BEARS radio operators will man station during Bear Fest

The public is invited to drop by the Special Event Station Saturday for a ham radio event sponsored by the Bayouland Emergency Amateur Radio Service, or BEARS.
The station will be on the grounds of Parc sur la Teche in Franklin during the Bayou Teche Black Bear Festival.
The home base for the club is Morgan City but membership is made up of ham radio operators from throughout St. Mary, Iberia, Lafayette and Acadia parishes as well as members from Texas and Florida.
The club’s purpose is emergency preparedness and to keep members current with pertinent activities; a special Amateur Radio Emergency Service, or ARES net, is held every Sunday for members and non-members to check in to for the latest information.
The club has been recognized for more than 25 years of service as an American Radio Relay League Affiliated Club and has also been recognized as a Special Service Club by the ARRL. The club is active in community affairs and makes itself available when help is needed. It is also available to help anyone interested in becoming a ham radio operator by sponsoring classes and test sessions, as testing is required to obtain a ham radio license.
There are 26 members of the club. Longevity of member licenses ranges from less than a year to over 50 years as a licensed ham radio operator.
The station will be set up directly across from the Young Sanders Center on Teche Drive. The purpose of the station is to show the public what can be achieved at a portable station, talking strictly on a wire antenna. In addition operators will be publicizing the Bayou Teche Black Bear Festival across the country to ham operators who will be calling in to the station on the bayou. Also, an Echo Link station will be receiving calls and will be able to show the public just how many stations worldwide are listed on Echo Link. This is a combination of digital communications tied in with VHF radio.
At the special event station last year the club was contacted by more than 100 stations from throughout the United States and many wrote that they would be looking for the station again this year.
A photograph of operator 9M2CW, P.K. Chin of Ipoh, Malaysia, who is one of Jackie Price’s radio contacts, will be on display. Leonard Price from Morgan City, Jackie Price’s son, was able to meet Chin and his family and have dinner with them on his trip to Malaysia two years ago and again six weeks ago.
Jackie, KA5LMZ, had sent Chin a pound of CDM Coffee and Chicory, a can of condensed milk and the recipe for making café a’lait. In response, Mr. Chin asked Leonard to bring back some of Ipoh’s world famous White Coffee. A packet of this will be in the radio booth also for interested people to see. This presentation will be handled by Deborah Price, N5FMI.
By showing these items, members of BEARS hope to convey the idea to the general public that you are able to meet so many interesting people from all over the world, but still stay in your little hometown.
There will also be a presentation on the Young Lady Radio League presented by Karen Marshall, KE5RPI. The YLRL is a worldwide organization of women ham radio operators who are very active on ham radio throughout the year.
The station will operate from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Message forms will also be available in the event you would like to send someone a message via ham radio.
Meetings are the second Wednesday of each month at 6 p.m. in Morgan City. If interested, please call 985-384-3875 or stop by and visit the station.