SACRAMENTO REGION, CA (MPG) - When the Loma Prieta Earthquake struck the greater San Francisco Bay Area in 1989, it knocked down power lines and knocked television and radio stations off the air. Phone lines were disrupted, and cell phone service died. However, they stepped in and helped save the day.

The same scenario played out 16-years later when Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans and the surrounding area. Once again, television sets and radios died. The power went off. Standard telephone service and cellular service stopped working. But, once again, they stepped in and provided emergency communication.

Who are they? These men and women are all members of the same group who belong to the American Radio Relay League (ARRL). These people are all radio amateurs, who are also better known as Ham Radio operators. Despite the recent rise of the internet, the hobby of ham radio, which is more than 100-years old, is alive and well.

The ARRL International Field Day took place in multiple cities and countries this past weekend, including Sacramento. This year’s event was hosted by the California Department of Technology headquarters located in Rancho Cordova. State authorities know all too well from multiple experiences that when emergencies strike, it’s the independent ham operators who can be relied upon when emergency communications are needed.

Alice Austin likes to help people. That’s why she became a member of the local Friends and Amateur Radio Communications Enthusiasts (FARCE) group and helped to organize this year’s field day.

“It’s important to me to lend a hand in any kind of emergency,” Austin told Messenger Publishing. “The purpose of our field day events is to make sure our operations are intact and our radios work. We try to contact other ham radio operators located all over the world.”

Hobbyists include military veterans like Dennis Merritt, who served tours in both the U.S. Navy and Army. He is better known in the ham community by his FCC assigned license name of W6UHQ. He started his field day experience by contacting other ham radio operators in places like Bozeman, MT, Boise, ID and Portland, OR.

“People like us can contact hospitals, emergency providers and other businesses when all other forms of communications fail,” Merritt said. “We are there to help when people need us, but it’s also fun to keep in contact with our counterparts in other parts of the world.”

Merritt says wildfires that have recently plagued California is another example of where ham radio operators can play a crucial role in getting people out of danger. A Los Angeles Times article found that emergency warnings never reached many people in Paradise, CA during the 2018 Camp Fire because cell towers and power lines had been knocked out. The fire killed more than 80 people.

“The idea behind ARRL Field Day is practice,” Austin said. “It encourages us to be prepared, to stay prepared and to encourage other people to join us.”

For more information about ARRL, or the local FARCE organization, visit the ARRL website at www.arrl.org.