The Mountain Amateur Radio Club, a group of local Hams that get together on the air waves, will be holding a class on becoming a licensed Amateur (Ham) Radio Operator. Now it ’s your chance to get your FCC license and connect with other Ham radio operators in the area. Dates & Times: Saturday, February 25, & Saturday, March, from 8 a.m – 2:30 p.m. Meetings will be held at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, located at 49967 Road 427, Oakhurst.  There was a time was when radio was all about dots and dashes, but no more. While operators can still utilize Morse code, they now have radio rigs and antennas of all makes and sizes, including some handheld radios and DMR walkie-talkies that are not as big as your cell phone. Ham operators can also provide radio communications during emergency situations. If you’ve ever seen the 2018 movie “How It Ends,” you may have noticed that when all power and cell phone communications were cut off, the only voices still transmitting over the radios were the voices of amateur radio operators. Every morning the club has a net (operator check-in) on the 2Meters (147.180.000), at 7 a.m. Not only are they checking in but they are practicing their skill sets and becoming worldly through the fun of trivia questions. They will be offering up the licensing exams on Saturday, March 11, at 1 p.m. at the Sierra Vista Presbyterian Church.

Last week, after a long and treacherous voyage, a team of amateur radio operators arrived on the world’s most remote island, Bouvet Island.  Using the callsign 3Y0J, they are now transmitting a variety of signals, including Morse code, digital modes, and voice transmissions, in an effort to reach out to other amateur radio operators around the world. They also used DMR walkie-talkies for long-distance communication tests. The expedition’s goals are simple: to contact as many amateur radio stations as possible from a remote location. A dependent territory of Norway, Bouvet Island is an uninhabited subantarctic volcanic island located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is the most remote island in the world, situated approximately 900 nautical miles south-southwest of the coast of South Africa and 1,400nm north of Queen Maud Land, Antarctica. The remoteness of this island makes radio signals originating from it very rare. “Amongst other, we quite recently attended a climbing course to prepare for the rough vertical 90 degree climbing to be expected at Bouvet” wrote the co-leaders of the expedition. “This knowledge will enable us to safely rescue an injured operator from the camp. Next week we prepare for attending a glacier course to train for a 300m glacier crossing at the Bouvet glacier. This comes after engaging with former Norwegian Polar Institute employees that have visited Bouvet more than 60 times.” As of their latest update the team has already made contact with nearly 7,000 radio stations around the world. 

A 7.8 Magnitude earthquake hit Turkey and Syria at 01:17UTC on 6th February leading to a large loss of life（A total of 16,170 people have been killed so far） and many casualties. After shocks continue in the area with another large 7.5 magnitude event happening at 10:24UTC affecting the response.  The emergency communications group of TRAC will be involved in the response activities, primarily expected to be on VHF/UHF mode but they do also use 3.777 and 7.092MHz as needed. Radio Amateurs are requested to give way to any emergency traffic around those frequencies.  Aziz Sasa TA1E the President of TRAC has stated that Turkey has asked for assistance from the international community and notes that if SAR Groups intend to come for assistance they should contact the Embassies of Turkiye in their countries. He also says that SAR groups should be advised to have at least one Ham Radio operator in their team and/or the facilities to program their radios. This is a devastating event for the area but please remember that it is easy for ports and airports to be blocked with unrequested supplies so only materials formally requested by the relief agencies should be dispatched and only to named destinations or they are likely to be blocked from import. 

A county amateur radio club meets in an Eastern Carolina city east twice a year to practice critical public service for the community. The Onslow Amateur Radio Club members enjoy connecting with other radio enthusiasts over sound waves, but at their annual Winter Field Day, OARC and other amateur clubs practiced turning their hobby into an emergency resource. “This is an application where we come out in something that’s not our normal and set things up. These radio antennas were put up in a matter of hours, and we try to contact everybody,” said ORAC President Tim Mahlow. Mahlow said they and others apart of amateur radio serve the disaster relief teams in their community. Over two days, they set up in remote locations and practiced connecting others through radio and digital walkie talkies, so they can be the reliable line of communication when normal connections are down. “We support the county when there’s hurricanes and bad things happening if they have something, if they activate shelters, we go to the shelters and set up and set up the same kinds of things and be able to support the county. Support the people who are in the shelters and report back to the county or the state,” said Mahlow. “This is point-to-point communication, so all we have to do is have an antenna and a radio, and we can talk to anywhere in the world,” said Scott. Amateur radio knows no distance. There are two field days held every year for amateur radio clubs, one in the winter and another in the summer.

