West Tennessee Amateur Radio Society (WTARS) steps forward to promote amateur radio and is to be commended for humanitarian efforts.
It all started when Bob Alper, W6KT, went to visit his friend and fellow ham Gary King, W4WKZ, in November 2008.It was then that Bob discovered Gary’s 60 foot tower and antenna array had been damaged.Gary is legally blind so he was not able to make repairs to his tower and antenna system himself.
Along with his other amateur related activities, before his antennas were damaged, Gary daily reported weather conditions in Medon, TN, Gary’s home town, to the National Weather Service in Memphis, TN but after his antenna system was damaged he was unable to operate his station and thus not able to send in his daily weather report.
Bob related Gary’s plight to other members of WTARS and the club was able to purchase a new tower and antenna system for Gary.In the summer’s heat of July 2009 a group of WTARS members gathered at Gary’s home and poured 880pounds of concrete, which they mixed in five gallon buckets, to form a base for the new tower.It took four more months to obtain the rest of the parts needed to complete the tower and antennas and install them.
Finally after over a year of silence W4WKZ was back on the air on December fifth of 2009.
WTARS is not unlike other clubs. It does not have a large pot of money waiting to be used for such projects but it does have member who are willing to give of their time and personal finances to help a fellow ham in need.
Thank you WTARS members for being an excellent example to us all.
Another way Amateur Radio Operators serve the community is by acting as a link between the National Weather Service and local communities in the United States of America.These weather spotters take a position near an anticipated storm and report on wind gusts, hail size, rainfall, and cloud formations all of which could signal a developing tornado.These operators also receive and distribute information from the National Weather Service.The system is called SKYWARN™ and was developed early in the 1970s.
Each year sense 1999 a special day has been set aside to recognize the efforts and contributions of these volunteer amateur radio operators.During this day participating operators will visit National Weather Service offices so they can make contact with other ham operators around the world.
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