Ham radio convention visits RS

For quite possibly the first time, Southwest Wyoming hosted the ham radio conference on this side of the state.

Rick Breininger, president of the Sweetwater Amateur Radio Club, said as far as he knows this past weekend was the first time Southwest Wyoming has hosted the 2018 American Radio Relay League Wyoming Section Convention. The convention took place at the Sweetwater Events Complex this Saturday with about 60 in attendance from Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Idaho.

"It moves around the state every year," Breininger said. "I think it says our location is interesting and growing."

He said the Sweetwater Club was asked if they would be willing to host it on this side of the state and the club was happy to. He said it is a convenient location because Rock Springs is located right along Interstate 80.

In the past, the convention was hosted over a two-day span, but this year it was one day. Breininger said since it was their first year hosting the event they wanted to start small knowing they could always get bigger in future years. To make the event a success, the Sweetwater Club lined up vendors and speakers to attend the event.

Spencer Shields was one of the quest speakers at the convention and he gave a talk on how he was hunting near Pinedale and how he used a ham radio to save his life. Using a ham radio while he was in a life-threatening situation, allowed him to contact a lady in Pinedale who calmed him down and helped him do the right things to stay alive, while she got help to him.

Another speaker was Bob Overton, who has been a licensed ham since 1970, worked in telecommunications 35 years for the BNSF railroad, and taught Electronics at Yakima Valley JR College and held a Commercial Radio Telephone license for 37 years. He spoke about protecting two-meter repeaters and base stations with a quarter wave shorted stub. 

Mike Covey, was another speaker who, joined the ARRL Headquarters staff as the emergency preparedness manage. He has also served as an emergency management volunteer, disaster response volunteer, reserve police officer, law enforcement academy and public safety instructor, and on emergency operations center staff.

Breininger said the Sweetwater Club is trained and ready to act as Sweetwater County's backup communication should a disaster occur in Sweetwater County. He said the club works closely with Sweetwater County Emergency Management. 

He said those who are involved in ham radio have often been sent to help out in disasters such as when the hurricane hit Puerto Rico. Ham radio operators were sent to Puerto Rico to help communications between the fire departments, police departments and other emergency responders. 

In fact, a group out of Kansas called KCN Rescue, was supposed to be at the convention, couldn't come because they were asked to help out with the most recent hurricane Florence that hit North Carolina this week.

Ham radio operators are non-paid professionals licensed by the government. They have their own frequencies and all one has to pay for it the license and the equipment.

"We do it because it's fun," Breininger said. "It's a hobby."

Award received

Breininger was quite surprised when he found out he was named the Wyoming Ham of the Year for 2017. He said he never thought he would receive this distinguished award.

Nominations for the award are submitted to the award committee, while then sends its recommendation onto the Wyoming Section Manager Jack Mitchell who then approved the recommendation.

One of Breininger's favorite parts of being a ham radio is chatting with people around the world Australia, Europe and Japan.

"I do that from my house," he said."

He said those interested can even start out with just a hand-held device and chat with locals. All they have to do it buy the equipment and the license.