King City 'hams' ready to save city in emergencies

Five more people get ham certifications to provide communication with outside world

By Barbara Sherman

The Regal Courier, Jul 30, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Barbara Sherman / Regal Courier

EVERYONE’S A HAM — The group of King City ham radio operators (above) ready to serve the community in a disaster include Bob Olmstead (left), Bill Gaskill, Bev Speck, John Greer, Margie Margee and instructor Hugh Garrabrant.

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While other King City residents were relaxing and enjoying springtime in Oregon, a handful of dedicated people were working hard to keep the city safe during an emergency.

Bill Gaskill, John Greer, Bob Olmstead, Margie Margee and Bev Speck had previously completed the city's CERT training, and now they are certified ham radio operators, thanks to the instruction of fellow CERT member and ham operator Hugh Garrabrant.

The Community Emergency Response Team program started four years ago, and police Chief Chuck Fessler has led the trainings, which include 40 hours over a 10-week period. Fessler also requires an additional 24 hours of training per year once people are certified.

Garrabrant has been a ham radio operator since the age of 18, and last spring he led classes with Gaskill, Greer, Olmstead, Margee and Speck as his students.

The diligent students met every week for two months to learn the information in the almost 200-page-long "ARRL Ham Radio License Manual" and then had to pass a test to become certified ham operators.

"There were 35 questions on the test out of 68 pages of possible questions in the manual, and we had two hours to take the test in front of three examiners," Olmstead said. "We all wanted to do this because we figured just in case of an emergency, one of us could make it here to City Hall. This works out well with the chief here.

"I like helping people, especially after Katrina. This is like the old farming tradition of all the neighbors pitching in for a barn-raising. My grandma was in the Civil Defense Corps, and I still have her patch."

Speck added, "I have a new knee, and there is no way I can do search and rescue, but I thought this was one way I can help out."

Before he retired, Garrabrant was a car dealer and worked in the broadcasting industry for a number of years, including owning a radio station in Hilo, Hawaii. He also went to law school at age 38 and served as a deputy district attorney in Washington County as well as the district attorney in Hood River, where he also had a private practice.

"All that time, I kept my ham hobby," he said.

Garrabrant retired in 1997 and moved to King City in September 2007. One day someone knocked on his door asking if he was interested in participating in the CERT program.

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