club’s efforts. Additionally,  the office provides a meeting place in its basement headquarters of the main Library Building in Court House the third Wednesday of each month at 7 p.m. New members are always welcome to attend.
In time, the former bookmobile will be retrofitted as a mobile radio van that will be available in times of disasters or other times when radio communications are needed. It will also be repainted, perhaps changing the porpoise into a shark, since that was the origin of the club: Stone Harbor Amateur Radio Club (S.H.A.R.K.)
The club opened its doors to everyone around the county interested in radio, as a result, changed its name to the present one.
Tim Cwik, club president, said there are 72 members in the Cape May County club; statewide there are about 1,153 and 21 other clubs in southern New Jersey.
Cwik said there are amateur radio operators aboard the International Space Station, and when the craft is in the proper area, members can communicate with them.
Hobbyists with varying degrees of electronic skills find radio a captivating pastime. Some love to build gear from scratch while others prefer to buy their transceivers off the shelf. Still, there are some who enjoy tinkering to see what they can do with simple parts.
It is that spirit of imagination that has propelled amateur radio to the place it holds in emergency situations.
“The government encourages us to enhance radio art,” said Cwik.
“We (amateur radio operators) invented the cell phone and text messaging,” he added. “We also helped to advance single sideband experiments that have helped to improve voice radio.”
Amateur radio operators in the local club range from a ninth grader to the most senior in his 90s, as well as about 12 females.
“We have a fair number of younger folks,” Cwik added.
According to the ARRL, the object of the weekend was: “To work as many stations as possible on any and all amateur bands (excluding the 60, 30, 17, and 12-meter bands) and in doing so to learn to operate in abnormal situations in less than optimal conditions. A premium is placed on developing skills to meet the challenges of emergency preparedness as well as to acquaint the general public with the capabilities of Amateur Radio.”