PENSACOLA, Fla. — HAMs with the Five Flags Amateur Radio Association kicked off their Radio Field Day in Pensacola on Saturday.
For 24 hours, radio operators are trying to make as many contacts as possible. Saturday’s Field Day was held at Ashton Brosnaham Park.
New and old HAMs highlight the importance of sharing their knowledge with the next generation, especially with hurricane season approaching.
HAMs across the nation are setting up for the largest on-air operation during the year — their annual Field Day.
Since 1993, emergency communicators have been gathering to show the public the science and skills behind operating HAM radios.
“We bring out a lot of our equipment that we use during an actual emergency event when all the lights go out, all the cellphones go out,” said Eugene Bannon with Five Flags Amateur Radio Association. “We come out and start setting up communications at various locations like hospitals, any food distribution centers.
It lands on the last weekend of June, at the beginning of hurricane season.
“During Hurricane Ivan back in 2004, we were the only communication device in this county for the first 36 hours,” Bannon said. “No cell phones were working or no nothing.”
During a natural disaster, operators with the Five Flags Amateur Radio Association man the Escambia County Emergency Operations Center. Licensed operators volunteer to coordinate relief efforts.
“In an actual emergency event, our main goal is to talk to Tallahassee, the state EOC, so that way we can get water, food, shelter, etc. brought into this location,” said Bannon.
The number of licensed HAM operators is going down.
“We want more people,” Larry Limle. “We actually want a younger generation to come in, because if you look at the amateurs out here we’re all gray hair and gray beards.
But the demand is going up, especially after HAM operators played a critical role in recovery efforts during Hurricane Helene.
“What we’re seeing over the last five years with the storms and hurricanes that have gone through and the communication has gone down, we’ve actually had a lot of people asking us about this,” Limle said. “How to get their license? What do we need to do so that they have their own station at their house? Because during an emergency, we’re staffing the Escambia County EOC, so if you’re out someplace you can’t get out, you’re stuck and you need help, medical help or whatever, you could actually reach us and we can talk to the people in the EOC when the phones are down and all that.”
One of the youngest operators at Saturday’s Field Day in Pensacola is 12-year-old Francis Solomon.
He encourages anyone interested to get licensed.
“Myself, I have gotten 42 countries already with it,” Solomon said. “…It doesn’t waste your time, it completely makes your time worth it.”
The Five Flags Amateur Radio Association hosts a class on Pensacola State College’s campus to get anyone certified.
It starts in September, and only costs $21 for the course and test to get licensed.
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