By VERNON ROBISON
The Progress
Important communique were coming in from all across the globe to the Mesquite Welcome Center on Saturday, June 25. The members of the Virgin Valley Amateur Radio Club were participating in an Amateur Radio Field Day event that was international in scope.
The goal of the field day was for the club to log as many confirmed radio contacts as possible in a 24-hour period. Contacts are scored in a detailed points system that takes into account distance between contacts and radio medium used. Club members manned the station all day and all through the night on Saturday and into Sunday morning.
By mid afternoon Saturday, the club members had already logged dozens of contacts with people as far away as Canada, Mexico and the east coast of the U.S.
“We are trying to log as many contacts as we can,” said VVARC leader John Rauzzi. “But we are a small club and we can’t hope to compete with some of the larger city clubs across the country.”
Even so, the local enthusiasts had set up an impressive array of equipment for radio transmission at the site. There was a 150 foot long “endfed wire” antenna strung out across the Welcome Center lawn. The wire started near the ground where it connected to receiving/transmission equipment, the other end extending to the top of a 25 foot tripod tower.
“Some larger clubs in the city will bring in a flatbed truck with a 60 foot tower on it,” said club member Lew Garrett who owns the tripod tower that was used last weekend. “We have to make do with an old army surplus, 25 ft tripod. But we have been doing well with it.”
Garrett has been a licensed Ham radio operator for about 35 years now. He has a broad range of radio activities that he has worked to master.
Garrett talked about other equipment he has that he uses to track satellites as they move in orbit across the sky. Using that equipment Garrett said he can send and receive Ham radio transmissions through a line of sight communication on the other side of the globe. Doing this, he has regularly made contact with operators from faraway places like Russia, Japan, South America and more.
Another club member, Rick Loughrey, was sitting quietly off in the corner of the room working at a radio set and listening intently into a large set of earphones he was wearing. He was trying to interpret morse code signals as they were sent over the airwaves from all over the country. Loughery said that he had learned morse code when he was a boy.
He turned on the audio to his radio set revealing a constant stream of nearly unintelligible beeping sounds.
“Some of these guys out there go pretty fast and it can be hard to follow them,” Loughery said. “But you just have to listen and do the best that you can.”
Ham operator Curtis Gillespie had his radio set up in the shade out across the parking lot in front of the Visitors Center. He said that he has been a licensed operator for about two years now.
“I jumped in and passed my exam to get my Tech license and then just two months later I got my general operators license,” Gillespie said. “I was hooked on it.”
Gillespie was excited to tell about the experience of the longest-distance radio contact he has made yet, which was made back in May of this year. One afternoon conditions worked perfectly in his favor and he made a clear signal contact with an operator in New Zealand.
For that he used a 63 foot endfed wire antenna, bouncing the signal from the earth to the ionosphere several times to get to the other side of the globe.
“Conditions were just right that day and everything just fell into place,” he said.
The Field Day caught the attention of some members of the community. About 25 guests dropped in throughout the day Saturday to sign the guest register and see what was going on. Even some younger community members came to check it out.
“We have a radio set here where visitors can get on a frequency and try to make some contacts,” said club member Mitch Fry. “So we had some kids come and gave them a chance to get on the radio.”
John Rauzzi explained that the Field Day is a national practice run of sorts for Ham operators all over the world.
“We are here practicing setting things up and operating so that, if every other mode of communications were to go down in an emergency, this would still work,” Rauzzi said.
Rauzzi added that the club coordinates closely with emergency services agencies in the city. They are credentialled at Mesa View Regional Hospital to offer communications services there in an emergency.
They also have Ham radio sets installed at the Mesquite Mobile Command Center ready to go if emergency communications are needed. Club members are also involved in the local CERT organization, Rauzzi said.
For more information about the local club visit vvarc.net.
