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Ham aficionados keep lines of communication open
Radios to the rescue
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Eric Parsons / Star staff Brad Rife, left, helps Peter Heins connect his radio at a demonstration at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum.
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Eric Parsons / Star staff Peter Grace, who participated in demonstrations at the Reagan Library, is head of the Simi Settlers Amateur Radio Club.
Ham radio operators sometimes use one of the most primitive forms of communication to know when they are needed: smoke signals.
"Around here, if you see a big cloud of smoke, you know you might get called up," said Peter Heins, spokesman for the Ventura County Amateur Radio Society.
The smoke means a big fire is burning, which means the ham radio operators will be needed to help communicate. From fires to earthquakes to presidential funerals, ham radio operators from around Ventura County have played a part in keeping lines of communication open in times of crisis.
Heins' club, as well as the Simi Settlers Amateur Radio Club, set up information booths and showed off their equipment Saturday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum as part of Amateur Radio Week. The clubs will be at the library until 11 a.m. today.
Anytime a natural disaster hits Ventura County, the clubs are ready to help. They set up at Red Cross centers and other locations to help communicate information that might not get through via traditional means.
Cell phone service can be spotty during natural disasters or emergencies when too many people are using the phones. Heins estimated that if 10 percent of all cell phone users got on their phones at the same time, the networks would no longer work — which is where the ham operators come in.
Ham operators were called upon after Hurricane Katrina and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Denise Curtis was in Northridge after the 1994 earthquake and saw dead bodies crushed among the rubble. Two years later, the Newbury Park woman joined Heins' club so she could help if another emergency arises.
She was one of about 60 ham operators posted on every corner of Ronald Reagan's funeral procession.
The local group told the Secret Service they'd be glad to help, but the agency ignored them at first, Curtis said. They said they would monitor the procession on TV.
But when the TV cameras zoomed in on the hearse so closely they couldn't see the surrounding area, they turned to the ham operators for assistance.
Posted by My2Cents on June 26, 2007 at 12:11 a.m. (Suggest removal)
don't knock it till ya try it, I say. Right on ham radio
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