HEART

My dad is a retired Navy chief radioman. I was born and raised in Norfolk. My draft lottery number was 70, and the Army was drafting through 110. I decided ships and radios suited me better than jungles and guns, so I signed up for 6 years in the Navy advanced electronics program. Following school at Great Lakes, I spent my tour at Naval Air Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, maintaining control tower communications, air navigation, and test equipment. I returned to Norfolk for college. While visiting family, I fell in love with the Shenandoah Valley and moved to Rockingham County. I was not drawn to amateur radio until May of 2015, when I chanced upon an article listing occasions hams had provided disaster communication, and a few days later overheard hams talking about upcoming public service events. I asked what was required to participate in service opportunities. When I learned only a basic license and that code was no longer required, I bought and crammed the book and got my Technician license. On a roll and enjoying the ramble down radio lane, I got my General at Field Day, and Extra in August.I serve as a CERT and Skywarn volunteer, and my primary interest in amateur radio is public service and emergency communications. I immediately joined ARES. I completed all the ICS courses available online and joined the RACES team badged to operate the amateur radio station at the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Emergency Communications Center. Last year, a FEMA grant funded the installation of amateur radio stations in hospitals in the northwestern Virginia region. I joined three other operators to form the team at Sentara Rockingham Memorial Hospital. While planning our first exercise to support the hospital, a simulation of the complete loss of servers at Sentara corporate in Virginia Beach, we realized we could not communicate with Tidewater. I remembered seeing an email from someone in Virginia Beach. I found it and sent a request  for assistance to Ira Swartz. I told him I could hit the RATS VHF repeater in Richmond and asked if he could help figure out a way to establish VHF relays the rest of the distance to Sentara corporate. His reply was "call me".   I did, and he introduced me to WIRES-X. I asked a local ham to link his repeater to the HEART WIRES-X room in Virginia Beach. I was able to pass traffic for the Sentara exercise and meet the group of warm, dedicated, ham operators of the HEART organization. Impressed with HEART and the WIRES-X technology, I established digital and analog WIRES-X capability in my home shack to support emergency communications for Sentara Rockingham. I accepted Ira’s invitation to partner with HEART. Ira and Paula Swartz are exceptional leaders and trainers. They and their accomplished HEART team provide a crucial emergency communication service to the Tidewater community. My teammates and I participate in their excellent bi-monthly training nets, and are proud to extend the HEART mission to the Shenandoah Valley