South Hills Amateur Radio Club keeps dots and dashes on the airwaves

In age of cellphones, ham radio enthusiasts practice time-honored communication methods

By Harry Funk

Visitors to South Fayette Community Day applied a bit of 21st century technology to a mid-19th century method of communication.

Members of the South Hills Amateur Radio Club Inc.—its acronym is SHARC, with a shark mascot and logo—brought an array of equipment to Fairview Park, including a combination transmitter-receiver, an antenna and a laptop computer.

They also allowed the public to transmit Morse code using an iambic double-paddle key—a device that lets modern folks transmit dots (alternatively called dits) and dashes (dahs) faster than, say, inventor Samuel F.B. Morse could 180 or so years ago.

“You had to press up and down, and space your ‘dits’ and your ‘dahs’ yourself. This spaces them for you,” club president James Mounts explained.

“You can connect this up to a receiver and tune the radio to hear the code, and it’ll decipher it and put it out on the computer screen. The kids like that.”

For example, keying “hi” as a universally understood greeting would involve four short dots, followed by a short pause, then two more dots.

Or perhaps a youngster named Amy would learn how to key her name with these signals: A dot and a dash for “A,” two dashes for “M” and dash-dot-dash for “Y.”

“There are still ham radio operators, that’s all they’ll do is Morse code,” Mounts said, using the time-tested nickname for amateur radio. “They love it.”

Sustained modern-day use of Morse code came as a surprise to some folks who dropped by the club’s Community Day booth Aug. 23.

So did the continued interest of hams, or amateur radio enthusiasts, in contacting one another by voice or code during an era when connectivity through cellular telephones and the internet is taken for granted.

But what if a catastrophe causes outages among familiar forms of communication?

“You need to be prepared,” Danielle Mounts, James’ wife and the club’s vice president/treasurer, advised. “People say, ‘Oh, you know what? I have a landline if my cellphone is down.’ No, you don’t.”

The capability of ham radio operators to reach one another around the globe can help bridge the gap.

A pediatric nurse by profession, Danielle would like to instruct young people about the practice to ensure adequate preparation in case of emergency.

Club member Paul Mulcahey shares her viewpoint.

“When you meet ham radio operators, you’re likely to meet someone who’s, I’m going to say, 50 or over,” he said. “There’s always been a thrust for local clubs, such as the South Hills club, to hold classes and try to develop an interest in the younger generations.”

Paisley Gust, Danielle’s granddaughter, offers hope for the future: An associate club member at age 6, she’s developing a keen interest.

“She listens and watches and asks questions,” Paisley’s grandmother said. The club offers educational programs at its monthly meetings, usually held from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. the fourth Saturday of each month at the Upper St. Clair Library.

For practical application of amateur radio, the club participates in the annual American Radio Relay League Field Day. Members gathered at Fairview Park’s Lafayette Pavilion in June to make as many contacts as possible within an allotted time.

“Everyone is set up so that they can prove they can set up an emergency station,” James Mounts said.

Mounts brought a rechargeable battery to power equipment on Community Day—and August 23 happened to mark the 32nd anniversary of the club's founding.

Mounts' interest in amateur radio coincided with the peak popularity of the citizens band (CB)—think C.W. McCall’s novelty song “Convoy” or Burt Reynolds in “Smokey and the Bandit”—as a pre-cellphone way to communicate wirelessly.

“In 1975, I got my first CB radio base station. I worked all summer to pay for it,” Mounts said. “I started with that, and then I get in tinkering with the radio, and I actually moved it into the ham radio band. I started talking, and somebody said, ‘You shouldn’t be on here.’”

While anyone can talk on the relatively low-powered, short-range citizens band, a license is required for the vast array of frequencies available through amateur radio.

As it turned out, the person who provided the warning lived near Mounts.

“He and I became friends. We’re still friends. He gave me my novice exam,” Mounts said about the requirement at the time for an entry-level license, “and I’ve been a ham ever since.”

Mulcahey’s experience began with his hometown Uniontown Amateur Radio Club, which placed a newspaper ad for potential members when he was young.

“The next thing you know, I was taking lessons in Morse code and electronics and things like that,” he said. “I got my novice license, and the president of the club at the time helped me build a small transmitter and receiver.”

Although his participation in the hobby dropped off later as he concentrated on his career, he is focusing on it again, especially with his membership in the South Hills club.

In the U.S., the Federal Communications Commission grants three sequential classes of ham radio licenses: technician, general and amateur extra, and operators must pass exams to attain each. Higher classes provide increasing privileges to operate on different radio frequency bands and power levels.

Danielle Mounts, who earned her technician license last year, reiterated the importance of passing along relevant information to people who can apply it in the future.

“The problem is that the older we get,” she said, “if we don’t say anything, if we don’t teach, how are they going to know?”

For a head start, check out the South Hills Amateur Radio Club at sharc.net or call 724-263-1289.

Harry Funk is a freelance writer.