RIO - A woman with a Southern drawl interrupted Bill Hanold's conversation about amateur radio operation Saturday.

She was operating a ham radio of her own out of Louisiana. Like Hanold, she was keeping track of whom she reached, and where they were operating from.

It's fun to use "ham" radio to talk to people all over the country, or even all over the world, acknowledged Hanold, of Lake Wisconsin.

But fun wasn't the primary reason why about a dozen amateur operators from Columbia County gathered Saturday at Firemen's Park in Rio.

They joined amateur operators from all over the United States in a field day, in which operators set up their equipment in places such as parks or parking lots, to test their ability to operate under unusual or even threatening conditions.

"We come out, set up and see if we can make it work," he said.

Dave Spearing of Portage set up his radio system in the trunk of his car, and kept track on a clipboard of whom he reached, and where they were.

Bill Timme of Portage brought to the field day a collapsible antenna, made out of half-inch copper piping, which can be folded for easy transportation in even the smallest vehicle.

In a pinch, Timme said, a ham radio system can be used to transmit documents or photos, like a fax or like an e-mail attachment.

And, though this is not ideal because of a radio system's power needs, a ham radio can sometimes, in a pinch, be hooked up to the cigarette lighter in a car.

In the park in Rio, the operators monitored chatter on the airwaves, including the weather-related postponement of Rhythm and Booms, Madison's gigantic fireworks show.

The field day, however, was a different story. In case of rain - and there were occasional showers Saturday afternoon - the group planned to stay in the park and keep operating, just to show that they could.

Ham radio operators are vital, Hanold said, when a disaster knocks out other forms of communication, including computers and cellular telephones. Case in point: the killer tornado in Barneveld 25 years ago.

"They had no power, no telephone," he said of the Iowa County community where nearly every building was leveled, nine people were killed and 200 were injured on June 8, 1984.

"They'd sealed off the town, so nobody could get in or out," Hanold said. "The hams worked with the Red Cross, and if a person had a relative in Barneveld, they could get a ham operator to find out whether the relative was all right."

He wasn't in Barneveld in June 1984, but he was in Pardeeville in June 2008.

That was when a deluge caused Park Lake to overflow, threatening both the earthen dam on the Fox River that forms the lake and a nearby hydroelectric dam. Pardeeville Public Works Director Dave Tracey directed the construction of a makeshift stream to divert water out of Park Lake, and in doing so prevented a dam breach.

Hanold was one of the members of Amateur Radio Emergency Services/Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Services (ARES/RACES) of Columbia County who stood guard around the clock over the dams and the makeshift stream (known as "Hoege River" for Pardeeville's law enforcement officer, Richard Hoege), to ensure that people didn't get too close to them to endanger themselves or the structures.

ARES/RACES member Mike Leggett of Sun Prairie displayed the fluorescent yellow vests that member wear when they're working with the Columbia County Sheriff's Department, and the ID badges they wear, which are similar to those worn by county employees.

The goal of Saturday's field day, Leggett said, was for ham operators to practice using their radios from a remote location, using diesel generators (one 6-kilowatt generator and three Korean War surplus 3-kilowatt generators) to prepare them for emergencies when they may be called on to operate without electrical power.

"We do not depend on infrastructure," he said. "That's the whole beauty of amateur radio, as far as public service is concerned."

In fact, he said, "amateur" isn't quite the right word for people with the skill, and Federal Communications Commission licensing, to operate radios when all other forms of communication have been knocked out.

"We're well-trained people," he said, "working on a volunteer basis."

ljerde@

capitalnewspapers.com

745-3587

RIO - A woman with a Southern drawl interrupted Bill Hanold's conversation about amateur radio operation Saturday.

She was operating a ham radio of her own out of Louisiana. Like Hanold, she was keeping track of whom she reached, and where they were operating from.

It's fun to use "ham" radio to talk to people all over the country, or even all over the world, acknowledged Hanold, of Lake Wisconsin.

But fun wasn't the primary reason why about a dozen amateur operators from Columbia County gathered Saturday at Firemen's Park in Rio.

They joined amateur operators from all over the United States in a field day, in which operators set up their equipment in places such as parks or parking lots, to test their ability to operate under unusual or even threatening conditions.

"We come out, set up and see if we can make it work," he said.

Dave Spearing of Portage set up his radio system in the trunk of his car, and kept track on a clipboard of whom he reached, and where they were.

Bill Timme of Portage brought to the field day a collapsible antenna, made out of half-inch copper piping, which can be folded for easy transportation in even the smallest vehicle.

In a pinch, Timme said, a ham radio system can be used to transmit documents or photos, like a fax or like an e-mail attachment.

And, though this is not ideal because of a radio system's power needs, a ham radio can sometimes, in a pinch, be hooked up to the cigarette lighter in a car.

In the park in Rio, the operators monitored chatter on the airwaves, including the weather-related postponement of Rhythm and Booms, Madison's gigantic fireworks show.

The field day, however, was a different story. In case of rain - and there were occasional showers Saturday afternoon - the group planned to stay in the park and keep operating, just to show that they could.

Ham radio operators are vital, Hanold said, when a disaster knocks out other forms of communication, including computers and cellular telephones. Case in point: the killer tornado in Barneveld 25 years ago.

"They had no power, no telephone," he said of the Iowa County community where nearly every building was leveled, nine people were killed and 200 were injured on June 8, 1984.

"They'd sealed off the town, so nobody could get in or out," Hanold said. "The hams worked with the Red Cross, and if a person had a relative in Barneveld, they could get a ham operator to find out whether the relative was all right."

He wasn't in Barneveld in June 1984, but he was in Pardeeville in June 2008.

That was when a deluge caused Park Lake to overflow, threatening both the earthen dam on the Fox River that forms the lake and a nearby hydroelectric dam. Pardeeville Public Works Director Dave Tracey directed the construction of a makeshift stream to divert water out of Park Lake, and in doing so prevented a dam breach.

Hanold was one of the members of Amateur Radio Emergency Services/Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Services (ARES/RACES) of Columbia County who stood guard around the clock over the dams and the makeshift stream (known as "Hoege River" for Pardeeville's law enforcement officer, Richard Hoege), to ensure that people didn't get too close to them to endanger themselves or the structures.

ARES/RACES member Mike Leggett of Sun Prairie displayed the fluorescent yellow vests that member wear when they're working with the Columbia County Sheriff's Department, and the ID badges they wear, which are similar to those worn by county employees.

The goal of Saturday's field day, Leggett said, was for ham operators to practice using their radios from a remote location, using diesel generators (one 6-kilowatt generator and three Korean War surplus 3-kilowatt generators) to prepare them for emergencies when they may be called on to operate without electrical power.

"We do not depend on infrastructure," he said. "That's the whole beauty of amateur radio, as far as public service is concerned."

In fact, he said, "amateur" isn't quite the right word for people with the skill, and Federal Communications Commission licensing, to operate radios when all other forms of communication have been knocked out.

"We're well-trained people," he said, "working on a volunteer basis."

ljerde@capitalnewspapers.com

745-3587