Amateur radio operators ham it up at annual Field Day in Aquinnah

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The amateur radio transmitter tent in Aquinnah last weekend. — Photo courtesy Patrick Prescott

A popular notion persists of “ham” or amateur radio operators as solitary souls sitting in their basements clicking away on a hit-or-miss homemade radio set, communicating with a similar person in Marrakesh or Manhattan.

That would be wrong, and certainly technologically outdated. Last weekend, two intrepid souls set up two transmitters near the Gay Head Lighthouse in Aquinnah as part of a worldwide event called American Radio Relay League (ARRL) Field Day.

Noah Goldstein and Patrick Prescott are college students enamored by the range of possibilities within noncommercial radio communication, including public service and the freedom to investigate other cultures. They took part in the ARRL event largely out of fellowship with the amateur radio fraternity, and in hopes of drawing attention to their avocation.

The Times caught up with Mr. Goldstein and Mr. Prescott, both in somewhat soggy condition, after a rain- and windswept weekend by the Aquinnah cliffs. They are bright, engaging men who appear typical college students, tempered by a sense of the real world that has been emphasized for them by amateur radio operations.

“When cellphones and the Boston P.D. communication systems went down from overload during the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, amateur radio operators set up, and helped coordinate transport of victims to area hospitals,” Mr. Goldstein, 21, said on Sunday. More recently, he said, amateur operators in the U.S. worked with search and rescue people on the ground in Nepal to help enable communication following the earthquake devastation.

Mr. Goldstein, an aviation science major at Bridgewater State University, is working at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional Airport this summer. Mr. Goldstein’s concentration is flight management. “I’m willing to trust my life to physics and a one-ton metal box,” he said with a laugh.

“The Field Relay event is essentially an ARRL emergency drill conducted across North America and some European countries. It simulates what amateur radio operators would do in an emergency of any sort in any part of the country. Really, it’s a test of how effective your station is, and how quickly you can put it together. We have 24 hours to complete the process, including setup of the station and contacting other operators. No commercial power may be used to operate the station. People use bicycles, solar power, hand cranking, or generators, which we used,” said Mr. Goldstein.

It doesn’t get much more real than that. Now this may be completely old school and generational, but frankly, it’s a relief to run into kids like this, as we so often observe the many selfie-obsessed millennials using smart phone screens for mindless sharing.

Something feels healthy about the techno-savviness of people who can adapt and repurpose old technology to fresh and important uses. Mr. Prescott, a computer science major entering his senior year at Pace University in New York, explained that the use of old AM radio station licenses and outdated television broadcast equipment now allows the nearly 2 million amateur radio operators worldwide to network emails, video, news, and information to one another.

What amateur radio operators cannot do, according to Federal Communication Commission (FCC), is use the airways for any commercial use, or be compensated in any way for their transmissions. What they can do, in their spare time, is to assist in public service projects. Both are part of the Boston Marathon communication team, and Mr. Goldstein slogged through feet of snow last winter, measuring snow depths and wind velocities for the National Weather Service in Taunton.

Despite a rainy blow that toppled an antenna and forced them to shelter in the Aquinnah public restrooms early Sunday (“Not optimum, but good shelter and very clean,” Mr. Prescott said), the hams were satisfied.“We made about 37 confirmed contacts with other operators. Not a high total, but solar storms were occurring that limited communication for awhile,” Mr. Prescott said, noting that public awareness of amateur radio operation can be sketchy. “A lot of people confuse us with CB (citizens band) radio,” he said. Same concept, different capabilities. “Using a half-watt of power and Morse code, you can reach halfway around the world,” he said, noting that transmitters have been built inside Altoid breath mint containers.

On the local level, the Cape and Islands have a rich history in amateur radio, Mr. Prescott explained. In 1912, Guglielmo Marconi’s newfangled wireless station in Wellfleet on Cape Cod picked up a distress signal from the RMS Titanic off Nova Scotia. The transmissions were cited by an inquiry board as lifesaving for the surviving Titanic passengers and crew.

Last weekend was Mr. Prescott’s first visit here. “The Island has been so welcoming to us. People read about the event in your paper, and came by, asking about our station. Adam Wilson [Aquinnah town administrator] helped us get approval from the selectmen, and then came by and checked with us. The Aquinnah police provided shelter, and Jack Flynn at the airport lent us the generator we used. The Boy Scouts in Bellingham [Mr. Prescott’s hometown] lent us a tent, which, unfortunately, did not survive the weekend weather. But we’ll replace that, and we’ll do this again,” Mr. Prescott said.

To learn more about amateur radio and the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) Field Day, visit arrl.org.