The backup to the backup

PLATTSBURGH | What would you do if the power went out? While it's never a celebrated occasion when the power goes out, it does happen on occasion. It usually means a few hours in the dark, and a phone call to the power company, but what happens if the cell phone towers went down as well? Not only is there no power, so by default no internet, but there is no cell service, no way to call for help, no way to stay informed. What do you do then? Mark Varin found himself asking that very question. "I got involved in amateur radio, I mean I was a bit of a techy, I guess you could call it when I was younger, but about three years ago, I really started looking into emergency preparedness and at that time communications again being one of the most important things during an emergency, I found that exact scenario presented itself to me, and I thought to myself, what would I do? And Amateur Radio was one place that you could go to, that you were pretty much guaranteed the ability to communicate with other people," Varin said. Today Varin is the president of the Champlain Valley Amateur Radio Club, also known as CVARC. CVARC currently has 44 active members although there are 200 licensed ham operators in Clinton County. HAM BACKSTORY Amateur Radio enthusiasts are often referred to as hams. It's an origin story that has unfortunately been lost with time, although there are a few theories on how the nickname originated. Some of the most common are from Amateur Radio operators being ham-handed when they were first starting out, and others theorize that it's from clogging up the airwaves. Although the origin of the nickname has been lost, ham is now commonly used to refer to Amateur Radio operators. AMATEUR RADIO Amateur Radio dates all the way back to the early 1900s but the American Radio Relay League wasn't created until 1914. Today there are currently 780,263 active Federal Communication Commission, referred to as FCC, licenses across the nation according to FCC public data files last updated on Nov. 2. Locally, CVARC wasn't founded until 1955 and was popular until the early 1970s when the club began to decline, by 1972 the club was inactive. In the meantime, another group, Northern Adirondack Repeater Association, NARA, emerged and was an active organization until 1985 when it was decided by NARA and CVARC members to merge into a reorganized CVARC. CLUB GOAL The goal of CVARC is to promote the ham radio hobby while providing emergency services to the community when needed. "There are two basic services that HAM radio operators provide, they're called RACES and ARES and it's an acronym. RACES is for Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service and ARES is Amateur Radio Emergency Service. Basically, they perform the same functions, however, the difference is in how we're activated. RACES service is activated by a governmental agency like the county, the state, or the federal government. In times of war, RACES could be the only means of communication other than the military. ARES activation is a little bit different, that can be a little less serve situation. During the ice storm of '98, for instance, there was both an ARES activation and a RACES activation and what we do is amateur radios will go out and they'll provide communications when other communications infrastructure is down…," Varin explained. That's not all CVARC does for the community though, they also help provide communication for events where cell service isn't the best. Varin said, "Another thing about what we do, ham radio in general, but this club specifically, that a lot of people don't know about is we provide communications for events like the Iron Man in Lake Placid, and marathons, we do Schroon Lake Marathon as well. The 90 Miler, which is a 90-mile canoe race that extends over three days in the Adirondack lakes area and we provide their communications." GET INVOLVED "First of all get some information. Look to the internet for test questions, etc., etc. Find out what ham radio is all about if you are interested in pursuing [it]. Then talk to any of the members of the club. We have contact information available on our website which is cvarc.us. Certainly, we can steer them in the right direction, you know, where to go for information and whatnot," said Varin. Anyone is welcome to join the club, but in order to practice ham radio, an FCC license is required. The test to receive an FCC license is offered every other month in Plattsburgh. It can cost as little as $50 to purchase a basic dual-band radio to get started. To learn more about CVARC or Amateur Radio visit CVARC.us.

Signup for our newsletter

The backup to the backup

COMPANY

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

SUBMISSION FORMS

BEYOND THE NEWS