Findlay Radio Club hosting open house

FINDLAY — World Amateur Radio Day is Saturday, and the Findlay Radio Club is hosting an open house to share all that can be done using ham radio. The event takes place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the clubhouse, 1333 W. Sandusky St. It's a celebration of the anniversary of the formation of the International Amateur Radio Union on April 18, 1925. Amateur radio experimenters were the first to discover that the short wave spectrum — far from being a wasteland — could support worldwide propagation. In the rush to use these shorter wavelengths, amateur radio was "in grave danger of being pushed aside," according to a written history of the IARU. Amateur radio pioneers met in Paris in 1925 and created the IARU to support amateur radio worldwide. Just two years later, at the International Radiotelegraph Conference, amateur radio gained the allocations still recognized today — 160, 80, 40, 20 and 10 meters. Today, after the IARU's work to expand the frequency allocations, radio amateurs are now able to experiment and communicate in frequency bands strategically located throughout the radio spectrum. From the 25 countries that formed the IARU in 1925, the IARU has grown to include 160 member-societies in three regions. There are more than 3 million licensed amateur radio operators worldwide, including 800,000 in the United States. Among them is Bill Kelsey of the Findlay club, who became licensed in 1962. He said there's always something new to learn, and so many things one can do with ham radio. "I've got to live to be 100 to get 'em all done," he said. For example, bouncing a signal off the moon. Kelsey said this takes good antennas and he hasn't done it yet, but "it's on my bucket list." Kelsey has made friends around the world through ham radio. He was part of a team that won a world ham radio competition in Bermuda. They spent 48 hours on the radio and were judged based on the number of people they were able to communicate with and their locations. "Some operators still use Morse code to communicate, but many now use voice, data and even television worldwide," a press release states. "Signals are sent directly, via satellite, or even via the internet." The Findlay club has given license exams to over 100 people the last two years. They sponsor exam sessions every month, and if enough interest is shown, they do classes on how to become an amateur radio operator. A newer club member, Matthew Griffin, 21, got his license eight months ago. Griffin said he had been listening in on the radio before that, which anyone can do. Ham radio allows people to connect with conversations going on all around them that they may not be aware of. "If you aren't tuned in, you never even know it's going on," Griffin said. On most days, ham radio operators spend much of their time communicating with others around the globe for fun. But they're also ready to make a difference in an emergency by relaying information when other forms of communication may be down. Kelsey said local ham radio operators have been checking in during recent severe thunderstorms and tornado warnings. In the Blizzard of 1978, Findlay operators were able to communicate with their counterparts in Columbus and work to get out information about road conditions. The Findlay club owns an emergency response trailer that can be used to provide emergency communications in the event of a disaster. It can be operated off grid using either its own batteries or its own generator. The club also has two generators that can be used to power the clubhouse. Many of the club members also participate in Skywarn, which provides severe weather updates to the Cleveland Weather Service. Griffin said ham radio operators often hear about developments in storms before anyone else does. A Findlay club member was able to report a tornado recently to the weather service, and his report was what led to the activation of sirens, he said.