PUPILS took to the airwaves to earn amateur radio licences.

Eight Brownhills Maths and Computing College students took part in the school's first radio broadcasting course, which involved learning Morse code and using transmitters and receivers to contact radio users around the world.

The year-long course, part of the Tunstall school's enrichment programme, climaxed with a trip up The Cloud, near Congleton, to test their skills last week.

Tens of thousands of ham radio operators gathered at locations across the country recently to talk to each other on the air using specific emergency protocols in a nationwide exercise. Three local ham radio groups participated in the annual field day, earning points for communicating with other operators, national organizations, as well as other countries.

In Pahrump, about 30 members of ARES, or Amateur Radio Emergency Services, and RACES, Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Services, covered the valley, setting up their headquarters at the EMS Operations Center on Siri Lane.

In late August just four years ago, the dark clouds forming off the coast of New Orleans forewarned of a catastrophic event. Unleashing its full fury as it touched land, the horrific Hurricane Katrina laid waste to a city that was unprepared to deal with such a major natural disaster.

As levees broke in the metropolitan area, nearly every communication system shut down, leaving emergency crews unaware and unable to evacuate those in harm's way.

Sunday July 12, 2009 from 10 am to 5 pm we will have a special summer Open House at the museum 100 South 4th celebrating 18 years of operation of the restored Fort Smith Light and Traction Co 224. There will have free trolley rides and refreshments.

The Fort Smith Area Amateur Radio Club will have a special event radio station set up in the dinning car. You can see how amateur radio works and talk with the amateurs. There will be a special QSL card for this event.

Mustang amateur radio enthusiasts transmitted their concerns to City Council Tuesday, saying a retooled municipal law governing their hobby is "out of proportion." The newly reworked ordinance was offered by city staff to the Council Tuesday night, but the proposed changes drew fire from the local radio operators and Jerry Smith, Canadian County Emergency Management coordinator. They said the rules would unfairly hamper a hobby that is beneficial to the community anytime there is an emergency.

Both conservationists and the wireless industry continue to press the Federal Communications Commission for some response to concerns that millions of migratory birds fatally collide with mobile phone towers every year. But there are no obvious signs that the Commission has plans to do anything-despite a court order requiring agency action.

Leiper Patterson Read, Jr., of Cranberry Lake, New York, passed away on May 8 at his winter home near Foley, Alabama, after a brief illness. Born in Frostburg, Maryland on January 28, 1921 to Ella B. Read and Leiper P. Read, Sr., he spent most of his youth around eastern Pennsylvania's coal mining region, where his father worked as a mechanic for the mines. From his earliest years "Buddy" took an avid interest in radio technology and obtained his amateur radio operator's license in 1938. A 1939 graduate of Pottsville High School, he served in the Army Air Corps from 1940 to 1945 as a Tech Sergeant, distinguishing himself as an outstanding and inventive radio technician for numerous types of aircraft, including B-24 bombers and the P-51s of the 359th Fighter Group stationed in England.

As Clay County Emergency Management Agency Director, I have learned a lot of things over the last four-and-a-half years.

One of them, is learning the resources and capabilities of the people and organizations here in Clay County. There has been a big push over the last 2-3 years for interoperable communications.

The State of Indiana has been building a statewide infrastructure of radio towers so we can communicate from one end of the state to the other. One of the problems with this system is, if an event happens that destroys a group of these towers, a specific area communications will not exist.

Sitting in a small trailer in Roosevelt Park on Saturday morning, Bill Cunnane's first contact of the day ended up being an individual in Mongolia - an Asian nation that borders Russia and China.
It was the start of the Lincoln County Amateur Radio Group's demonstration during Fourth of July activities in Troy. Folks could step up to the equipment and try to make their own contact while learning about the art of amateur radio.

There's been an emergency in town. The power has been knocked out. Without it, communication between police, ambulance, other authorities and the outside world is impossible.

How can a community make it through?

In such a highly connected age it's difficult to imagine not being able to communicate. Dialling a cell phone or chatting online is simply taken for granted . Not being able to communicate when it's most needed -- in an emergency, would leave most people lost and confused.