WEST CHESTER HAMS TO HOST RADIO FIELD DAY

CONTRIBUTED

John Graves (left) and Gary West, of West Chester Twp., are members of the West Chester Amateur Radio Association (WCARA).

By Melinda Zemper

Contributing Writer

WEST CHESTER TWP. — 

The West Chester Amateur Radio Association (WCARA) will show off to the public its expertise providing critical communication during emergencies June 27-28 on the front lawn of the National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting.

The 50-member group is front and center in joining around 30,000 ham radio operators nationwide for the American Radio Relay League’s (ARRL) annual Field Day. Its purpose is to provide a comprenhensive evaluation of our nation’s emergency radio capabilities as well as inspire a new generation of ham radio operators. Admission is free.

“We want people to come, bring their families and see that this is not your grandfather’s radio anymore,” said John Graves, vice president of WCARA. “We have a good time while doing interesting and serious work. The communications networks that ham radio operators can quickly create have saved many lives in the past, when other systems failed or were overloaded.”

West Chester hams will demonstrate the capability of local amateur radio operators to conduct emergency radio communications off the power grid for an extended period of time and show how to send messages in many forms without the use of phone systems, internet or any other infrastructure that can be compromised in a crisis.

Over the past year, the news has been full of reports of ham radio operators providing critical communications in emergencies including the California wildfires, Oregon and Michigan storms, tornadoes and other events world-wide, according to an ARRL news release. During Hurricane Katrina in 2005, amateur radio communication was often the only way people could communicate and hundreds of volunteer hams traveled south to save lives and property, said the release.

“It’s important to understand that our current mobile technology is wonderful when it works,” said Jack Dominic, executive director of the National VOA Museum of Broadcasting. “The fact is that for it to work requires countless devices and circuits. Even a simple phone call across town will route your conversation in such a way that it will pass hundreds of points of potential failure. Most of the time all works flawlessly, but during storms or other disasters, we have already seen that it can fail. The simple point-to-point amateur radio communication is something we just might want to keep around. The time will certainly come when we will need it.”

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HOW TO GO

WHAT: American Radio Relay League’s (ARRL) annual Field Day

WHEN: Field Day testing begins at 2 p.m. Saturday, June 27, and runs continuously for 24 hours until 2 p.m. Sunday, June 28

WHERE: National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting, 8070 Tylersville Road

COST: Free

MORE INFO: www.wc8voa.org or email jmgraves@fuse.net

WEST CHESTER HAMS TO HAVE FIELD DAY TO TEST NATION'S EMERGENCY RADIO COMMUNICATIONS

Contributed By: Melinda Zemper | Oak Tree Communications, LLC

West Chester amateur radio fans are just a bunch of “hams”—literally as well as figuratively.

The West Chester Amateur Radio Association (WCARA) will show off to the public its expertise providing critical communication during emergencies on June 27-28 on the front lawn of the historic, art deco National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting.

The 50-member group will join about 30,000 ham radio operators nationwide for the American Radio Relay League’s (ARRL) annual Field Day. Its purpose is to provide a comprenhensive evaluation of our nation’s emergency radio capabilities as well as inspire a new generation of ham radio operators. Admission is free.

“We want people to come, bring their families and see that this is not your grandfather’s radio anymore,” said John Graves, vice president of WCARA. “We have a good time while doing interesting and serious work. The communications networks that ham radio operators can quickly create have saved many lives in the past, when other systems failed or were overloaded.”

West Chester hams will demonstrate the capability of local amateur radio operators to conduct emergency radio communications off the power grid for an extended period of time and show how to send messages in many forms without the use of phone systems, internet or any other infrastructure that can be compromised in a crisis.

Over the past year, the news has been full of reports of ham radio operators providing critical communications in emergencies including the California wildfires, Oregon and Michigan storms, tornadoes and other events world-wide, according to an ARRL news release. During Hurricane Katrina in 2005, amateur radio communication was often the only way people could communicate and hundreds of volunteer hams traveled south to save lives and property, said the release.

“It’s important to understand that our current mobile technology is wonderful when it works,” said Jack Dominic, executive director of the National VOA Museum of Broadcasting. “The fact is that for it to work requires countless devices and circuits. Even a simple phone call across town will route your conversation in such a way that it will pass hundreds of points of potential failure. Most of the time all works flawlessly, but during storms or other disasters, we have already seen that it can fail. The simple point-to-point amateur radio communication is something we just might want to keep around. The time will certainly come when we will need it.”

