As of the weekend ending on Sunday, June 8th, 8 new amateur radio operators have received their licenses on Whidbey Island. These newcomers are contributing to an important momentum on this island in Puget Sound, where ham radio operators from the Island County Amateur Radio Club have been giving top priority to emergency preparedness, following a recent conference on the subject held by the South Whidbey Fire/EMS.
Response from that conference inspired the hams to host the weekend test-preparation class which ended with the amateur radio exam itself. One of the instructors, Bob Keeton K7MHJ, told Newsline that with the new amateurs on board, the next step is to get island neighborhoods organized for improved radio response in a crisis. A neighborhood representative with a GMRS radio would be able to communicate with a ham who also holds a GMRS license and together they would gather damage-assessment data and pass that along to the county. Bob, a retired police officer, said that the hams have the ability to use Winlink Peer 2 Peer and VarAC FM to reach the emergency operations center.
As volunteer civilian coordinator between the hams and the Island County Department of Emergency Management, Bob knows that living near an earthquake-prone fault line such as the Cascadia Subduction Zone, requires this kind of readiness.
He said "Anytime we can add another link in our amateur network I am happy."