By Gail Peckler-Dziki~Correspondent
The Lakes Area Amateur Radio Club will be out in full force on Sunday, Jan. 5 from noon to 5 p.m., ready to show all interested parities how to operate a ham radio.
Mike Bartolone is president of the club and co-chair for the Kid’s Day program. “I was interested in ham radios since high school, but didn’t have time or opportunity until about four years ago.”
He was laid off from work and the placement service he worked with sent him to a big group discussion group.
“We discussed and looked into many things,” Bartolone said, “and one day we did something different. We each made a ‘bucket list’ and the top pick on mine was getting a ham radio license.”
“The guy behind me,” he continued, “said he could help me. He was the guy who gives the test.”
Licensing was fairly inexpensive, ranging from $5 to $15 and within a few days of getting his license on the FCC data list, Bartolone received an invitation from the local club.
The Lakes Area Amateur Radio Club was founded in the 1970s, but the national group, the American Radio Relay League, was founded in 1914.
The first two Kid’s Day was in 2011and 2012 at the Darien Town Hall. The third was in Whitewater in 2013 and Bartolone said the group decided to move the event around.
“One of our members, Peter Haas, lives in Silver Lake and suggested that location for 2014,” Bartolone said. “We made sure we can transmit from that location, got permission from the village board and we are ready to go.”
Visitors to Kid’s Day will be able to talk to people from various other places with the aid of a licensed radio operator, learn Morse Code and the phonetic alphabet used by military and practice on a code oscillator.
There are several websites that either give directions for building your own or offer kits. Some sites are http://www.makearadio.com/misc-stuff/cpo.php; http://www.arrl.org/shop/ARRL-Morse-Code-Oscillator-Kit/ and http://www.calcuttahams.com/cpo.htm.
The ARRL (http://www.arrl.org/) website also has a wealth of information.
According to Bartolone, it’s not just about the ham radios. “When the National Weather Service declares a weather event such as a watch or warning, some members of our group are official weather spotters,” he said.
“They set up a network and watch from their various locations and send in reports, using the network. Often if you hear about how many inches of snow fell in Burlington, that information was sent by an official weather spotter that is part of our club.”
Becoming involved in ham radio operation takes the operator on a journey into the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics as well as geography and social studies, all fields extremely important for all students.