Although the 2022 hurricane season is long gone, the static and crackle sounds never stop, say area ham radio operators who are frequently the only means of communication in times of crisis. Members of the Orange Area Radio Club and Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) continue to hold regular monthly meetings, hold Field Day exercises and educate the public on who they are and what they do. “Hams have a long history of serving our communities when storms or other disasters damage critical communication infrastructure, including cell towers,” said Mike Manshack, Orange resident and assistant ARES coordinator. “Ham radio functions completely independent of the internet and phone systems, and a station can be set up almost anywhere in minutes.” For example, a ham radio operator can quickly raise a wire antenna in a tree or mast, connect to others with a NOAA radio and be able to communicate effectively, said Manshack, who is a member of the recreational group and ARES. The emergency service group is composed of those who have voluntarily registered their equipment and call sign to keep others informed during hurricanes or other disasters as opposed to recreational radio operators. “ARES radio operators were dispatched to the shelters to assist with shelter communications and provide auxiliary communication for the Red Cross.” “During Hurricane Rita, ARES radio operators at the Orange Red Cross provided radio e-mail during power and communication outages,” the Orangefield resident said. “Using radio e-mail on the Winlink System, e-mail messages were sent by radio outside the affected areas to request supplies, fuel and provide situation reports.” Orange County Judge John Gothia said that even with the $14 million spent in the last several years on improving communications among cities, school districts and residents during disasters, ham radio operators are always there to help.

Amateur radio operators around the world heard an Alaskan science facility “chirp” an asteroid. On Twitter, ham radio users published audio and video of a Tuesday experiment from the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program, or HAARP. This research facility is a project from the University of Alaska, and is located about a four-hour drive northeast from Anchorage, near a place called Gakona. From this remote place, home to just 169 individuals, HAARP got in touch with an asteroid. By firing a “chirp” radio signal in two-second intervals, astronomers with HAARP sought to learn about the interior of asteroid 2010 XC15. It’s an Aten-family asteroid, a class of Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs) that crosses our planet’s orbit but chiefly dwell closer to the Sun. While 2010 XC15 doesn’t pose a risk to Earth, HAARP wanted to learn about this rock’s interior. The information could show how long wavelength radio signals can probe the inside of an asteroid, which can improve models of rocks that could be dangerous. In 2029, with preparations in hand, HAARP will observe a more-concerning asteroid named Apophis. This was the first use of HAARP to probe an asteroid, the University of Alaska Fairbanks states in an announcement published December 21. “What’s new and what we are trying to do is probe asteroid interiors with long wavelength radars and radio telescopes from the ground,” Mark Haynes, HAARP lead investigator and a radar systems engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, says in the statement. “Longer wavelengths can penetrate the interior of an object much better than the radio wavelengths used for communication.” HAARP may be the way forward to tackling bigger rocks. The moonlet, Dimorphos, was 525 feet in diameter in size, just slightly larger than HAARP’s target. Apophis, however, is twice as big.

China has released a small test satellite into orbit from its recently completed Tiangong space station. The small test satellite was released from a deployer on the Tianzhou 5 cargo ship, which is currently docked at Tiangong. Tianzhou 5 launched on Nov. 12 with the primary mission of delivering supplies to the space station to support the three Shenzhou 15 mission astronauts but also carried a number of cubesats. The 26.5-pound satellite designated XW-4  was released at 9:30 p.m. EST on Dec. 17. The small spacecraft, also known as the Macao Student Science Satellite 1, carries both optical camera and radio payloads. These will be available for amateur radio operators on the ground to use for two-way communications and to send instructions for taking images. The satellite is tasked with helping students in Macao learn about Earth imaging, radio communication and other spaceflight activities, according to the China Manned Space Agency. Tianzhou 5 is now connected to the Tiangong space station, where it is storing propellants, materials for scientific experiments and astronauts’ supplies. The space agency said that to make the best use of the Tianzhou-series cargo ships’ abundant carrying capacity, scientists have used them to transport several payloads of scientific equipment and mini satellites to orbit. It said future Tianzhou missions will also offer educational opportunities to researchers at home and abroad. Tiangong, also known as the “Heavenly Palace,” is a Chinese space station program. It involves the development and operation of a series of Chinese space stations, with the goal of conducting research and development in space.

