As the weekly sirens sound on Saturdays in Norman, Lea Greenleaf sits near a tower to confirm its functionality.
Greenleaf is known as a HAM operator, or amateur radio operator, and has been helping with the siren tests in Norman for several years.
“There are HAMs all over Norman and Cleveland County sitting in proximity of one of the sirens, and we verify that they are working,” Greenleaf said. “(Sirens) have electronic feedback that tells (us) that they are working, but (we have) found out over time that the system is not always dependable and so as one of our public service things, we wait for them to go off, make sure the speakers are working, how long it goes off for, and we report that.”
Greenleaf is president of the South Canadian Amateur Radio Society, a group of HAMs that started in 1977. HAMs use radio to communicate messages on nets, which are on-the-air gatherings of radio operators. The club fluctuates between 140 and 180 members, and members range from 13 to nearly 100 years old.
SCARS has been involved with Skywarn, a program with nearly 290,000 volunteers that act as severe weather spotters for the National Weather Service. Skywarn spotters give information about weather hazards to the NWS, which then relay these reports to forecasters.
“They will report on it from there and say, ‘I have hail this size, or this amount of wind,’ because the weather service knows what's happening, but until there's eyes on it or reports it, it’s not real, and we are that component that can verify it,” Greenleaf said.
In coordination with Emergency Management, Greenleaf said when a qualifying event happens, he will get on the radio and ask for stations to check into the net. People then check in and give their locations.
“From that, we will be able to create a picture of where (the storms) are located and what we are getting from the media and National Weather Service,” Greenleaf said. “We start getting reports back to filter back to agencies.”
Becoming a certified spotter requires training through the NWS, in which information is provided for properly reporting and identifying different types of clouds, how a storm builds and the structure of a storm.
“It’s important to be consistent throughout because there is terminology spotters use, like using golf balls or softballs as hail size classification,” Greenleaf said. “They have to have this training once every two years and turn certificates into an Amateur Emergency Services coordinator that keeps track of who's trained and who isn’t.”
Greenleaf said SCARS does monthly testing for those who wish to get certain types of licenses. They will train people for free, and those who are interested can obtain one of three types of licenses.
“The first class is the technician license, which is a 35-question test and is probably the easiest to get,” Greenleaf said. “You have to know what the law is about operating the radio locally and internationally because we can talk around the world.”
SCARS club members also assist those wishing to upgrade from a tech to a general license, which involves more electronics understanding but expands options for bands and increases in power. The third and highest license is the extra class, which requires a high level of understanding of radio transmitters and theory pertaining all aspects of radio operation.
SCARS was recognized this spring as the Hamvention 2020 Club of the Year, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the club was unable to travel to Dayton, Ohio to accept the award at a national convention. This is a designation that acknowledges the demonstration of thorough involvement in various aspects of amateur radio for the benefit of a respective club’s community and country.
COVID-19 has also affected the way SCARS meets, Greenleaf said. The meeting scheduled for Saturday will be done virtually for safety purposes, and they have been doing most things from a distance, Greenleaf said.
HAMs have the ability to not only talk remotely, but worldwide. During the peak of the pandemic in Italy, Greenleaf talked to citizens of the country about what was happening there and here in the U.S.
Greenleaf said he enjoys being a HAM operator.
“It has the tendency to make the world a much smaller place, because you’re meeting people and finding out about them and their capabilities as far as equipment is concerned,” Greenleaf said. “It’s not like a telephone conversation, but being able to make those contacts makes it a more personable place. A lot of people don’t know anything about us, but we help make sure they are staying safe.”
Jeff Elkins
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