(GEORGETOWN, Del.) - Amateur radio can be in times of crisis and natural disasters when other communication methods fail. The Sussex County Aux Comm works closely with the Emergency Operations Center in Georgetown.
Auxiliary Communication Leader John Ferguson, whose call letters are K3PFW explains: "Our purpose is to get the right information to the right people in a timely manner so they can make the right decision."
Right now they're honing their emergency communication skills and cutting through the noise in the international Winter Field Day contest.
There are three different categories for contestants to choose between to set up.
Public Information Officer Walt Palmer, or call letters W4ALT says, "There's indoor, outdoor, and home. Indoor is when you can set up in a public area. Outdoor is the same thing but you're doing it outside. You can operate on a generator. You can plug into shore power if it's available and home is exactly what it says. You're in your home position where you would typically operate from."
Ferguson adds, "We're working with permanently installed equipment, permanently installed antennas, so our class would be home. For this contest, we've been running two transmitters simultaneously."
Fixed antennas and a power supply coming from the building categorize their mobile command unit as "home". The Sussex County Aux Comm uses it in addition to what's inside as part of the Winter Field Day contest but they also use it year-round in emergency situations. It becomes a 911 call center at marathons and big events, reducing the number of calls to the Emergency Operations Center in Georgetown."
"As amateurs, we have people out on the street. They become the boots on the ground, the eyes if you will for this vehicle. We're watching the crowd. If we see someone that needs help, we can use our amateur radios to contact this equipment right here and then they pass that information to another section of the truck where they can dispatch the proper response," Palmer says.
After this field day is over the Sussex county Aux Comm will go back to their normal operations in supporting the EOC but in reality, there is more pressure than in these practice exercises to follow their motto and keep "absolute accurate always.
The Sussex County Aux Comm is made up of volunteers. A radio license is not required to do volunteer work in the aux comm department. The next contest for the Sussex County Aux Comm is the Summer Field Day in June.