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Ham radio club keeping ears open as millennial clock turns at new year
By Nancy Heiner
RIVER HEIGHTS -- David Rhodes will be having a small New Year's party. "Me, myself, and I, probably, at 1 in the morning," he said. Rhodes, 55, is a member of the Bridgerland Amateur Radio Club, and will be manning a ham radio in the River Heights City building just in case disaster strikes. "The feeling is that there's not anything going to happen, but just in case..." he said. The 200 members of the radio club provide their expertise at no charge, and they are all over the valley. Five of them will take turns in River Heights for the New Year. Tyler Griffith is the liaison with the sheriff and Boyd Humpherys is getting all the volunteers together. The equipment and training isn't for Y2K alone. "We've planned for other emergencies, like earthquakes," he said. "That's why we have the radio set up." The sheriff's office bought the radio equipment with a grant, and all the little cities in the area are set up. "Emergency management and preparedness has come a long way and that's because of FEMA and James Lee Witt," Rhodes said. Witt became the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in 1993. Rhodes characterizes emergency preparedness in the United States today as well defined and well organized. There is a chain of command from the capital to the states, counties and then cities. "It's one of the rare, real success stories of government programs." Rhodes manages the Utah State University bookstore. He said he has
wanted to learn ham radio since he was a kid, and got his license 10
years ago. |
Archived Months:
September
1998 |
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