Ham radio at Bald Eagle Days

What would you do if the internet is down, the cell phone towers are overloaded or gone and you want to get a message to far-off relatives that you are alright? The Wahkiakum County Amateur Radio Club (call sign N7WAH) is prepared to help you. Stop by our booth at Bald Eagle Days on Saturday to experience how easy sending that message is. We will be located in front of the courthouse.

At our booth you can quickly fill out a simple radiogram form that will place your message into a global radio message system named WINLINK. From our booth, operators will use our radio equipment and antenna to leapfrog your message out of our pretend "disaster area" to a receiving radio station somewhere in the world where it will be routed into the regular email system, then off to the recipient.

You can practice your part by writing a simple message using the form. You will need to provide the recipient's email address, your return email address, and a short message of 25 words or less. The amateur radio operators will take care of the rest. When your message enters the system, you will receive a confirmation copy in your email.

In a real disaster situation, remember to go to the nearest fire hall or refuge shelter. There, two things happen in parallel. First, you would tell the firefighters of any injuries or downed power lines, or damage, etc. Your info will be sent to the appropriate county agency for assistance. Then, you will have the opportunity to fill out a radiogram form telling relatives how you are doing and where you are staying. Your "health and welfare" message will then be entered into the WINLINK system and sent out of the region by radio.

The global system underlying this communication technology is quite mature. The N7WAH club members have been successfully using the system on a small scale for over two years and now need your assistance for a full scale test. Please stop by our booth and fill out the radiogram form to send a test message to someone. This will help us iron out any bugs in our system by having random folks who normally don't use this technology give it a go. If you choose to send a message to yourself you should see it arrive in your inbox within a few minutes.

In a real disaster the official regional emergency communications paths may become overloaded or not available. This same WINLINK system also connects directly with the Washington State Emergency Operations Center at Camp Murray south of Tacoma, providing Wahkiakum County a backup path independent of phone lines, or other conventional communications paths. Another back-up system ready in times of need is provided by the Red Cross with two trailers ready to go, with shelter supplies such as cots and blankets. One is based at Johnson Park and the other is on Puget Island. The county will be able to access these trailers wherever required.

You can learn more about what the club does by visiting our club meetings Tuesday mornings at 9:00am at the County EOC River Street meeting room, or visiting our website at: https://n7wah.