Feature Story Example

(borrowed from Daily Mississippian/May 4, 2011)

The Ole Miss Amateur Radio Club, or “ham radio” as it is sometimes called, is one of the smaller club organizations on campus, consisting of six student members and president Richard Burgett.

Burgett is a researcher and engineer who works for the UM National Center for Physical Acoustics and has been a part of the Amateur Radio Club for three years.

He said it is a privilege to be a part of the Amateur Radio Club and to be an amateur radio operator.

Amateur Radio is a hobby for many people and also a public service, where amateur radio operators or “hams” use radio communication equipment to communicate with other amateur radio operators for training, special events, emergencies and recreation.

To become an amateur radio operator, a person must go through a licensing and training exam to obtain a license from the SEC to be able to operate on the airwaves.

“We are more than just a student organization — we also have amateur radio operators in Oxford and the Lafayette County areas and a few outside the county,” Burgett said.

One of the mandates that comes with amateur radio is public service.

This past weekend at the Double Decker festival, the amateur radio operators had Marshalls stationed at various places for the race that took place so that people would be able to call in at the start of the race to find out where their runner was and how they were doing throughout the race.

The radio operators were able to tell which runners had already passed by and which runners were coming around.

Burgett said the club does a number of helpful events around the Oxford and Lafayette area.

“We have helped with the diabetes walk, and we have also sponsored the lost kids tent,” he said.

“With the tornadoes that came through just recently, we have a storm spotter net that is coordinated with the National Weather Service. If people spot bad weather, they can give the weather service a heads up.”

Along with the public service and the radio operating, the club participates in an event known as radio sport.

“Radio sport gets into the contesting type of amateur radio; we set up our booth with the temporary antenna and a temporary power source and try and contact as many stations as possible,” Burgett said.

He also spoke of an upcoming event in June called Field Day, which is another type of contacting contest. Field Day is similar to radio sport because it requires setting up a temporary antenna and temporary power source.

During Field Day, the amateur radio operators set up their station where they normally set up and simulate an actual emergency type of operation. Everyone keeps score of how many people they were able to contact, which indicates how well the station was set up and the station with the most people contacted wins.

Burgett also spoke of an interesting event happening in May that will consist of the emergency management people.

“They will be simulating an earthquake that takes place at the new Madrid fault line,” he said. “There will be five states participating in it and all of the communication and power will be knocked out. Which means no internet, phones, computers or anything. That’s where amateur radio operators shine because we bring our own radios and power equipment with us.”

Amateur radio is based on a volunteer basis only, and no payment is accepted.

“It doesn’t mean we don’t know what we are doing,” Burgett said. “Many of the people who participate in amateur radio are in the engineering school at Ole Miss, lawyers and are professionals in their work environment.”

“The King of Jordan was an amateur radio operator. He always started quite the fuss when he got on the air.”

The Amateur Radio Club meets the first of every month, unless it is a holiday, at the Hospital on South Lamar.

To become involved in the UM Amateur Radio Club please contact Richard Burgett at 662-915-5641 or visit the Ole Miss website for club organizations.