The SC4 Amateur Radio Club, that’s who.
This primarily South Coast-based club is made up of about 40 members. They spend a lot of their time outdoors in the redwoods where there is poor cell phone reception even in good weather, or tinkering with the one sure bet for communication whatever the weather — ham radios.
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Members are amateurs, said Peter Chupity of La Honda, who “do this for the love of helping out others and of operating radios.”
The class, scheduled from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, March 13 to Sunday, March 14 at La Honda Elementary School, is introductory, for those who do not yet have their ham radio licenses. He said it focuses on ham radio technique, technical aspects, and on getting comfortable with how the radio works, he said.
He added that it prepares participants for a 35-question, multiple-choice exam for those seeking a first-level license, scheduled for March 20.
“A rules-of-the-road sort of exam” on ham radio technique, he said.
The fee for the class is $25 per person, and texts are included, Chupity said. There are no age limits.
Chupity described club members as scattered throughout the South Coast, from Loma Mar to Pescadero to San Gregorio to Skyline Boulevard.
“People are spread out here, so we want a backup means of communication,” he said.
He said members of the South Coast-based CLA-Evac large-animal evacuation unit are signing up for the class.
On the remote South Coast, he said, club members often find themselves “working in areas with poor or no radio coverage, and (we) have to put up a quick, temporary antenna as high as possible to get the signal out.”
The club has also helped out in bike races like the Pescadero Coastal Classic, by providing communications in “hard-to-reach parts of the course where even the CHP radios won’t cover.”
“Our advantage,” he said, “is that we are flexible and can deploy quickly, putting up whatever gear is necessary or establishing a relay system as required.”
He also noted that club members keep close tabs on their radio skills and with each other. One radio aficionado, he said, even got to know his neighbors by reaching out to communicate with his radio.
“We’ve become a little community out here,” he said. “We try to use (our radios) a little every day, to keep our skills polished.”
To register for the class, go to sc4arc.org.
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