There is a group in our area and once a year they set up for 48 hours across from us in the park. They invite the public in and they are there 24 hours a day for the two days. If I understood correctly, they have a list of people worldwide they attempt to contact in that 48 hour period and who also try to contact them.
I understood the biggest advantage to be that they are a back-up national and international emergency contact network. If, for some reason, our communications network and/or electric grid were attacked and taken down, they could communicate information on behalf of local authorities and the gov't. I know they also do the testing in conjunction with some type of drill which involves a mock accident or attack on a nuclear plant about 30 miles from here.. I guess the same could be true for natural diasters. But I am sure W6YJ can advise whether I understood correctly and a lot more.
Kristin,
Your description is dead on. The event you've described is called Field Day and is held on the 4th full weekend in June. It is a combination of a contact contest and emergency preparedness. All equipment must be powered from a portable power source.
DK117,
Amateur / ham radio is 'outdated' these days, but does provide both a way of learning about electronics, contacting others - either strangers or other hams someone knows. If /when the **** hits the fan, whether a natural disaster, or something else, ham radio still works when both the Internet and cell service is down.
Hughver,
My original call was a six character call like your WA5xxx call had been. The four character callsigns are restricted to the Amateur Extra class licenses. All of them are now re-issues as they were originally issued in the 1920s. They are somewhat hard to get as there are so few available. My call was originally issued to Oakland Technical High School in 1928. I'm the second to have it re-issued after they stopped their ham radio program in the 1960s.
There are quite a few areas of interest within ham radio, from HF operation between 1.8MHz and 30 Mhz that can make worldwide contacts, to microwave contesters that drive to mountain tops and try to make contacts with other microwave contesters. In my case, I enjoy building repeater systems. I have a small linked network of eight repeaters (two belong to a friend) spread across southern California and are all tied together. People can talk to anyone anywhere within the coverage area using a small hand held walkie-talkie. I also belong to a very large network of linked repeaters that cover a large portion of the western US and is made up of more than 150 linked repeaters (Cactus Intertie).
Ed
