Many ham-radio operators have a Field Day at MCCTC in Canfield

June 24, 2012 at 12:07a.m.

CANFIELD

While in Afghanistan a few years ago, Les Benson was able to communicate with people all over the world.

What made his global outreach possible? An antenna for less than $1, a simple radio and a wire about 15 feet high.

“I talked to the U.S., Europe and Asia,” recalled Benson, who is among those taking part in the Mahoning Valley Amateur Radio Association’s annual Field Day, which began Saturday at the Mahoning County Career & Technical Center, 7300 N. Palmyra Road. The gathering continues until 2 p.m. today at the center.

Sponsoring the effort is the Newington, Conn.-based American Radio Relay League, a national organization with more than 150,000 members, which serves amateur-radio operators in the U.S. The local group is an ARRL member.

Field Day has eight stations in which attendees use their own power sources to practice setting up and using emergency communications.

Included are demonstrations showing the latest digital and satellite capabilities as well as voice communications and Morse Code, noted Jack Sovic, public information coordinator with the 90-year-old MVARA.

Quite a bit more than $1 was needed, however, for the equipment Benson used Saturday, which consisted of a 100-watt transmitter, a generator, a power supply, a tuner and a noise filter. The setup in his tent for Field Day allowed Benson, a former commercial pilot who flew to Afghanistan for a defense contractor, to talk to fellow operators in the western portions of Pennsylvania, New York and Maryland as well as southern Ontario, Canada.

Benson said he also enjoys communicating worldwide from his Hubbard home using older equipment from the 1960s and 1970s.

“Maybe next year I’ll buy more modern equipment,” he said with a laugh.

Being modern — and a bit environmentally friendly — didn’t cramp the styles of Roy Dyckman and Kevin Goodman, who set up shop in their solar-powered tent.

“It’s what we call being really green,” said Dyckman of Canfield, who works for Clear Channel Radio and hosts a weekly program called “The Two Wheel Power Hour” on WKBN-AM 570.

Dyckman and Goodman installed four solar panels that provided 75 watts of power to two radios Dyckman used to talk to operators in Florida, California, Rhode Island and elsewhere, he explained.

Field Day is a terrific way to test amateur-radio operators’ ability to prepare for emergencies, added Dyckman, who’s been a ham-radio operator about five years.

Goodman, who served in the Vietnam War in the 1970s, appreciates amateur-radio operators largely because they made it possible for him to quickly receive a message while in Vietnam that his father had been hospitalized for an injury, he recalled. Operators patched Goodman through to his mother for a much lower cost than a long-distance call, the New Middletown man said.

“I’ve always had a good time with it,” Goodman said of the hobby.

Ham-radio operators also were essential during disasters such as the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina, both of which saw many communications systems shut down or overloaded, Sovic noted. For example, operators were at American Red Cross, Salvation Army and shelter locations in and near New Orleans after the August 2005 storm, he continued.

Many operators provide valuable information to the National Weather Service by acting as tornado spotters and reporting on severe weather, as well as assisting police and fire departments, he said.

“Amateur radio is there when needed,” Sovic added.