London Hams bridge communication gap 0
London Amateur Radio Club members (left-right) Mike Watts, Jim Morris and Tom Pillon gather at the Blackfriars Bridge in London as part of Historical Bridges On The Air event.
Since 1920, members of the London Amateur Radio Club (LARC) have filled the airwaves with banter both about the hobby itself, and about emergency preparedness. On July 19, a handful of LARC members put their talents on display at the Blackfriars Bridge in London.
The second annual Historical Bridges On The Air event linked hams from around the world, including LARC, who set up camp with temporary shelters, and amateur radios powered by generators and using home-built antennas.
While the Historical Bridges event was a fun way for local hams to make contact with colleagues around the globe, it also served as a reminder that during an emergency when all else fails, ham radio provides a communications mode critical to survival.
Case in point: in late July, in the Colorado wilderness where cell phone service remains non-existent, a ham radio operator who never goes hiking without his handheld radio stumbled across an injured hiker and radioed for help. The ham radio operator saved the hiker’s life.
“Some people may still think that amateur radio is an old, grey-haired, fossil hobby,” said LARC member David Lambert, call sign VE3KGK. “But it’s still an inexpensive, viable hobby. And we can help save lives.”
The Historical Bridges event also included hams gathered around bridges across the U.S. and the UK including the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and the Tay Rail Bridge in Dundee, Scotland.
The event was launched in 2013 in honour of American ham operator William Borgman, who died in 2012. Borgman inspected ships, television and radio stations for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and operated from several Michigan lighthouses and the SS Keewatin for International Museum Ship Weekend.
Lambert said operating from the Blackfriars Bridge gave LARC a golden opportunity to demonstrate for Londoners the importance of ham radio communications.
Often during extraordinary weather, means of communication like cell phones don’t function because of overloading or power outages. But ham operators with battery backups and generators can still converse over the air waves with groups including police, fire and ambulance personnel. “Now that tornado season is upon us, trained hams can spot bad weather. We’re the first point of contact – it’s real-time communications,” said Lambert.
Local hams can communicate on air at 145.45 MHz (call letters VE3OME). They work as a team through CANWARN – the Canadian Weather Amateur Radio Network. CANWARN is a volunteer organization of ham radio operators who report severe weather to Environment Canada.
LARC members can also be part of A.R.E.S. – the Amateur Radio Emergency Service. Trained amateur radio operators willing to assist emergency services and municipal agencies in an emergency or disaster, A.R.E.S.-qualified hams are specialists in various forms of communication modes.
Boasting about 100 members, LARC is part of a ham community with about 68,000 licensed operators across Canada. For information on LARC, visit www.larc.ca.