When Emergency Strikes, the Illinois Radio League is Ready

When tornadoes ravaged Plainfield a couple decades ago, New Lenox resident Jan Tobiasz was on site with a team of amateur operators helping communicate what was happening.

"When emergency strikes, we go into action," he said.

Tobiasz is a member of the Illinois Radio League, formed last year in New Lenox to promote amateur radio and a fun and reliable form of communication. Since starting, the group has offered two classes for people to become licensed to operate a ham radio, and a third class starts next month.

The radio league is a statewide nonprofit, but this year the first official chapter, also based in New Lenox, was formed and its members hope chapters will be created in other municipalities. In the two classes offered so far, 15 people have learned how to handle a ham radio and passed a test to become licensed as an amateur radio operator, bringing the number of registered operators in New Lenox to 75.

There are three levels of licensing that the Federal Communications Commission issues, all of which someone must pass a new test to attain. The Illinois Radio League classes prepare students for the starting level, called technician.

Amateur radio is a hobby the the radio league wants to share, but it's also a vital form of communication the league's members believe can be beneficial for everyone.

"It's the most reliable form of communication," said Bill Byerly III, the club's president. "Towers do go down. Phones rely on equipment that can fail."

The National Weather Service in Romeoville, for instance, often relies on amateur radio operators for information on storms that are forming. But there's a lot more that goes into ham radios than weather spotting and emergency response.

The Illinois Radio League holds field days every summer in which operators gather together around the world and try to make connections with others. This year, the local group made some contact with radio operators in Alaska, Mississippi and Colorado, and they've also talked to people in countries across the world. There are also common meetups called "nets" that can cover any number of topics, whether it's about a storm or about another hobby such as fishing.

The radios communicate through frequencies sent out and received, but to fully understand the technology and everything that can be done with the radio, it's probably best to take the class offered by the local group.

"You have to be a little nerdy about it," Tobiasz said. "Amateur radio is more than just communicating. There’s science, there’s physics, there’s electronics.”

A radio can cost you at least $400, but the leaders of the Illinois Radio League also run in New Lenox and started a radio division that offers heavily discounted prices on radios (about $115 total) and other equipment.

Bill Byerly Jr. said that many of the club members are also in the Lions Club, which often works to help people with special needs. Thus, the Illinois Radio League found a radio that can be operated by the visually impaired, and is also working to find ways to administer licensing tests for the blind.

Want to learn more?

The club holds an informational meeting the third Friday of every month from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the , so the next meeting is this Friday, Aug. 19. 

Classes begin Thursday, Sept. 1, and they last eight weeks. For more information, contact the board of directors.