2004 ARRL Field Day
07/21/2004 |
K8IAT
Monday, June 28, 2004
Riding the airwaves: Local radio enthusiasts heard Nationwide
By MATT GETTS
mattg@kpcnews.net
KENDALLVILLE People in every state in the continental United States heard from Kendallville this weekend. Amateur radio operators heard from them, too.
The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) held its annual contest over the weekend as radio groups across the country tried to log contacts with every state in the union including Alaska and Hawaii.
Two local groups, the Kendallville Contesters Amateur Radio Club and the 21 Repeater Group, participated at a sophisticated-looking site on the East Side of Bixler Lake.
The contest started at 1 p.m. on Saturday and concluded at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
By noon on Sunday, local radio operators had heard from all 48 states in the continental United States.
We actually talked to Alaska (Saturday) but it was before we started the contest, Albions Tim Ryman said.
According to Ryman, the ARRL competition is more than just a fun quest to see who can record all 50 states. If there was a communication outage in the country, amateur radio operators could be the only link to other states and the outside world.
The radio operators are limited to use of emergency power, so they ran their operation through generators and not through the electricity available at the park.
Local operators were able to communicate beyond Earth on Sunday morning when they linked up digitally with the International Space Station.
Touching base with people far away is what draws amateur radio operators to their hobby.
Ryman said, its all about meeting new people, realizing how small the world is. At any moment, I could be talking to the former Soviet Union.
Its interesting to hit all over the world, Conrad White of Kendallville said as he sat in front of a microphone, logging contacts. Ive talked on CBs before, thats nothing compared to this.
By noon Sunday, everyone at the camp looked close to exhausted after being up more than 24 hours.
All of us are kind of tired, Ryman said.
Tired and well connected. -- K8IAT
Riding the airwaves: Local radio enthusiasts heard Nationwide
By MATT GETTS
mattg@kpcnews.net
KENDALLVILLE People in every state in the continental United States heard from Kendallville this weekend. Amateur radio operators heard from them, too.
The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) held its annual contest over the weekend as radio groups across the country tried to log contacts with every state in the union including Alaska and Hawaii.
Two local groups, the Kendallville Contesters Amateur Radio Club and the 21 Repeater Group, participated at a sophisticated-looking site on the East Side of Bixler Lake.
The contest started at 1 p.m. on Saturday and concluded at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
By noon on Sunday, local radio operators had heard from all 48 states in the continental United States.
We actually talked to Alaska (Saturday) but it was before we started the contest, Albions Tim Ryman said.
According to Ryman, the ARRL competition is more than just a fun quest to see who can record all 50 states. If there was a communication outage in the country, amateur radio operators could be the only link to other states and the outside world.
The radio operators are limited to use of emergency power, so they ran their operation through generators and not through the electricity available at the park.
Local operators were able to communicate beyond Earth on Sunday morning when they linked up digitally with the International Space Station.
Touching base with people far away is what draws amateur radio operators to their hobby.
Ryman said, its all about meeting new people, realizing how small the world is. At any moment, I could be talking to the former Soviet Union.
Its interesting to hit all over the world, Conrad White of Kendallville said as he sat in front of a microphone, logging contacts. Ive talked on CBs before, thats nothing compared to this.
By noon Sunday, everyone at the camp looked close to exhausted after being up more than 24 hours.
All of us are kind of tired, Ryman said.
Tired and well connected. -- K8IAT
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