Imagine a world of no longer connecting through cell towers or the internet — some might reminisce and call it the “good old days.”
In coordination with Field Day, a nationwide emergency initiative that clubs throughout the country participate in on the fourth weekend of June, the Santa Clarita Amateur Radio Club held its event at Bouquet Canyon Church on Saturday.
Amateur radio, otherwise known as ham radio, is a radio service designed to connect millions of operators throughout the world.
Setting up in nearly three hours, members of the club, which was founded in 1967, participated throughout the day.
“The club has been around for a while. Ham radio has been around since the 1900s. We do this for free. We buy the equipment — we want to provide old technology, when new technology fails,” said Mark Niehaus, publicity chair of the club. “But we are also doing digital communications also, so that is newer technology. The more tools you have in your toolbox, the better off you are, and this is just another tool for communications. If all the other systems get loaded, we can pass information [in a different way]. We can communicate with people in Santa Clarita or around the world, and we’re just running on battery power.”
Chameleon delta loop antennas could be seen in the air at various stations in the lot, showcasing more traditional methods of radio communication. On the other hand, Charles Cataldo displayed a more intricate setup with his digital data modes inside of a tent.
“I operate both at home and I operate remotely. I live in Canyon Country, but when I operate remotely, it’s in the woods at a state or federal park. It’s important to keep the equipment cool, and you can’thave a lot of sunlight. I use my vehicle to help anchor my antenna, and this is my road show kit, so parts of my amateur radio station come apart and I pack it up and bring it to a remote setting,” Cataldo said.
With high-pitched beeps in the background, Cataldo focused on logging calls all day.
“I’ve made contacts outside of the United States already, and in the United States I’m using a mode called FT8 digital mode. The way I would describe it is years ago ham operators would use Morse Code, and they would type characters to communicate with each other — it’s still widely used today, but they also went to Single Sideband and they speak with microphones,” Cataldo said. “I’mcommunicating digitally throughout the world. If I open my QRZ.com page, I made contacts in Angola, Russia, China, South America, Chile. Basically, I send a CQ command [a call to signal communication], and I operate a piece of software that interfaces with the radio. The radio transmits that digital signal to the antenna, and then stations receive me and can communicate digitally.”
QRZ.com, a website designed to look up call signs or log calls, is a helpful tool for Cataldo to log his calls to compete with other radio clubs.
“We’re exchanging information and logging calls, and today is Field Day, so at the end of the day I’ll upload these calls in our club logging software, and then our club competes with other clubs across the country,” Cataldo said. “I was a ham operator when I was a teenager, but then I stepped away. Now that I’m nearing retirement, I had been looking for hobbies about a year and a half ago. I decided that I was going to go back and take my FCC test, and this is the best hobby that I could have asked to reconnect with.”
