You’ll find ham radio enthusiasts throughout Cumberland County.
Rod MacLean is a ham radio aficionado, and he can tell you so.
“Our oldest member, and a charter member of the club, would be Van ‘Pete’ Peterson,” MacLean said about the Cape Fear Amateur Radio Society, which is scheduled to participate in a nationwide 22-hour Amateur Radio Relay League Annual Field Day (circa 1933) exercise Saturday and Sunday at the at the Chapter 1-18 Special Forces Association compound at 1509 Zinnia Dr., just off Old Wilmington Road. “I believe he is 86 years old. Ironically, we just voted in a young man, Parker Shanks. He is 13 years old and became our youngest member.”
The ARRL, according to a news release, is under the auspices of the National Association for Amateur Radio in the United States. Use of radio signals, the release says, brings ham radio enthusiasts together while providing essential communication to communities. The annual field day exercises highlight ham radio’s ability to work reliably under any conditions from almost any location and create an independent, wireless communications network.
While 15 ham radio operators per shift will be demonstrating their ham radio communication skills this weekend at the Chapter 1-18 Special Forces Association compound, according to the release, others from Cumberland’s surrounding counties will be participating in the field exercise with ham radio stations at their homes.
Ham radio and Hurricane Helene
David Winfree is president of the Cape Fear Amateur Radio Society, founded here in 1969. He says this year’s field day is noteworthy when considering an active hurricane season is predicted for the Cape Fear region.
“Hams have a long history of serving our communities when storms or other disasters damage critical communication infrastructure, including cell towers,” Winfree said in the release. “Ham radio functions completely independently of the internet and phone systems, and a station can be set up almost anywhere in minutes. Hams can quickly raise a wire antenna in a tree or on a mast, connect it to a radio and power source, and communicate effectively with others, and that was seen during Hurricane Katrina (circa 2005), and locally during Helene in western North Carolina.”
Rod MacLean concurs about how ham radio operators played a significant role in keeping Hurricane Helene residents informed in Asheville, Chimney Rock, Montreat, Swannanoa and western North Carolina as the Sept. 27, 2024, deadly tropical storm wiped out electrical grids, homes, businesses, roadways, bridges and many areas of telephone communications.
“The lack of adequate communications only hinders aid in getting to those that need it,” said MacLean, the 74-year-old CFARS vice president. “Look at the results of Hurricane Helene and the disastrous effects it had on western North Carolina. One of the main support routes was using the repeater on Mount Mitchell, and ham radio operators managed the nets on that repeater, sending the information to those that could use the information.”
A repeater is a radio station that receives a signal and then retransmits it beyond a limited range and over greater distances, according to MacLean. It has a range of about 30 miles in good solar weather.
“Not only did they help organize the logistics,” MacLean said, “but they were able to assist in families being able to find out about their members in the region.”
MacLean says he first became interested in ham radio in 1963 as a cadet in the Combined Cadet Force at his Blundells school in Tiverton at Devon, England.
“I was in the signal platoon, and we would make contacts throughout the world under the auspices of the British Army working on amateur bands,” said MacLean, who served in the British Army and later the U.S. Army, including Fort Bragg. “The contact I remember best was with the King of Jordan, and we spoke for over 15 minutes.”
Epilogue
Being truthful here, I only planned to make mention of Cape Fear Amateur Radio Society’s annual field day in a collection of notes until Rod MacLean told me about how ham radio operators played such a critical role in the lives of those residents of the western North Carolina mountains.
I promised MacLean I would tell the story of the Cape Fear Amateur Radio Society, and why ham radio operators such as Winfree, Don Talbot and others believe in it as so much more than a hobby.
I wrote numerous stories about how Hurricane Helene and its flooding devastated residents from Avery County, Buncombe County, Catawba County, Haywood County, Madison County, McDowell County and Rutherford County in western North Carolina.
The stories of Hurricane Helene were heart-wrenching stories of survival and loss, and the recovery continues.
But ham operators were there to help where they could, and they made a difference in a state of emergency crisis.
“We welcome hams and ‘wannabe’ hams to come visit,” Don Talbot said about this weekend’s Amateur Radio Relay League field day exercise, “and those who have an interest in amateur radio.”
Bill Kirby Jr. can be reached at billkirby49@gmail.com or 910-624-1961.
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