LOCH SHELDRAKE — Communication is often taken for granted in our modern digital lives. During an emergency or disaster situation, however, communication can quite literally mean the difference between life and death.

Sullivan County residents are no strangers to floods, blizzards and other extreme weather events. When the internet, phone service and other forms of modern communication fail, amateur radio is ready to answer the call.

Members of Sullivan County Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES) gathered at Loch Sheldrake Firemens Park last Saturday and Sunday to participate in the National Association for Amateur Radio’s Field Day.

Using only emergency power supplies, more than 35,000 Ham radio operators across the United States and Canada constructed emergency portable stations in parks, backyards and public spaces.

“Today is all about practicing mobile antennas, getting set up, seeing how far we can operate and who we can communicate with,” said ARES member Michelle Dedrick (call sign KD2LEG).

Volunteer ham radio operators, such as those at ARES, can provide backup communications support to the Sullivan County Office of Emergency Management, The American Red Cross, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other agencies working to save lives during a disaster situation.

Over the course of the 24-hour event, and using radios powered by car batteries and solar panels, ARES members made 240 contacts into 44 states, as well as France, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Canada.

Participants also made contact with a repeater on a satellite traversing across the sky overhead.

ARES member John Lavelle (call sign KN2X) said that new technologies have come a long way, allowing them to do things they couldn’t do before, including sending emails with no internet.

“We can send an email from here over radio frequency. There could be no internet in the entire east coast and we can send an email out from a radio station, as long as we can get to a place where this is a radio station with internet,” Lavelle said.

Lavelle explained how someone in a disaster zone, like the aftermath Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico or Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, could communicate with family members elsewhere and let them know that they’re okay.

In the absence of any kind of Internet or phone service, a radio operator staged at a Red Cross Shelter, for example, could communicate via email. The Red Cross adopted this software by Winlink within the last few years.

Sullivan County EMS and E-911 Coordinator, Alex Rau, joined ARES members at Firemens Field on Saturday.

“This group has come a long way. We’ve been watching and working with them for about two or three years now and trying to support them and their efforts,” said Rau. “Definitely in an emergency we wouldn’t hesitate to start using them.”

Rau said that ARES did help with some communication efforts during the 50th Anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival in 2019.

   “There’s a lot of talent here and we look forward to continuing to foster that relationship,” Rau said.