THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 15, 1995 TAG: 9501130228
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JUDITH PARKER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
Tim Reeves was in front of his radio transmitter station ``just sitting and carrying on with Bob in Salt Lake City'' when the conversation took a quick turn.
``Tim, hey Tim, I heard an SOS,'' said the gravelly voice coming through Reeves' headset.
Reeves, sitting straight up in his chair, said, ``Say again, Bob!''
On instinct, Reeves shut off his access to the far-reaching network of other ham radio operators. He needed to hear Bob's message again. And fast.
``An SOS, Tim.''
With 20 years experience as a ham radio operator, Reeves knows that any SOS message might be a hoax. Or it might mean imminent disaster. At a time like this one, making time stand still to get a proper fix on the Mayday signal would make the butterflies in an operator's stomach go away.
But instead, time races.
``I started turning the antennas, switching back and forth between two frequencies, trying to get a good fix on the SOS,'' Reeves said in interview in his transmitter/receiving station.
Within minutes, Reeves zeroed in on the click-clack of the international Morse Code plea for help . . . three dots . . . three dashes . . . three dots.
On a second adjustment of the antennas, Reeves' receiving station found the world map coordinates he was searching for . . . 90 degrees 20.9 minutes west, 25 degrees 29.2 minutes north. The faint signal was coming from just off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula in eastern Mexico.
``I immediately called the Coast Guard in Portsmouth, and in minutes they had a plane flying out of New Orleans,'' Reeves recalled.
``A 30-foot sailing vessel had gone down when a low-pressure area made up real quick. But before the Coast Guard could reach him, a Swedish freighter picked him up.''
Reeves, a retired Norfolk Naval Shipyard boilermaker, is a member of the Portsmouth Amateur Radio Club, a loosely organized group of nearly 50 men and women.
``We try to help whenever we can . . . it's just one of the things we do,'' he said.''
While most of their on-air time is spent conversing, or `on net,' with ham operators anywhere from a neighboring town to someone halfway around the world, dealing with emergencies, however infrequent, is what keeps their adrenalin pumping.
``All I know is that guy slept good, warm, and dry back home in Galveston that night.''
The Portsmouth Club will begin offering introductory classes Wednesday to persons interested in becoming ham radio operators.
The 11-week classes will teach the basics necessary to prepare to take the novice license test for amateur radio operators, including Federal Communications Commission rules and regulations, radio theory, how to select and assemble equipment, and radio etiquette.
Novice is the first of five amateur licenses issued by the FCC, and is required for operation of a ham radio station. Amateur operators share short-wave radio frequencies with local police forces and television stations, airlines and ships, so following rules and regulations assures non-interference among users.
While the novice license doesn't require much technical knowledge, with it, novices are able to send and receive international Morse Code messages at a rate of five words a minute. Voice transmission, however, is not allowed, but does come as hams obtain advanced licenses through an increase in technical knowledge.
After talking about the emergency work that amateur radio operators might respond to, and his nighttime cracker-barrel roundtables with ``Jim'' and ``Boyd,'' Reeves offers a clue as to where the ``ham'' in ham operator comes from.
``Well, you know, back in the days of Vaudeville, there were a lot of comics who stood up in front of an audience and said a whole lot about nothing.
``That answer your question?'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MARK MITCHELL
Tim Reeves, a retired boilermaker, has been a ham radio operator for
20 years.
AT A GLANCE
Ham Radio Classes will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the Churchland
branch library, 3215 Academy Ave. For more information, call:
484-1048 or 484-1260.
Ham radio classes will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the Churchland
branch library, 3215 Academy Ave. For more information, call:
484-1048 or 484-1260.
by CNB