New amateur radio club formed in Glenn County

Ham radio operators have a new club in Glenn County.

The Glenn Amateur Radio Society will be certified and receive official affiliation with the American Radio Relay League at an open house from 6-8 p.m. today at Lutheran Hall, 735 Main St., Artois.

The club formed out of interest and necessity, according to county Emergency Coordinator John Hursey.

"The Sheriff's Office and Veterans Council wanted a ham operator in Glenn County" to help meet Homeland Security requirements, he said.

So a year ago, Hursey and John Post started offering classes. The club officially opens with more than 25 members.

Most come from Orland and Willows, though some are from Elk Creek and other parts of the county, plus Corning, Hursey said.

The society comprises two factions that operate separately. One is a social club; the other provides Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES).

While ham radio is a hobby for everyone involved, not everyone participates in emergency services, Hursey said Monday.

"There are many reasons" people become ham operators. "Some just want to chit-chat," he said.

Others want to communicate long distances when they are separated from family or friends. Some want to communicate with different parts of the world. And, others are interested in emergency communications, he said.

Hursey got interested after Hurricane Katrina, when he learned that ham radio was the only form a communication available after the area lost power.

"Ham operators provided all the communications for everybody," he said.

During a session in which they learned how to program radio frequencies, new ham radio operators Robert Torres, Larry Gardner and the Rev. Jose Torres all said they got interested because they want to help the community.

"I want to round off helping the community," said Robert Torres, who works in the emergency room at Glenn Medical Center and volunteers as a firefighter in Willows and for Glenn County Search and Rescue.

For him, the skills will be useful in all areas. But there's more to his interest than that.

Growing up in Butte City, his family always had CB radios, and when he got older, he put them in his vehicles. Now, he has CBs, scanners and other radios all over his house.

"I'm a radio guy," he said.

Still, the main reason Torres took up the hobby was so he can communicate when the power goes out and other communication devices don't work.

Hursey said ham radios do not need an electrical supply. They operate on 12-volt batteries, generators or solar energy.

"They're portable," he noted.

Gardner's and Jose Torres's interest in learning ham radio operations started with an interest in their church.

"I started to help our church out and to help the community in emergencies," Gardner said.

Torres, pastor of the Seventh-day Adventist churches in Willows and Orland, also wanted to incorporate the new skill to help the community and the church.

"I believe pastors should shepherd their congregations and they should shepherd their communities as well," he said.

In addition, he and his wife plan to do missionary work, so "it will be an added boost to communicating for resources" in areas where other forms of communication do not exist or are intermittent.

"It's been very interesting," Torres said of the training.

"We've got good people who enjoy it and help out as much as they can," he said.

Robert Torres expects to continue the training.

"The more you get into it, the more you like it," he said.

Contact Lydia Harris at 934-6800, 865-3110 or lharris@tcnpress.com.