Houston Polson has a varied and interesting background. He has a BS in Textile Chemistry and in Technical Education, he has a MBA and a Juris Doctor degree. He is retired from the US Air Force and currently serves as a part-time deputy with the Sheriff’s office. However, he came to speak to the Kiwanis club about Ham radios.
On April 1 of this year he became the Louisiana Section Manager of the American Radio Relay League. He has been a ham radio operator since July 1984. At the convention in Dayton, Ohio, they had the largest gathering of hams, 35,878 people came through the gates. It was 3 days of information about hams-57 forums or programs and the world’s largest flea market. Polson even came home with a few things himself.
There are 878,00 ham radio operators licensed in the United States. The American Radio Relay League is the national organization for amateur radio operators. It is a service-voluntary, non-commercial radio services in times of emergency. In Hurricane Laura and Hurricane Ida the only communication available was ham radio services for several days. Besides their own beacons they can also bounce off of satellites. The ARRL has 150,000 members nationwide and is for the advancement of the art and science of radio. They are not good at marketing themselves but would like to see more people on the air. They are an advocate with the FCC. There are a lot of things that can be done with ham radios.
Something you may not know is that LED lights and solar panels can interfere with radio frequency waves. A lot of technical things today such as Bluetooth were developed by or because of ham radios.
Polson leads a group of field service volunteers (75 and there’s always a need for more) for emergencies. Since 1926 except during WWII they have had annual field day operations. This involves going out into National parks, using generators and trying to make as many contacts as possible. There are awards for contacting all 125 parks in the US. There are many different contests ham radio operators can enter usually involving how many contacts are made.
Governor Jeff Landry has proclaimed the last week of June as Amateur Radio Week in Louisiana. Polson gave Kiwanis way more information than could be written in this article. Ham radios are a very necessary way to communicate in times of emergency.