March 29, 2024

This Week in Amateur Radio

North America's Premiere Amateur Radio News Magazine

Via the ARRL: Amateur Radio Makes the Connection to Save Lives in Wisconsin and Idaho

The following two rescue stories are great examples of why amateur radio is important. The first story occurred in Wisconsin and is told by ARRL member Scott Strecker, KG9IV. In his own words, Strecker shares how he was able to help a ham in distress. Thanks to the Chippewa Valley Amateur Radio Club in Wisconsin, an ARRL Affiliated Club, for this information.

“It was Friday, September 2, 2022, which meant I worked from my home office. I have the VHF radios on low to monitor them in the background. Recently, I got into the Allstar node with a hotspot. I use it to monitor the FM38 systems (Allstar 2495) in the southern [part] of Wisconsin.

At about 7:45 AM, I heard the Allstar node come up. An individual in distress was asking for assistance to get an ambulance to him. It was a ham in Brown Deer, Wisconsin. He had slipped on his bathroom floor and went down so hard he could not get up, but he happened to have his handheld with him (don’t we all). He did not have access [to the] phone, and he lived alone.

[I called the] Brown Deer police call center. The dispatcher got the fire department rolling and then started asking me for more details. I had the dispatcher on speaker phone, and he could hear the hams’ responses to the questions. Being on a handheld and [lying] prone, the signal was, at times, noisy. At that time, both the other ham and I used ITU phonetics to get the exact info out. All those times practicing on the ARES® nets made it second nature. The dispatcher was also able to understand the info without my having to repeat it.

Read more – via American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources http://www.arrl.org/news/view/amateur-radio-makes-the-connection-to-save-lives-in-wisconsin-and-idaho