Ham Radio Operators are On the Same Wavelength as First Responders:

Brigantine has long been the home base to the Shore Points Amateur Radio Club, or SPARC, a group of what are commonly called ham radio operators, who communicate with others around the world via radio, and are sometimes asked to assist first responders in emergency situations. SPARC's roots date back to 1974 when its home base was in Pleasantville and the club was initially called RAM, or Radio Amateurs Menagerie. Its membership has fluctuated in size over the decades, at one time approaching roughly 200 South Jersey hams, who are required to secure Federal Communications Commission licensing through a series of tests and levels of proficiency. With each progressive level, ranging from novice through amateur extra, more radio frequencies become available for use to the licensed operators. Members meet monthly at the Brigantine Community Center, and two or three times per week there are networking sessions, called "ham nets," in which several operators participate in de facto practice sessions for potential emergency situations. SPARC operators played a key role in backup communications during severe weather conditions such as Superstorm Sandy and the derecho that took down power lines, disabled cellphone towers and crippled many conventional modes of communication. Ham operators transmit and receive signals on a designated spectra of UHF and VHF frequencies that use, or are backed up by, battery power.

from Ham Radio Times http://ift.tt/2vqfp4E
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