Ham radio operators to work from Blennerhassett Island

PARKERSBURG -- The Parkersburg Amateur Radio Klub will activate a Parks on the Air radio station from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday on Blennerhassett Island.

The event will make history and reflect on the history of the club, club officials said. The group will be the first amateur radio club to operate from the island, and ham radio operators will have the opportunity to register a two-way communication and gain awards.

"Blennerhassett Amateur Radio Club was the original name of our club back in the 1940s. So, the outing to the island reflects, in part, our own history as the Parkersburg Amateur Radio Klub and ham operators in the Mid-Ohio Valley," club member Corey Meadows of Williamstown said.

"Blennerhassett Island is a unique (Parks on the Air) island. Ham operators can activate the island from the shoreline, providing the station sets up at the island's museum in downtown Parkersburg," he said. "We wanted to make some of our own history by actually being on-site."

Meadows shares responsibility of the Parks on the Air activations with a committee.

"My father, Bob, KE8ZAM; Scott Lontz, KE8UTO; Jim McComas, KE8TKY; and Tom Porter, KD8NRV, provide transceivers, antennas and computers for each activation," he said. "We all work together to make these events happen."

By coincidence, the state of Ohio this weekend will conduct statewide Parks on the Air activations, he said.

Parkersburg Amateur Radio Klub will have an opportunity to work for various awards by contacting other Parks on the Air stations, Meadows said.

Three ways are available to make progress toward awards with Parks on the Air, Meadows said.

Activators, hunters and park-to-park contacts make up the three types of contacts, he said.

Operators who put the stations on the air are activators. People who tune around and contact the activated stations are hunters. Activated stations who contact other activated stations, while both are on the air at the same time, are park-to-park.

Each activated station, park and its location and identifying number are posted on the internet, which aids all three type stations to have success with contacting the various activations, he said.

"Parks on the Air isn't just about having fun and competing, " Larry Dale, president of the club, said. "It's an exercise for international radio operations to promote emergency awareness and preparedness from national/federal and state/provincial-level parks."

The public is invited to view the operations, he said. Information will be available about obtaining a ham radio license, which also is available at the club website W8PAR.org.