Starting early Saturday afternoon and going into late Sunday dozens of people are volunteering their time, equipment and experience in the annual A.A.R.L. Field Day. In Everett it’s being held at Harborview Park on Mukilteo Boulevard and is organized by the Snohomish County Hams Club. There are similar set ups all across the country this weekend.
Snohomish County Hams Club practices emergency preparedness by setting up amateur radio stations and powering them with batteries. There is also a contest in which hams can earn points by making contacts with other hams. This year there are four transmitters set up at Harborview Park. You’ll also find a solar array and other emergency equipment designed to work off the power grid. The public is welcome to tour and check out all of the equipment.
James Ludden is the City of Everett radio operator. He tells MyEverettNews.com that in the event of an emergency in the city volunteers can be sent to Everett fire stations to set up communications networking. They are able to patch in various equipment to communicate in case the cell, 800 mhz emergency network or other ways of current communications are unavailable. From the network of fire stations messages can be relayed back to the city’s emergency operations center in south Everett. Operators with portable radios can be placed aboard fire trucks to help crews do windshield surveys and provide damage reports.
Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers (l) and Everett City Councilman Scott Bader (r) chat during Field Day Saturday.
Again if you’d like to see the operation it is going on until 2:00 PM Sunday afternoon at Harborview Park in Everett and if you’d like more information on emergency radio service in Everett and Snohomish County click here.
You can also click here to see more about Emergency Management in Everett.
June 24, 2017
Everett