Chicago officials are moving to block members of the public and the media from being able to monitor some police and radio communication in real time by installing encryption technology. Every day members of the public and our newsroom monitor public safety radio frequencies to keep track of what's going on in our neighborhoods, everything from traffic problems to threats to public safety, as they happen. But now, the city plans to silence this radio communication and move their communications to encrypted channels that the public can't monitor in real time. "Right now the environment is all about transparency, accountability," said Rhonda DeLong, DePaul Criminology department. DeLong is a police officer who now teaches at DePaul. She said she understands why police don't want criminals to potentially be able to monitor their radio traffic but says the department should find a way to provide real-time access to critical public safety information. Yohnka says the city's plan to only provide access to the newly encrypted channels on a 30-minute delay doesn't solve the problem. "30 minutes can be a long time in a crime scene! Police may be gone, witnesses may be gone," Yohnka said. A coalition of media organizations, have banded together and released an open letter to share concerns about how the city's plan impacts our ability to use real time information to keep you safe during an emergency, writing in part, "the Mayor's decision to restrict our access to scanner channels will harm our ability to keep you, our readers, viewers, and listeners, safe and informed, and render it more difficult to hold our government and its personnel accountable." Chicago Kent College of Law clinical professor of law and defense attorney Richard Kling agrees with the city's plan to restrict real-time access for officer safety reasons, as long as the radio traffic is preserved somehow. In a statement, city officials said, "Radios serve as lifelines for our first responders and the encrypted radios will eliminate 'Rogue' radios with disruptive, often derogatory transmissions that disrupt the day-to-day traffic for emergency personnel. Having encrypted radios will provide added protection for communities and the personal information of victims, suspects, witnesses, and juveniles. It also will enhance officer safety and prevent suspects from gaining a tactical advantage by listening to live incidents and investigations."

The next time you hear a local radio station during emergency weather or a community event chances  you might be hearing the voice of a member of the Amateur Radio Club. The Amateur Radio Club（ARC）, initially established in Aug. of 1989, is a radio communication organization that acts as a resource for education, information and provides opportunities for up-and-coming radio operators. Rob Momon of the LaGrange chapter of the ARC said the organization is made up of individuals that do amateur radio as a hobby and works to provide community service as part of that hobby within the amateur radio community. “We volunteer our services as radio communicators to the community during public events, emergencies, and instances of severe weather,of course, a handheld walkie-talkie with NOAA function will also be used” Momon said. In addition to providing the community with radio communication, Momon said they also provide trained operators in their radio-equipped vehicles to provide communication capability anywhere. For those interested in joining the ARC, Momon said there is no age limit to join however, interested parties are required to study and pass a test, to which he said there are study guides available online. “We provide testing once a month on the third Sunday of each month,’ Momon said. “Once you pass your test then you will be issued the license by the FCC.” In his time in the organization, Momon said the biggest impact of being in the club came when Hurricane Irma hit Georgia in Sept. 2017. “The assistance we gave the local emergency officials support team during Hurricane Irma was a big one,” Momon said. “We provided communications from the hospital and the Emergency Operations Center during Irma.” He said it felt rewarding to be able to help the community during the hurricane.

The Federal Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy has warned against the unauthorised use and sale of frequency-enabled devices：walkie-talkies across the country.  The minister, Professor Isa Ali Pantami, who issued the warning while briefing journalists in Kano, said the unauthorised use and sale of private mobile radios was a great disservice to the country. He lamented that Kano had many vendors and users of walkie-talkie, especially long range radio ，adding that as part of the ministry’s sensitisation effort lined up for this year’s ‘Radio Monitoring Week,’ members of staff have been mobilised to educate and caution people on the implications of using the devices without a licence. “Today, with emerging technologies, many more applications are coming up, thereby creating new products, industries, opportunities, knowledge and even challenges. Most of these challenges stem from the proliferation of generic radios being imported into the country and used by citizens who claim to be ignorant of its implication on the country. These radios communicate on unlicensed frequencies.  “The effect of this is that the radio operating frequencies  interfere with the frequencies that might have been assigned to other services, leading to cross-talk and distorted communication. This situation should not continue due to the damaging effect it has on our productivity as a country,” he said.