HAMILTON, Ohio – Skyp and Jana Harmon’s Caraway Farm barn has housed goats, chickens, horses, and most recently, Galloway cows. But on a recent Saturday, it was home to some hams. The Hamilton Amateur Radio Club (HAMARC) held a field day there, sponsored by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL).

The ARRL Field Day helps to train amateur radio operators to set up communications in case of a national disaster, using emergency power sources only, Skyp Harmon said.

“It is emergency preparedness, being able to set up in a field and transmit from locations other than your home or transmitter site,” Harmon explained. “We are operating on generator power now; yesterday we operated our solar station.”

HAMARC, formed in 2012 and which uses the call signal “Whiskey 8 Aloha Juliet Tango,” was preceded by the Hamilton Radio Association, which had a history of dealing with emergencies. It was founded in 1912 and was one of the first organized amateur radio clubs, said Bob Anello, who lives in the same North C Street Hamilton house where the original club operated.

“The Hamilton Radio Association was operated by two young teenage radio pioneers, Shuler Doron and his brother Joseph. Their father had a huge property on the hill on North C Street called Prospect Hill,” Anello said. “The two brothers built their equipment from scratch and they were heard all over the world.”

The Doron brothers were officers in the signal corps, training Army personnel in communications during World War I, he said. They also formed the Doron Brothers Electrical Co. and built radios for the U.S. Army for use in airplanes to direct artillery.

“Their station was one of six land stations that were set up during the Great Miami River flood of 1913,” Anello said. “The flood affected Dayton and Hamilton but the Doron brothers were immediately given a special way-station license. They had the most powerful transmitter in the city of Hamilton because they were up on the hill a block away from the Great Miami River.”

Over the years, the ARRL Field Day has evolved into being part emergency preparedness event, part picnic, part educational and public relations event, and part club-competition contest event.

For the Field Day, more than 40,000 hams throughout North America set up temporary transmitting stations in public places to demonstrate ham radio’s science, skill, and service. It’s an opportunity to demonstrate how amateur radio might serve in an emergency, and how it can help the general public with special events, according to ARRL.

Meanwhile back in Harmons’ barn, as the clock wound down after a solid day of reaching out across the county, HAMARC had made about 500 contacts, including one to a ten-year-old boy. The group was closing up and everyone was ready enjoy some camaraderie and a grill out.