Hams Hit The Airways Near Edmond Town Hall

By Eliza Hallabeck

Newtown residents may not have witnessed the hams flying through Sunday, September 14, but that does not mean they were not in the airwaves.

The Candlewood Area Radio Association hosted a Hamfest at Edmond Town Hall this past weekend. Ham radio operators from across Connecticut, and in some cases from other states, made their way to the Sunday morning and afternoon event to share information, technical ability and news with their fellow hams.

Some of them use their radios for recreational purposes, some use them to help in times of crisis, and others used them much more often a few decades ago to talk to people across the world.

“It’s been a pretty good turnout so far,” said Frank Etzler, president of the Candlewood Area Radio Association.

Stations were set up in the back parking lot of Edmond Town Hall and the gym in the back of the building was used for more stations and a presentation area.

According to Mr Etzler, the Hamfest has been taking place in Newtown around the same time each year for about 20 years.

“[Visitors] are interested in the presentation, buying and selling the items, and just talking with friends,” said Mr Etzler.

Mr Etzler sat at the a booth next to the entrance of the gym to greet people and welcome them to the Hamfest.

“A lot of the local people have known each other for years and years,” said Mr Etzler.

Bill Capitman and his wife Gail said they have participated in the Hamfest in Newtown a few times over the last couple of years, and they drive from New York to be in it. Mr Capitman monitors the Internet to find out the date of the event, and he and his wife travel down to display their equipment and love of the ham radio.

Back in 1963 Mr Capitman, a retired senior engineering technician, said, “I went over to a friend’s house, and his father was a ham.”

The friend’s father had ham radio equipment and was talking to people on it, and Mr Capitman liked what he saw.

Mr Capitman and his wife were set up near the back of the gym at Edmond Town Hall, but the first table beyond the welcome table was set up with Al Moutran’s ham radio equipment collection.

“I’ve been doing this for several years,” said Mr Moutran, who drove to the Hamfest from Niantic.

For Mr Moutran his interest with ham radios started as a hobby. He said he has been licensed to use his ham radio since 1964. “That was when it was real,” said Mr Moutran.

Joe DeGroot, the chairman for the event, said he has been putting the Hamfest in Newtown together for the last three years.

“The whole process starts around December or January,” said Mr DeGroot. “That’s when we request the permits from Newtown.”

In order to use the space at Edmond Town Hall, Mr DeGroot said they have to apply months ahead of time. The Hamfest is always held around the same weekend every year.

“[The Hamfest] allows us to see people that we wouldn’t normally see very often,” said Mr DeGroot.

He also explained that the Candlewood Area Radio Association also has amateur radio communications for emergency situations.

“We really work with the local towns to make sure that should communications go down, there is a seamless transition to radio,” said Mr DeGroot.

The station where Mr DeGroot was announcing the event from was solar powered, to demonstrate the capability. When the power goes down, and communication is needed, Mr DeGroot explained, other energy would be required to run the radios.

Ham radios are not regulated by the government, he said.

As part of the emergency communications demonstration, the Emergency Communications Vehicle from Bridgeport and some of the crew drove up for the Hamfest. They parked the vehicle, which had the appearance of an ambulance that was instead full of emergency radio equipment, near the station where Mr DeGroot was announcing.

The Amateur Radio Relay League, which is the United States national organization of Amateur Radio operators, is based out of Newington, which helps boost the participation levels in the area for events like Newtown’s Hamfest.