Pumpkin patrol in full force this Halloween thanks to amateur radio operators
Spring Hill radio club enjoys hobby, ready for emergencies
SPRING HILL — Young Dustin Henderson and his adolescent pals used one to save the world from monsters from another dimension in the hit TV series “Stranger Things.” What did they use? A ham radio. The Netflix series is pure fiction, but the idea that a ham radio was the vital link in an emergency isn’t farfetched at all, say members of the Spring Hill Amateur Radio Club, an organization dedicated to the hobby of ham radio.
Communications have improved much in the 30 years since the period the television show depicts, and ham operators today are not as crucial as they once were. Nevertheless, they still stand ready to help when catastrophe strikes, said Lenny Sechrist, vice president of the Spring Hill Amateur Radio Club. Most notably, club members stepped in to handle help and welfare duties to the Florida Panhandle after Hurricane Michael roared through in a year ago. The help involved getting messages to and placing calls to family members to report the status of those impacted by the storm.
SLV HAM radio operators have first meeting
San Luis Valley — San Luis Valley HAM radio operators met for their first meeting Oct. 19. HAM radio is a hobby that involves using various types of radio communications equipment to connect with other people who have the same interest. Ham radio is a popular term for amateur radio, derived from “ham” as an informal name for an amateur radio operator.
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“I’ve wanted to get something going because there’s a lot of “HAMs” in the Valley,” said Bob Galey. Garley is the pastor of Calvary Baptist and he also enjoys being a HAM radio operator. Galey went on to say, “One of the things this valley doesn’t have is an organized emergency radio group and I’d like to get something going. We’ve got enough people in this room to have a pretty good club if we want to.”
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