Hams ready to jam here

When he was a student at Burlington High School, Jeremy Utley became fascinated by ham radio. Ralph Romig, the town’s chief of police, was a proponent, and would have been delighted to share information and experiences.

“I didn’t go to him, though,” said Utley, now an Iolan as is Romig. “I was too intimidated by him being the police chief and me a high school student.”

They have no trouble communicating today.

Utley is president of Iola Amateur Radio Club. Romig also is deeply involved.

This week they have huddled several times to pull together plans for the Iola club’s participation this weekend in the annual American Radio Relay League’s Field Day, with activities Saturday and Sunday morning in Riverside Park.

“The ARRL refers to the field day as a picnic, campout, practice for emergencies, informal contest and most of all fun,” Romig said, who leads efforts by club members to help out when severe weather threatens the area.

The field day is the single most popular on-the-air event in the United States and Canada, Romig said. More than 35,000 radio amateurs will operate from temporary and remote locations.

The exercise has a two-fold purpose.

It gives operators a chance to assure they can be helpful in case of an emergency, particularly hereabouts when severe weather such as a tornado or flood strikes.

It also gives operators an opportunity to share what they do with the public.

“If someone wants to get behind a microphone, even if they don’t have a license, all they have to do is come down to the park Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning,” Utley offered.

Three radios will be available and all will operate with power from either generators or batteries. Club members will forego commercial power to make the exercise as life-like as possible, said Utley, who has been a licensed operator nearly 20 years.

Iola club members will begin setting up equipment at 8 a.m. Saturday, with field day activities beginning at 1 p.m. and running until 9 Saturday evening. On-air conversations will occur between local operators and others throughout the U.S. and Canada. Sunday’s portion will be 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

While the atmosphere will be visitor-friendly and have a festive atmosphere, Utley said local operators would take the exercise seriously. They want to hone their skills in setting up equipment and getting on the air as quickly as possible to provide emergency communications capabilities, as though they were preparing to deal with a disaster.

“We would be an important link for emergency responders if the real thing happened,” Utley continued.

If a tornado struck Iola, it is very possible that the dispatch center’s antenna, outside the Allen County Critical Response Center, 410 N. State, could be put out of commission.

“We could step in and provide communications, just like hams did in Greensburg and Joplin,” Utley said. “That’s one of our primary purposes, to provide a pool of operators to help out in time of need.”