Ham radios prove to be more than hobby
Gabriel Provencio believed his life had no purpose. Without making a conscience decision to end it, he was killing himself a little each day. Provencio was a gang-bangin' drug abuser, in and out of jail since he was 16.
One of the few fond memories he had of his childhood was when he was 8, and he and his dad experimented with a short wave radio. He also had an eighth-grade teacher who was interested in short waves, CBs and, his favorite, ham radios. The Pomona youngster spent lots of time in that teacher's classroom.
As Provencio grew so did his appetite for self-destruction. His interest in ham radios was lost in the fall out. It might have stayed lost forever, but one day while sitting on a street corner waiting to buy heroin, a friend from his past drove up and stopped. "He started talking to me about how Jesus Christ changed his life," Provencio said. "I didn't want to hear what he had to say. I was into all kinds of bad stuff, manufactured meth, and lots of other things." What Provencio's friend said may have never sunk in, except, Provencio got busted soon after that night. "In jail I asked God, "If you're real, change me,' " he said.
Today Provencio, 39, is a changed man. He's
clean, sober, working, churchgoing and a ham radio-
operating member of
society. He is also an active member of the
"Tri-County Amateur Radio Association." Amateur radio is another way people
can communicate with one another using radio transmitters and receivers. "Everybody needs a hobby and these are a
great bunch of people to spend time with," Provencio said. "It's helped me
meet all kinds of people all over the world, and it helps balance my life."
Tri-County's 2004 president Alvin Banman has mentored Provencio during his four-year involvement with the association. "Gabriel has a very inspirational story," Banman said. "He's a wonderful asset to our club and is a fine ham operator."
Banman, 76, is a Pomona resident, who has been interested in ham radios since he was in high school. He joined Tri-County after he retired from Mayflower Transit in the late 1980s. Banman explained that Tri-County, established sometime in the 1920s, serves Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties. It is considered to be one of the oldest, if not the oldest, ham radio associations west of the Mississippi. The Tri-County branch of the association has members from such areas as Upland, Claremont, Ontario, Montclair, La Verne, San Dimas, Pomona and the Chino Valley.
"Ham is a nickname for amateur," Banman said. These amateur operators have passed at leased one FCC test and are licensed. They meet once a month to exchange ideas, talk about what's new and keep up skills for their emergency preparedness role in the community.
"We are service-oriented," Banman said. "We do things to prepare for emergencies, outreach to people who would like to become ham radio operators and introduce ham radios to school kids - typically junior high school kids."
Because ham radios operate on air waves they are immune to the problems of land telephone lines, televisions and satellites. Ham radio operators have been working with police departments, fire departments, the Red Cross and other emergency services for decades. They can set up communication anywhere and have been a valued resource for many well-known natural and unnatural disasters.
Art Goddard is the Southwestern division director for the Arizona and Southern California areas. He recently attended a Tri-County installation dinner and added a few facts he believes still make ham radios a better way of initial communication than the Internet. "I would rather introduce my kids to ham radios," Goddard began. "The Internet has anonymity. Ham radio operators are registered, they have a name and an address. Because there is no anonymity, people seem to behave themselves. Cell phones or the Internet are a good way to go when you want to stay in touch, but ham is a better way to meet."
Riverside resident Will Anderson, 59, has been a member since 1965. He has met countless people from all over the world and has also passed on his knowledge to students of various community colleges and trade schools. "I was in the sixth grade when my father bought a Japanese diode radio. It looked like a U-2 rocket," Anderson said. "My father played with it for a week or two, then stuffed it in the garage. I snuck into the garage and played with it." Anderson had one question. How could it be working? he wondered. It had no battery and no electric plug. "It had ear phones, and if you pulled the rod in and out, you could hear a station called KFI running at 50,000 watts. It puzzled me - how it worked. I couldn't take it apart. It was glued together."
Anderson took a hammer and smashed it. He was surprised at what he found. "All that was inside was a wire and a piece of glass that I later found out was a crystal, the size of a grain of sand," he said. "That was the crystal that turned the radio into an audio receiver."
The mystery deepened. "I started to read all the books at the library about radios. I started building my own," he said. "I've been in radios ever since." But even after all these years, there are only two things about radios Anderson knows for sure. "I know that I'm still not quite sure how they work," he laughed. "And that my father passed away last year, and he never found out about that first radio."
Date: 01/07/2005
@tag: Diana Sholley
can be reached at (909) 483-8542 or by e-mail at d_sholley@dailybulletin.com
FYI What: Tri-County Amateur
Radio Association.
When: 7:30 p.m., Second
Wednesday of each month.
Where: Bracket Field, 1615 Mckinley Ave., La Verne, Ca.,
In the Pilot's Lounge.
Annual Membership dues: $20.
For information call: (909) 622-9930 or w6ekz@arrl.net, Web site: http://www.tcara.org
Gabriel Provencio, KG6HMN's websites are: www.qsl.net/kg6hmn, http://mysite.verizon.net/kg6hmn, and can be reached at E-mail: kg6hmn@yahoo.com
Copyrighted ©2006 Tri-County Amateur Radio Association. All Rights Reserved.
Built/Maintained by: Ken Berglof, K6SRU on 01/15/2009 02:38 AM