Carolina watchman. [volume] (Salisbury, N.C.) 1871-1937, 1936-05-22
Radio Amateurs

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was heard many times throughout
the country during our recent
spring floods. Mr.. Everett Lynch,
the author of this article, is we'll
qualified to write of radio anna
teurs and their work; for in his
home town he operated an anna
teur station of his own. The Pion-
eer is fortunate to be able to print
an account of the work Of these
radio amateurs.
There exists a branch of radio
activity that is very little known
to most people, but which played
an extremely important role in
the recent flood crisis in the north
ern states. The phase of which l
speak is amateur radio. Without
the operation of hundreds of these
stations, some of the flooded towns
would not have been heard from at
all for possibly a week. No one
would have known how high the
waters were, how many lives had
been lost, how great the damage, or
whether or not the people had food,
water, and light.
There are at present in the
United States approximately $4,000
amateur stations licensed by the
government. Thousands of opera
tors, ranging in ages from twelve
to sixty years, work at their sta
tons as a hobby month after month
and year after year, adding to, and
p~erfecting, their equipment, keep
ing pace with the newest develop
ments in the field. In fact, many
advancements in radio have their
beginning in sohe amateurs active
mind. Not only do they serve the
radio industry, but they are serv
ants Of the community in any cri-
sis, only too willing to work until
they drop for the love of radio
and their duty to their community.
Organization in this field, as
we'll as in any other, is necessary
for efficient operation. Active
stations usually belong to one or
more of the three outstanding
groups organized to this end. These
are the American Radio Relay
League, the Army Amateur Radio
System, and the Naval Reserve
System, the last two of which are
sponsored by the U. S. government.
In these, definite schedules are
made and drills held in the matter
of establishing contacts and tx
changing messages.
In almost any flooded city up
north might have been seen groups
of local amateurs gathered at the
most powerful stations working in
shifts to keep the otherwise isolated
city in contact with the outside
world. They realize that they are
the only connecting link, for tele-
phone, telegraph, and teletype lines
are severed, and roads and railroads
all other relief workers, newspaper
are impossible. Red Cross and
men. and private individuals swamp
the stations with work. A station
runs twenty-four hours of the day,
the operators taking very little food
or sleep. In the case of power
failures, which are common under
the circumstances, the station must
be operated from either batteries
or from a gasoline-driven motor
generator set, or both. Often
high waters make it necessary to
move the equipment by boat to
higher ground. All this takes
time but must be faced in many
cases.
The stations outside the stricken
area are just as busy trying to es-
tab1ish contact with a station in ar,
isolated community. All are an
xious to help. When once the
contact is established, their job is
Just as strenuous as that of the
J group of which we just spoke. Re-
ports of the true conditions are
sent out through them by the local
officials to newspapers, to the Red
Cross and other relief agencies, to
travellers, to railroads and bus COM
lpanies. Weather reports r sent
out, casualties reported, needs made
known, and relief workers direct
ed in their tasks. Where more
equipment is hand, one of the OPP
orators might go out and survey
conditions for first hand informa-
ton, keeping in contact with the
main station and reporting his
finding by means of a five meter