Public invited to Amateur Radio Open House demonstrations on April 18
Ron Lewis KN4ZUJ explains an antenna while local gerontologist Dr. Manish Sahni watches.
Press release from North Florida Amateur Radio Club
ALACHUA, Fla. – Local volunteers who serve Alachua County to provide backup radio communications during disasters will hold an Amateur Radio Open House demonstration on Saturday, April 18, 8:00 a.m. to noon, at the San Felasco Hammock State Park Trail pavilion, located just south of the city of Alachua. The public is invited to come and see ham radio stations in action during their “Parks on the Air” radio contact competition. You or your children can even get on the air under our watchful guidance!
Come see how much wholesome fun ham radio is, watching over the shoulders of our teams making contacts all over the nation without any Internet or cell phone at all! As you get the hang of it, they may get YOU on the air, too!
Directions: The park address is 13201 Progress Blvd. Enter from U.S. Hwy 441 or NW 133rd Terrace/Progress Blvd, which curves to connect CR 241 to U.S. Hwy 441. The park entrance is on the south side of the road and marked with a park sign. In addition to the pavilion, the hiking trail there is quite popular!
Earl Sloan KI4OXD heads up the Open House for the local North Florida Amateur Radio Club, while Ron Lewis KN4ZUJ heads up our team members competing in the Florida Parks On The Air national contest. Multiple stations similar to disaster radio deployments will be present simultaneously. There is a park admission price of $4/vehicle (cell phone/texting honor submission), but a donor has offered to reimburse the first ten vehicles that come and sign up at our display.
Volunteers from our group provided scores of volunteer hours during hurricanes in recent years, resulting in a potential local “match” for tens of thousands of federal FEMA reimbursement dollars. Our group hosts training courses for amateur radio licenses each year and in 2025 was the highest-scoring Emergency Operations Center-associated club in the entire nation in the summer ARRL Field Day emergency preparedness exercise. This was the first time a Florida team ever took that distinction, demonstrating the prowess of our local radio heroes!