Mile High Radio Club sees membership rise

Idyllwild’s Mile High Radio Club is a local nonprofit organization that helps our community stay in touch with the outside world during emergencies. They hold their monthly meetings at Middle Ridge Winery. A lively and diverse group crowded around the big table in the center of the room on Tuesday night, February 4. A few members joined in by zoom.

Middle Ridge owner Chris Johnston, a club member, is almost as enthusiastic about Ham Radio as he is about wine, and his talents as a recruiter were praised by members, who partly credited him with the Club’s post-Covid resurgence in membership. President Roland Gaebert notes that “you don’t have to be an operator to join the club and support the mission.”

MHRC is among the local groups that have resolved to make our community ready for emergencies. One flyer on their website reminds us that modern communications systems are convenient but complex, and complexity makes them prone to disruptions. Amateur radio is comparatively low-tech, and this makes it a useful tool in emergencies. Repeaters allow signals to go beyond the few miles that a handheld or home base radio can reach, and even if repeater stations are out of operation, messages can still be relayed user to user.

The most basic system may start not much over $100. With a simple license, you become part of a nationwide net of over 700,000 Hams. The Club provides help with study materials, teaches the classes, and administers the tests. The licensing process, including study time, can take as little as four weeks, “If a person is driven,” says Gaebert. “Some take a few months, people are busy.” There is an etiquette to operating a two-way radio on an open channel, but the rules are mostly common-sense steps to avoid interruptions, or keep them polite. “There are standards that require discipline.”

Much informal teaching goes on at meetings, as old hands help new members with gear and the knowledge they need to pass the license exams. Gaebert summed it up; members “all support each other, all support the cause. We are all ambassadors for Amateur Radio, we encourage those who are interested to get their license, and we can help them with that.”

Judy Milin was one of several MHRC members that told the Town Crier that January’s power outages underlined the importance of the club. “When the power was out for five days, I had no Wi-Fi, I was completely cut off. It was great to be able to communicate with someone offline.”

Richard Yocum, active in Mountain Disaster Preparedness (MDP) and president of the Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit (RMRU), said he is there because the club “does good work.” He said he has noted a lot of new members over the last year and a half. Bill Tell, a former long-time club president, helps give the group continuity with his experience.

Some newer members present that night had previous experience with radio but are new to Ham. One said he had operated radio in the Marines for 30 years. Another learned to use GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) for safety on hiking trips. A few were there for the first or second meeting.

Business at the meeting included the care and improvement of the Club’s repeaters. Mile High Radio Club maintains four repeaters at three locations: Santa Rosa Mountain, Pine Cove, and the Girl Scout camp (Skyland Ranch).

These repeaters have batteries, some with solar recharging, to keep transmitting when the power is out. Gaebert explains “We can usually operate a good 24 hours or more without power. Cell towers have that problem also. After the Cranston Fire, and when the highway washed out, the cell towers had backup generators and fuel, but the fuel ran out. We were able to maintain communication with the Office of Emergency Services in Riverside.”

There was also talk about outreach with the Girl Scouts, helping them earn their radio badges. In past years they have done this with the Boy Scouts at Camp Emerson.
MHRC also supports: Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Services (RACES), the official volunteer communications arm of the Riverside County Office of Emergency Services, which operates under the auspices of FEMA for disaster communications. They assist in providing radio communications for local agencies and others during emergencies and special events. “

MHRC’s regular meetings are the first Tuesday of each month. There is a meet and greet at 6 PM, and the meeting begins at 6:30. Middle Ridge Winery is located at 54301 North Circle Drive, Idyllwild, 92549. Learn more at milehighradioclub.org. Their website includes general preparedness guidelines and a link to www.ready.gov.