Local club connecting amateur radio enthusiasts | News, Sports, Jobs

HAMS — Members of the Steubenville-Weirton Amateur Radio Club stood together after the club’s Oct. 2 meeting. — Christopher Dacanay

STEUBENVILLE — Many enjoy casually meeting and speaking with new people. A few enjoy doing so over long distances, through the connecting power of the radio.

Amateur radio is the non-commercial use of technology to communicate with others using radio waves to transmit messages over short or long distances. Also known as ham radio, the activity is a hobby for some, as well as an essential method of emergency communication.

Amateur radio operators, nicknamed hams, can utilize and customize a wide range of equipment to transmit their voice, morse code or digital data. Such equipment can include transceivers, which send and receive signals, and antennas, which affect incoming and outgoing signals’ distance and clarity.

To begin transmitting, a ham in the U.S. must pass an exam and become licensed through the Federal Communications Commission. There are three ascending levels of licensure — technician, general and amateur extra — with each subsequent license providing access to more designated frequency bands.

Through ham radio, hobbyists can connect with other like-minded individuals from all over the world, with the Ohio Valley being no exception.

For ham radio enthusiasts in the region, there’s the Steubenville-Weirton Amateur Radio Club, which offers a space for local hams to interact in-person and share about their craft.

With nearly 50 members currently enrolled, the club meets at 6 p.m. on the first Wednesday of every month in the Public Library of Steubenville and Jefferson County Main Library, where members go over business and engage in a learning session. The club also meets on the third Wednesday of every month to generally fraternize at a local restaurant.

“I think the draw is a lot of people like the ability to communicate with others, either locally or worldwide, and be able to experiment with different modes of operation,” said SWARC President Rick Schuster. “(The club is for) amateur radio operators that want to experience being with other ham operators and share their stories, experiences, triumphs and problems, helping each other solve them.”

Affiliated with the nonprofit American Radio Relay League, SWARC contains a number of volunteer examiners, or people authorized by the FCC to conduct licensing examinations. On Oct. 2, four SWARC members oversaw an individual’s test, which earned him a general class license, pending final approval. Once approved, the person is issued a unique call sign.

Membership in the club itself is open to anyone, ham or not, although licensed individuals are granted voting rights.

Apart from meetings, club members can keep in contact over the radio through organized gatherings on the air, known as nets, Schuster explained. These can serve a number of purposes, including disaster preparedness training, information gathering or simple socialization.

Hams can increase their transmission distance using repeaters, devices that re-transmit a signal at a higher power level or another frequency. Schuster noted that the International Space Station has such a repeater, which acts as a relay point for transmissions to reach greater distances. SWARC itself operates a repeater in Weirton and supports two private repeaters in Steubenville and Wintersville.

Transmissions can be done individually or in groups, such as in the Parks on the Air program, which challenges hams to establish stations in a POTA-recognized local, state or national park. The hams must then contact operators in other parks and log their contacts to earn rewards. In September, some SWARC members participated in the Ohio State POTA contest.

For more casual enjoyment, SWARC members will occasionally travel to Jefferson Lake State Park, set up a field station and work off battery power. While there, Schuster said, they’ll attempt to make as many contacts as possible.

Amateur radio also has a more serious side. Hams can provide emergency communication services even when other methods of communication have failed. Amateur radio transmissions utilize radio waves, so signals are not affected even when infrastructure like cell towers become compromised.

“When all else fails, ham radio can get through,” Schuster remarked.

The importance of ham radio in emergency situations was particularly evident during the hurricanes that ravaged the American Southeast in September and October. Schuster said that, while cellular service remained unavailable, amateur radio operators helped relay information, assisting first responders and relief organizations.

Hams have had an important role locally as well. Wearing reflective vests and utilizing handheld radios, members of SWARC have handled communication during the Steubenville Christmas parade. They’ve also helped direct traffic and keep track of runners during local races, like the United Way of Jefferson County’s Suzanne Kresser Memorial 5K in September.

One of SWARC’s members is David Kiger, who’s also part of the ARRL-affiliated Hancock Auxcomm Team. Amateur radio is a good outlet for Kiger, who’s always been “technically oriented.”

“If it has buttons and you plug it into the wall, I like it,” he said.

SWARC member Bill Underwood picked up ham radio as a hobby around the late 1960s, when one could only transmit morse code. He has since gotten back into amateur radio and particularly enjoys speaking with other people worldwide, with his farthest contact being with a ham in South Africa.

“It’s a lot of fun talking to people in other countries,” Underwood said, adding later: “If you want to talk to anybody around the world, that’s the way to go.”

Underwood said many SWARC members are very helpful. He added that he’d like to see more young individuals get involved with the hobby.

Fellow SWARC member Chris Moodie is only 18, but got his technician license in April.

A senior at Jefferson County Joint Vocational School, Moodie was inspired to get his license by his father and grandfather, who both had licenses. He currently transmits using four different handheld radios and hopes to get some upgrades.

“This hobby has opened my eyes to the world of amateur radio,” Moodie said.

For individuals like Moodie who pass their licensure exam, SWARC waives their membership fee for a year. Additionally, individuals under the age of 18 are offered a discounted membership fee.

How far someone goes with amateur radio as a hobby is totally up to them. A person can purchase equipment or even assemble his or her own home-brew equipment.

However much someone wants to get involved in the hobby, SWARC is ready and willing to instruct those wishing to dip their toes into the world of radio.