‘Hams’ Offer Information Lifeline When All Else Fails

John Evelyn, aka VA3JE, sets up radio equipment for the “Field Day” emergency preparedness exercise. The exercise is a 24-hour contest that connects amateur radio operators across North America and awards the club with the most radio “connections” or “links.” (Kristina Skorbach/The Epoch Times)

Disasters can wipe out phone lines and the Internet, leaving those hardest hit cut off from the world. That’s when “hams” come to the rescue with an almost forgotten technology that can go where fallen cell towers cannot reach.

Hams are the operators of amateur radio, the old-time tech that once connect people across oceans. Nowadays, hams are practically a stereotype—laid-back, white-haired retirees who fiddle with dials and antennas, talking to fellow operators across the globe.