Several of the island’s amateur radio enthusiasts gathered in an open field at Sunrise Ridge last Saturday, where they set up an off-the-grid communications center in preparation for disaster.

The event was part of Field Day, a 24-hour emergency communications drill in which thousands of people participated across the United States and Canada. The purpose of the drill was for the radio operators to practice their skills and demonstrate just how valuable ham radios and their licensed operators can be in a crisis.

Vashon-Maury Island Radio Club’s communications trailer drew many of the island’s ham radio operators — or hams — who took turns at the radios, reaching out to other groups participating in the exercise across the country. Nearby, Sharon Danielson’s horse trailer served as another station, where a guest connected to hundreds of others using Morse Code. With young children playing in the tall grass and an evening potluck, the event had camaraderie and also fulfilled the drill’s purpose by revealing a few areas that need to be strengthened before the next time an island emergency presses the group into action.

“It’s good to get out and practice,” said Mark Ellison-Taylor, a radio club board member. “We learned some things that will make it smoother for us in a disaster.”

Indeed, in disaster scenarios, ham radios have provided the most reliable communications networks in the first critical hours after the incident has occurred, including the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and the tornadoes in Missouri, according to the American Radio Relay League, which sponsored the weekend event. On Vashon, licensed ham radio operators have provided valuable communications during three missing-person searches, and they routinely practice to serve whenever they might be called upon.

George Brown, acting interim fire chief at Vashon Island Fire & Rescue, said he considers the group and its work extremely valuable to the department.

“What they do and how well they are organized is amazing,” he said. “I view them as truly our emergency communications backbone.”

Ham radios do not require phone systems, the internet or any other infrastructure that could be compromised in a crisis. In fact, Ellison-Taylor said, within an hour after a disaster on the island, radio club members could have communications centers in Vashon’s outlying fire stations up and running, relaying reports to a command center, which in turn would communicate with appropriate  officials. VIFR’s main fire station has a well-equipped radio room, and if necessary, members of the club could also set up the communications trailer, a former travel trailer outfitted with a variety of communications equipment, including short- and long-range amateur radios, marine and CB radios and a digital station able to send email and text messages via radio. Text and email — without the use of a phone system or internet — are important, club members say, because they can provide information more privately than voice communication and provide a high degree of accuracy when matters are complex. For example, club member Dick Danielson said, should a disaster such as an earthquake strike and several medicines be needed, ham radio operators could send an email message to King County disaster officials, with everything clearly spelled out.

While people may be drawn to ham radios for a variety of reasons, including the enjoyment of talking to others across the world, Vashon has seen an increase of ham operators in recent years precisely because of the radios’ value in an emergency. Now, there are 35 islanders who have gone through the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) course and have their ham radio license, according to Sharon Danielson, who once shared the presidency of the radio club with her husband Dick.

The radios — and the hams who use them — have made a tremendous impact for the CERT program, said Catherine Cochrane, who ran CERT with her husband Michael for more than a decade. CERT members, trained in basic response skills, are expected to act as interim first responders in a disaster and also conduct outdoor searches when a person is lost or missing. The radios have extended CERT members’ reach, Cochrane said, allowing groups in the field to stay in place and provide assistance, while at the same time marshaling additional resources. Before the use of the radios, she noted, teams had to return to wherever they were dispatched from before they moved to a new location. That step is no longer necessary.

“It is a force multiplier,” she said.

She added that cell phones have several limitations, including that a specific person must be on the receiving end — not so for ham radios.

“It is hard to do an SOS with a text,” she added.

Many in the preparedness community credit Sharon Danielson with increasing the ranks of disaster-savvy hams on Vashon.

As she recalls it, she became involved about a decade ago, when her neighbor, a ham radio operator, started a Neighborhood Emergency Response Organization (NERO), and she decided she would get her license as well. She is interested in communications, she said, and having her license would keep her household connected to the larger community in case of emergency or prolonged power outage and make her a better NERO member. She remembers she had some preconceived ideas about just who ham radio operators were.

“I thought of old smelly guys in the basement with all these radios,” she said with a laugh.

She signed up for the six-week licensing course, which was heavy on the science aspect of how the radios work, and she claims she struggled through.

“My eyes rolled back into my head for the entire six weeks,” she said. “It was so difficult. So difficult. I did not understand it.”

She prevailed, however, and shortly thereafter signed up for CERT, which is how she made the connection regarding ham radios’ value in emergencies. There she met fellow CERT member John Galus, who recently stepped down as the radio club’s president, and noted she and Galus kept pushing ham radio communication to the Cochranes.

About four years ago, Danielson brought volunteers over from the West Seattle radio club to get islanders licensed, and then, she said, it exploded.

“I really sold it to people,” she said. “If I believe in something, I can sell socks to a snake.”

The radio club now tries to offer a ham licensing course after each CERT course.

“We get the people trained up in CERT and say, ‘But ahh, there is more,’” she said.

Ten people passed the most recent class in May. It is no longer the six-week course Danielson struggled through, but one weekend. And the island has a 100 percent pass rate, which is unusual, said Ellison-Taylor.

It used to be expensive to be a ham radio operator, but now club members say that is not the case. A good ham radio can cost under $35, a drastic drop in price from earlier years.

“For the price of gas and a license, you can get on the air,” Ellison-Taylor added.

As for Danielson, she encourages everyone to get their ham radio license. A small number of people in the club are drawn to the science of radios and have made much of the club’s work possible, but many are more drawn to other aspects. After several years, she still prefers, she said, “to press talk and blab.”

Still, limited knowledge is enough to remain connected on the island, even in a run-of-the mill power outage, when all the hams can report in.

“This is our connection to the outside world,” Danielson said. “We are not isolated. We know what is going on.”

And as for those smelly old guys in the basement, Danielson dropped that idea years ago.

“They smell like brilliance,” she said. “And they are the nicest, nicest people.”

The club meets at 7 p.m. the first Tuesday of odd-numbered months at the fire station and meets for weekly breakfasts at 9 a.m. each Saturday at Sporty’s.

The club is also planning for a new class. Those who are interested should call Sharon or Dick Danielson at 463-6498 or e-mail AE7SD@aol.com.