On the air
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year, 6 months AGO
Ham radio enthusiasts Woody Jacobson, right, and Mike Wren make contacts up and down the West Coast Friday at the beginning of the Columbia Basin DX Club’s three-day event in honor of George Washington’s Birthday.
JOEL MARTIN/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
Brian Nielson, founder of the Columbia Basin DX Club, stands in front of a collection of postcards the club has received from various other ham clubs and events around the world.
As ham users answer the Columbia Basin DX Club’s call, each responder’s call sign can be pulled up from a database, so users know whom they’re talking with.
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | February 26, 2025 1:20 AM
GEORGE — The first president of the United States was wished a happy birthday around the world over the weekend.
“We contacted over 500 people all over the place,” said Brian Nielson, one of the organizers of the Columbia Basin DX Club’s ham radio event at the George Community Hall. Saturday would have been Washington’s 293rd birthday, and the club has held the event in George to mark the date for 20 years.
Woody Jacobson was working the microphone Friday, chatting with ham radio enthusiasts up and down the West Coast. Beside him, Mike Wren looked up the call signs of the people who responded in an online database, so Jacobson could have a name and location to attach to the voice coming out of the speaker. Every so often Jacobson would push a button and play a recorded message into the microphone.
“Whiskey Sierra Seven Golf special event station out of George, Wash. QRZ,” the recording said.
“We could transmit live, but if you do that all day it kind of gets wearing so we have it recorded,” Nielson said.
Whenever someone answered the message, Jacobson would open the mic and chat with them.
“Thank you for your efforts in recognizing our forefathers,” said Julie, who had answered the recording from Aumsville, Ore., about 10 miles east of Salem. “Blessings to you and 73 (ham radio code for ‘Best regards’).”
“God bless you too, Julie,” Jacobson said.
Ham radio tends to be a predominantly male hobby, Nielson explained, so female operators are less common.
“One of the big things is the pitch of the voice on the air,” he said. “(Female voices) come through a lot better.”
“I’ve been a ham radio operator for 20-some years,” said Nita Lyman, who had made the trip from Cliffdell, on the road over Mt. Rainier, for the occasion. “I love ham radio people. They’re my second family.”
Lyman served as a volunteer emergency radio operator keeping communications open following the Oso landslide in 2014, in which 43 people died, she said.
The Columbia Basin DX Club has participated in other ham clubs’ events as well, Nielson said. The club has a large display of postcards it’s gotten from clubs and events around the world, from Japan to Italy to Bhutan to Malpelo Island, a tiny atoll off the coast of Colombia.
The signal in George made it to some pretty far-flung places, Nielson said, especially Saturday.
“The farthest away would probably be in Bolivia,” he said. “I think we had … a Swedish station, and then one in Nigeria. We had a couple of South American and quite a few Caribbean stations.”
Brian Nielson, founder of the Columbia Basin DX Club, stands in front of a collection of postcards the club has received from various other ham clubs and events around the world.
As ham users answer the Columbia Basin DX Club’s call, each responder’s call sign can be pulled up from a database, so users know whom they’re talking with.ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
Quincy National Night Out scales down
QUINCY — Quincy’s National Night Out was more compact this year, which worked out well, said QPD Sgt. Joe Westby, who’s in charge of event planning for the Quincy Police Department. “National Night Out is a big event, and the fact that we’re able to shrink it up is like a breath of fresh air,” Westby said. “If you're always doing the same thing, it's kind of nice to switch things up and see how it works.” National Night Out took place Thursday on the block of C Street next to the police station, a shift from previous years when it was held at Lauzier Park. The smaller space meant fewer emergency vehicles for children to explore, but it also meant less walking for attendees. Grant County Fire District 5 brought a fire truck, and the Grant County Sheriff’s Office had a patrol boat. Renew, the Grant County behavioral health agency, had a booth and so did Quincy Partnership for Youth. Veterans Operation Creation sang the national anthem, and the Quincy Animal Shelter brought kittens that piled over each other making friends with passersby. As before, the QPD served grilled hot dogs.
Quincy Police retirements leave big shoes to fill
QUINCY — There are some big shoes to fill at the Quincy Police Department. “We’re losing 48 years of experience between them,” Quincy Police Chief Ryan Green said at the retirement party for Capt. Jorge Trujillo and Det. Damon Powell Thursday. Trujillo, who grew up in Sunnyside, has been with QPD for 19 years, he said, coming on as a patrol officer fresh out of the military. From there he served as a field training officer, a detective and finally captain. “I consider him my left-hand man,” Green said. “He runs the operations side of the house … He knows the agency very well, and he knows the community.” Trujillo has some projects around the house to tackle now that he’s retired, he said.
Big fun on a small scale
Wheat Land Communities’ Fair opens Thursday
RITZVILLE — The Wheat Land Communities’ Fair isn’t as big or as flashy as some of the county fairs around central Washington, but the folks who keep it going like it just the way it is. “It’s somewhere you can go and get an old-time traditional feeling, and you’re comfortable letting your kids roam the grounds and experience all that it has to offer,” said Board Member Lori Williams. “It’s more of a feeling than (one) specific thing,” The fair starts Thursday in Ritzville and runs through Sunday. Starting Friday, the 56th Ritzville Rodeo will take place alongside the fair at the rodeo grounds. This year the entertainment budget was expanded, Williams said, to be able to offer more fun that’s covered by the cost of admission. For the kids, there’s face painting, balloon art, Lego crafts, races, contests and games. Children can also ride on a little train towed around the fairgrounds behind a tractor.