Amateur radio operators take to the airwaves
BY JULIE JOHNSON
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
A cyclist?s wheel was busted about 75 miles into a grueling 200-mile bicycle course that wound through some of the North Coast?s most picturesque and technically challenging roads.
Sonoma County Radio Amateurs members, Pat Coyle, left and Dave Santori, right, engage in an animated discussion at the Warm Springs dam checkpoint during the Terrible Two bicycle ride, June 18. (KENT PORTER/THE PRESS DEMOCRAT)
Word of the incident cackled across the airwaves to a rest stop near Warm Springs dam. The cyclist was ?on the climb? by Hawkeye Ranch near the Geysers, a voice said. Pat Coyle, 69, a retired attorney from Santa Rosa pushed a button on his radio transmitter.
?This is Warm Springs K-G-6-J-S-L, we?re sending a SAG driver,? said Coyle, referring to the volunteers who bring supplies or fetch cyclists who have ?sagged? away from the group.
KG6JSL is Coyle?s radio call sign assigned by the Federal Communications Commission, and it?s the moniker he?s known by among the 100 or so members of the Sonoma County Radio Amateurs.
A behind-the-scenes group, they?re the backbone of athletic events that take people into distant areas of Sonoma County?s most rugged terrain when instant communication can be key and where cell phones are all but worthless. And that helps keeps skills sharp for when they?re needed for emergency communications during disasters, such as earthquakes or other natural or manmade disasters.
?It?s like this whole other niche-world of funny people who are absolutely crucial,? said Craig Gaevert, organizer of the Terrible Two bicycle event held earlier this month by the Santa Rosa Cycling Club.
Amateur radio, also called ham radio, is a term that separates private radio operators from commercial ones. People can take a three-day crash course and an exam to gain an FCC license and call sign.
They communicate through radio bands designated for private, non-commercial use.
And from Levi Leipheimer?s King Ridge GranFondo to the Lake Sonoma 50 endurance run, the group helps run communications at about a dozen events each year.
Gaevert, also known as K6XLT, got into ham radio through his love of cycling when about 20 years ago he studied for a radio license and started organizing volunteers to help run various cycling events.
Volunteers bring their own equipment, often devices constructed at home through tinkering trial-and-error. They use private radio repeaters, such as a device on English Hill near Freestone to boost signals throughout the county.
Ham radio operators would be the first to admit their interest in sine waves, resonators and electromagnetic radiation is ?a little geeky,? said Marcella Chandler, 52, of Ukiah.
Chandler (KI6ISE) had just returned to the Warm Springs rest stop after driving the course in a SAG vehicle, a hand radio in one hand and a clipboard in the other.
?Doing these events keeps you prepared,? Chandler said. ?It?s addictive to be needed.?
Chandler works for Mendocino County. Her employer offered free ham radio classes about four years ago, and she?s been hooked ever since.
She meets on the airwaves about once a week with about 50 other members of the Mendocino County Amateur Radio Communications Service.
Separate from law enforcement and other official radio frequencies, amateur groups are enlisted to help nonprofits during an emergency response.
The American Red Cross of Sonoma, Mendocino and Lake Counties works with local ham radio clubs, including the Amateur Radio Emergency Service. About 40 Red cross volunteers and staff are also licensed to use radios, including Rodger Doncaster (KI6PWB), director of disaster services.
Doncaster spent two weeks in Alabama following spring tornados that devastated cities and took more than 240 lives. Radios were set up in Red Cross kitchens across the region, however cell service wasn?t disrupted and continued to be the main form of communication.
?It?s a backup, and yet it may be the only thing standing,? he said.
Radios may offer the most stable method of communication ?except courier, which could take hours when the airwaves take moments,? he said.
At the Terrible Two?s Monte Rio rest stop, club member Darryl Paule, 62, (KI6MSP) a mail clerk for the county, was struggling to get a clear signal.
He teaches ham radio classes, and says an eager younger generation is already taking the helm in what some say is an older man?s hobby.
Gar Goldhammer pulled into the rest stop parking lot in an older-model tan sedan with his call sign (KJ6FPG) emblazoned on a bumper sticker.
The 24-year-old Sebastopol man?s car was outfitted with five roof antennas, two solar panels in a back window and a trunk full of extra deep-cycle batteries, a first aid kit and other emergency equipment.
His friend Vaughn R. Higginbotham, 14, of Sebastopol, held a 12-foot directional yagi antenna as Goldhammer adjusted the transmitter. Both young men wore orange reflective vests.
?I?ve got it,? Goldhammer said to Paule.
Higginbotham said he?s been hooked on ham radio ever since learning about it from a cousin. ?They?re not too big on me carrying a radio at school,? he shrugged, ?but hey.?
People interested in learning more about ham radio can visit the Sonoma County Radio Amateurs at http://www.sonomacountyradioamateurs.com or the Mendocino County Radio Amateur Radio Communications Service club at http://mcarcs.org.
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