When ALL Else Fails, Ham Radio Works

On Saturday & Sunday, June 22-23, the public will have a chance to meet and talk with Palatine Emergency Management Agency's ham radio operators and see for themselves what the Radio Amateur Emergency Service (RACES) and the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) are about.

Palatine's ham radio operators will join with thousands of others to demonstrate their ability to provide voice communications and even historical Morse code communication when commercial power fails. Their slogan, “When All Else Fails, Ham Radio Works” is more than just words to the hams as they prove they can send messages in many forms without the use of phone systems, internet or any other infrastructure that can be compromised in a crisis. More than 35,000 amateur radio operators across the country participated in last year's event.

This year's demonstration will be held on the sledding hill in Palatine Park District's Riemer Reservoir (just north of Wood Street and east of Quentin Road) on Saturday from 1 p.m. to dusk.

Over the past year, the news has been full of reports of ham radio operators providing critical communications during unexpected emergencies in towns across America including the wildfires out west, winter storms, tornadoes, and other events. During Hurricane Katrina, Amateur Radio- often called “Ham Radio”- was often the ONLY way people could communicate, and hundreds of volunteer “hams” traveled south to save lives and property. When trouble is brewing, Amateur Radio's people are often the first to provide rescuers with critical information and communications.

“We encourage people to come and see for themselves that this is not your grandfather's radio anymore,” said Allen Pitts, W1AGP, of ARRL. “The communications that ham radio people can quickly create have saved many lives when other systems failed or were overloaded. And besides that, it's fun!”