By DEBORAH GERTZ HUSAR
Herald-Whig Staff Writer

CARTHAGE, Ill. — When disaster strikes, communication is key for emergency responders.

When traditional means don't work, emergency crews turn to amateur radio operators -- their friends, neighbors, and in some cases, total strangers -- to help spread the word about what needs to be done and where help is most needed.

"We're basically here to help service agencies like (emergency service disaster agencies), Red Cross, the hospital, police, fire," Gary Shanks said.

Shanks is the American Radio Relay League emergency coordinator in Hancock County, the ARRL assistant district emergency coordinator in Northwest Illinois and the Hancock County Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service officer.

He's responsible for making sure ham-radio enthusiasts are prepared to help out in emergency situations by using radio and computers to communicate.

"With a computer program, we can send e-mails over the radio waves," said Shanks, who has been involved in amateur radio for 32 years.

The Big Bend Amateur Radio Club of Hancock County, of which Shanks is a member, provides some of the manpower.

"A lot of what we do is involved with severe weather spotting," working with the National Weather Service, said Big Bend club President Chuck Porter, who had his first ham-radio lesson and started spotting storms at age 12.

The Carthage-based club, founded in 2004, has about 20 members from Illinois, Iowa and Missouri.

Some club members focus on "chasing DX," or talking to stations in foreign countries.

"Once we have a contact, we trade what's called a QSL card, usually in the mail, but some are traded electronically. Having a physical card in your collection is a great thing," Porter said.

Shanks has chased DX stations on several continents.

"I haven't worked the North and South poles, but I've worked Russia, China, Japan. Not too many in the Middle East -- they're too busy fighting -- but I've worked a lot of Europe," he said. "Just to be able to key the mike and talk to somebody clear around the world is what keeps me in here."

Many of those contacts come through contests that have hams competing to try to reach the largest number of people in a specific period of time. Points are awarded for each contact and for use of the different modes -- Morse code, phone (or voice) and digital.

Hams gather in networks, like chat rooms on the airwaves, to visit on a regular basis, Porter said. Others do satellite work; concentrate on the VHF, or very high frequency, band; or just experiment with new technology.

"We have a group now that takes a GPS unit connected to a radio in their car, and they are actually tracked on a screen on the Web, which comes in real handy for storm spotting," Porter said. "You know where your spotters are exactly.

"We spend a lot of time learning new things so we can figure out how to do our own thing, whatever we want to do with ham radio. The number of forms of digital communications keeps growing and growing and growing. We have amateur television."

Ongoing training, turned into fun, keeps skills sharp to handle emergency message traffic in and out of the county.

"We work very hard to drill, but we make it a game, make it fun so everybody will participate," Shanks said.

The club also sponsors a show and flea market, Hamfest, slated for Dec. 11 this year, and a field day, set for June 26-27 at the Emergency Service Disaster Agency office in Carthage.

With mobile units, club members can set up shop anywhere to introduce people to ham radio -- or to help from the scene of an emergency.

"We set up antennas, stations, and show the public what we can do," Shanks said. "When little kids make their first contact, their eyes light up. It's very rewarding."

-- dhusar@whig.com/221-3379