HEART

My journey into ham radio began in the winter of 2013. I was actually interested in getting my drone pilot’s license and at the time a ham radio technician license was required for some of the longer-range radio control devices. My wife’s best friend was Janie Williams, Ed Williams’ (KN4KL) wife. My wife said Janie told her Ed was into ham radio, so I contacted him about how to get my technician license. He told me about the process, and I sat for and passed my technician exam in February 2014. That would have been sufficient for the drone control, but I was intrigued by the technical side of ham radio from an electronics perspective. Once I started operating, I decided to continue my venture into the HF side of ham radio. So, I studied for the general exam and passed it in April 2014. At that point I figured I would complete the whole licensing process and get my extra ticket. I studied for the extra exam over that summer and took the extra exam at ham fest in September of 2014. I passed and Ed told me I had one more exam to take and that was the volunteer examiner test. I saw that as a way to give back to the hobby and so I became a VE the next month (October 2014). Since then I have been assisting Ed in giving exams as part of the Virginia Beach Amateur Radio Club.

The part of ham radio that most interested me was supporting the local community in disaster preparedness. During one of the weeknight nets run by Ira and Paula I heard from them about this HEART thing. Being somewhat familiar with the medical world (my wife and oldest daughter are both nurses) I thought this area of amateur radio would be a good place to help out. I contacted Ira after the net, and he described his vision of the HEART program. At that time HEART was just beginning but I saw that it would be a very organized effort to help local hospitals in a formal manner. I especially liked the way we were thought of as part of the hospital we were going to serve. So, I became the HEART operator initially for Sentara Leigh and eventually switched to Norfolk General since that is where my daughter was a nurse.

Being able to serve our community in this role is very special. I hope we never have to be activated but, knowing that we are there to support a major disaster I know we will be a vital part of surviving such a disaster and helping our community recover from it.