Jenna Bordelon
BURBANK -- The earth rolls. Someone smells gas. The television
blips off. Your computer goes into permanent shut down. The cell phone
hisses. Do you know what to do during a local disaster?
The Burbank Emergency Amateur Radio Services group does.
Known as the the "Bears," the members of this group are actually
"hams." They operate amateur radios by using transmitters and receivers
to communicate.
Hams can communicate via computer -- called "packet radio" -- or by
Morse code. They can even bounce signals off the moon or "skip" them
across the ionosphere.
And in a disaster, they volunteer their time, resources and expertise
to set up a reliable form of communication when others fail.
"They are still the most reliable long-range communication in times of
emergencies," pending Bear David Zacks said. "First thing you do is dig
yourself out from the rubble and take care of your family and neighbors."
Then the Bear swings into action.
A Bear will travel by car or by foot to the nearest disaster meeting
place of consequence such as City Hall, the airport or the Emergency
Operations Center at the Burbank Fire Training Center.
He or she will communicate between frightened residents and local law
enforcement, local and state authorities and even communicate
out-of-state when no one else can.
Group leader Eric Christensen has been hamming since 1979. He said he hoped more young people would try hamming as a hobby, rather than turning
automatically to their computers.
"The Internet has definitely affected people," he said, "they are
spending their disposable income on it."
"Ham radio has always been an older guy hobby," he said.
A few women have broken through the lonely radio guy stereotype and
are carving a niche for themselves in the former all-boys club.
"They were the first geeks before the computer geeks," Christie
Edinger, a 25-year veteran of amateur radio, said. "These people in ham
radio have more interests like I do, they're interested in science and
electronics."
"People have these hang-ups about this is a woman's hobby or this is a
man's hobby," she said. "I've never looked at things that way."
Christensen agreed.
"It's just another hobby," Christensen said. "This one here, you have
the potential to meet people."
"This at least gets you involved with other human beings," he said.
