- April 26, 2024
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Flagler Emergency Communications Association member Lou Mecseri uses Morse Code during Field Day at the Flagler Beach Fire Station on Sunday. Photo by Jacque Estes
Flagler Palm Coast Amateur Radio Club members Steve Moore and Bill Schwartz, supervise Matthew Schwartz as he mans the radio on Field Day at the Hammock Community Center. Photo by Jacque Estes
Flagler Emergency Communications Association president, Merill Musikar checks out the radar member, Madeline Pepper pulled up on her cell phone on Sunday, during Field Day at the Flagler Beach Fire Department. Photo by Jacque Estes
Flagler Palm Coast Amateur Radio Club members, Don Clemente and Joe Guarneri, test radios at the Hammock Community Center during Field Day on Saturday. Photo by Jacque Estes
It was a typical Saturday. A perfect day at the beach.
At the Hammock Community Center, just steps from the sandy shore off Malacompra Road, 25 amateur radio enthusiasts gathered for the annual HAM radio Field Day. They were practicing for a less than perfect day at the beach – the kind that comes with tropical storms and hurricanes.
“Two stations are on the air,” Bill Schwartz, president of the Flagler Palm Coast Amateur Radio Club, said. “This is an emergency preparation test with all 50 states. We are exchanging locations and operator classifications.”
Field Day is an annual, 24-hour event, billed by the ARRL as “Part educational event, part operating event, part public relations event – and all about fun!”
Under supervision, Schwartz's grandson, Matthew was making contact with other HAM operators across the country.
“You don't need a license to join the club,” Schwartz said. “And you can participate, under the supervision of a licensed operator.”
Anthony Cinelli became interested in HAM radio when he was a student at Florida Atlantic University, where he helped during parades and 5K races.
“I was pretty active in college," Cinelli said. "When we moved here, I joined this group.”
A few miles south, the Flagler Emergency Communications Association was conducting similar exercises at the Flagler Beach fire station.
As of 10 a.m. Sunday morning, the Flagler Beach group had logged 239 contacts, the furthest being Field Day participants in California and Oregon. The equipment set up was provided by members of the clubs.
“We have four radios going,” Merrill Musikar, president of the Flagler Emergency Communication Association, said. “We got a little overzealous this year and put up five antennas.”
Musikar said it would be different in an actual disaster situation.
“In an emergency situation we wouldn't have this many radios and antenna set up,” Musikar said. “If all communications are down in the county there would be one radio and one guy operating it.
Storms came through on Sunday and Madeline Pepper watched two systems off Florida's East coast, on the NOAA weather app on her phone. A handy tool for everyday weather information, but not a reliable source when storms take out the cell phone towers. Then everyone turns to the basic, and more reliabe, means of communication.
