PARSIPPANY — The Parsippany Office of Emergency Management Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (R.A.C.E.S.) volunteers participated in the National Emergency Communications Field Day Exercise this weekend, Saturday, June 27 and Sunday, June 28.
All across North America Ham Radio operators take to the outdoors and set up emergency communication radio stations and operated them continuously for a 24 hour period, with the goal of successfully communicating with as many other stations participating in the event as possible.
Parsippany RACES set up their emergency communications station at the Veterans Field Gazebo on Route 46, and operated their station from 2:00 p.m. Saturday to 2:00 p.m. Sunday. Tens of thousands of Ham Radio operators throughout the country participate in this annual event, in order to hone their skills in the event of an emergency situation.
Braving the rains as might be the case during a real emergency, members contacted over 450 other operators around the country even as far away a Hawaii, in this grueling 24 hour event.
All registered ham operators in Parsippany received a postcard inviting them to attend and they did have some visits from operators.
Councilman Mike dePierro stopped by twice, bringing coffee and donuts for the evening crew.
For questions and inquiries, contact Eric Hubner at (973) 390-0192 Deputy Emergency Management Coordinator, Township of Parsippany-Troy Hills.
