JOHNSTOWN - When Tropical Storm Irene brought heavy rain and wind to the region, members of the Tryon Amateur Radio Club stationed at locks along the Mohawk River joined other clubs throughout the region to provide vital information to emergency personnel.
The club provides volunteer emergency communication, but it's been without a place to call home for nearly a decade.
Now, the 25-member ham radio club has a new Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service Station at the Fulton County Emergency Operations Communications office in the county's services complex on Route 29.
The club provides emergency communication for the county as defined by the Federal Communications Commission. It carries out weekly drills and training to keep equipment and skills up to date.
That means when the Internet and phone lines go down, the volunteer members of the club can still communicate.
On Wednesday, the club dedicated its new RACES station to founding member and 34-year President Gary D. Ashe.
Ashe was president until his death in 2007. His co-founder, Otto Boerner III, succeeded him as president, and now Don Gifford is the club's third president.
Gifford said Ashe figured out how to install a key pad in his vehicle - well before car or cell phones - that he could use to dial phone numbers.
"Ham radio was a big part of his life; he really enjoyed it," Joyce Ashe said of her husband.
That love was passed down to his son, Jeffrey Ashe, who received FCC permission to keep his father's call letters -K2RKW - on his license plates.
"Our whole family is very honored," Joyce said of the dedication.
The new station includes a digital station, a VHF - very high frequency - radio for local communications, and a new $600 HF - high frequency - radio.
The HF radio is crucial as it operates on the same frequency as state communications, Gifford said.
Gifford said the new home will give the club a place to offer more testing so people can obtain licensing.
For more information on the club, visit www.k2jji.org.
Nathan Littauer Hospital Telecommunications Administrator J. Scott Retersdorf talked about a backup communications system at the hospital. About five years ago, hospitals across the nation received communications kits from the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which would allow all hospitals to be on the same page.
"This sort of ties all hospitals together," Retersdorf said.
Rusty Seastrum, a radio engineer for the state Office of Interoperable Emergency Communications and president of the Mohawk Valley Amateur Radio Association, also spoke at the event.
As a radio engineer for the OIEC, Seastrum responds when called to duty for events such as the Northeast blackout of 2003 and the 2011 flooding in Cobleskill.
"Even in the worst disasters, [ham radio operators] have turned out to be a really good means of communication," Seastrum said.