Field Day testing begins Saturday, June 27 at 2 p.m. and runs continuously for 24 hours until Sunday, June 28 at 2 p.m. Visitors who approach the trailers and tents in front of the VOA museum building at 8070 Tylersville Road can learn how to operate a radio station and get their own FCC radio license before the next disaster strikes, said Graves.

WCARA operates radio station WC8VOA from the VOA museum building. To learn more about local amateur radio, go to www.wc8voa.org or contact Graves at jmgraves@fuse.net.

Mike Braun of West Chester is a member of the West Chester Amateur Radio Association. (Photo Provided)

VOA MUSEUM BOARD APPOINTS TWO NEW MEMBERS

Contributed By: Melinda Zemper | Oak Tree Communications, LLC




A former award-winning Cincinnati TV news anchor and a retired marketing and sales executive who likes to laugh have been appointed to the National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting’s board of directors.

Clyde Gray of Symmes Township, who retired as WCPO (Ch. 9) news anchor in 2014, and Joe Gruber of West Chester, who also retired in 2014 from Intel Corporation, have joined the policy-making museum board.

“These two men will be a great asset to our board because of their creativity and passion,” said Ken Rieser, president of the VOA museum board of directors. 

Gray had a 37-year career as a television news journalist, beginning his career at WXII in Winston-Salem, N.C., his hometown. He worked at WLWT (Ch. 5) in Cincinnati from 1979 through the 1980s, leaving Cincinnati for a stint from 1983-85 as a reporter at WBAL-TV in Baltimore. 

He moved to WCPO (Ch. 9) in 1991, where he anchored the evening news and worked with its investigative reporting unit, the I-Team, and retired from WCPO in 2014.

Gray won a share of the prestigious DuPont Award, plus regional Emmy awards and the Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Newscast nationally.

He has served on the board of the Dan Beard Council of the Boy Scouts of America and on the board of trustees of the Scripps Howard Foundation.

Since retiring from broadcasting in August, 2014, Gray has devoted his time to running the consultancy he founded, Blackboard Marketing. He lives in Symmes Township with his wife and the youngest of his three children. 

“As a journalist, I was attracted to the VOA museum because of the VOA’s history as an accurate, effective news organization,” said Gray. “As a history buff, I think we’ll be able to tell some great stories and spark an interest in our younger generation about the importance of accurate, unbiased reporting and press freedom.”

Gruber started with Intel in 1980 and said he had the honor to work with Andy Grove, Gordon Moore and Bob Noyce to build Intel into the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturer. 

During his 34-year career, Gruber presented at hundreds of domestic and international technical events and was instrumental in driving the Intel Inside brand to market dominance. 

He developed a broad expertise covering product and service development, strategic partnerships and marketing and sales strategy and management. 

Gruber holds an engineering degree from the University of Cincinnati and an MBA from Xavier University. He holds two patents and is also a General Class amateur radio operator.

Gruber is now involved with several internet start-up businesses and is a managing partner at Laugh Publishing, LLC, which produces and manages media and advertising content for web properties with a focus on comedic entertainment.

Gruber and his wife Diane have three children and have lived in West Chester since 1989.

“I was inspired by NASA with our race to the moon,” said Gruber. “Technology was cool then and still gets me excited. VOA has a unique history that’s based on pioneering and innovation, just like NASA and Intel. The VOA brand and story offers a great opportunity to motivate and inspire our next generation of scientists and engineers. Technology still rocks!” 

Gruber has already made an impact promoting the VOA museum’s profile among amateur radio aficionados. He was part of a WCARA group effort to create hands-on demonstrations for the Lakota School District’s Pi Day, which helped educate about 2,000 Lakota students about basic radio-related STEM topics of magnetism, basic electricity and radio wave theory. 

The National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting is located at 8070 Tylersville Road in West Chester. The museum is dedicated to preserving the important contributions the VOA and Bethany Station made in the fight against Nazi propaganda during World War II and the Cold War that followed. 

The VOA museum consists of collections and exhibits from the VOA-Bethany Station; Media Heritage’s Greater Cincinnati Museum of Broadcast History; the Gray History of Wireless Museum; and the West Chester Amateur Radio Association control room. 

It is undergoing renovation, but is open to the public on the third Saturday of each month from 1 to 4 p.m. and is open this month on Saturday, June 20. Admission is $5 for adults and $1 for children under 12. 

Joe Gruber, left, and Clyde Gray are the new appointees to the National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting board of directors.