County supervisors shine spotlight on Ramona ham radio operators

Ham radio operators in Ramona are being recognized for their dedication to emergency communications by the county Board of Supervisors, who proclaimed May as Ramona Outback Amateur Radio Society (ROARS) month.

The honor presented by Supervisor Joel Anderson describes how ROARS was founded in 1989 by the then-president of the Ramona Municipal Water District and then-chief of the Ramona Fire Department. The two were concerned that Ramona could not rely on outside assistance during a regional disaster and depended on radio repeaters and telephone systems, which could potentially fail.

The two agencies decided amateur radio operators were needed for local emergency communications and, in September 1990, ROARS was incorporated.

ROARS still maintains emergency communications skills with local, self-contained solar-powered fixed and mobile radio systems and has training and regular practice, the proclamation states.

“ROARS has expanded beyond these capabilities to provide Ramona with additional community benefits and education in the world of technology and radio communications,” the document states.

ROARS President Steve Stipp said the club members were more than a little touched by the monthlong dedication to their group.

“When I read it at the meeting there were a few wet eyes,” said Stipp, whose ham radio call sign is KK6AHB. “We have a hardworking club. Some of my members put on Facebook how proud they are to be ROARS club members.”

The club has about 60 members who are always ready to communicate outside of Ramona independent of cell phones and landlines that could be disabled in an emergency, he said. Club members have taken tests to get their ham radio licenses and stay prepared with emergency communication practices in town.

Stipp attributes some of the supervisors’ recognition to ROARS’ recent collaboration with Ramona Lutheran Church and School on the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) project. In conjunction with NASA and others, students at the school were guided by ROARS members in talking to an astronaut aboard the space station last October.

The club routinely reaches out to get children interested in learning the hobby, which is vital to continuing the service, he said. School visits were halted during the pandemic, but he plans to return to do classroom presentations, probably by this fall.

The proclamation certificate may be displayed temporarily at the Ramona Chamber of Commerce office and then passed around among ROARS members in the same fashion as the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup, Stipp said.

Rechelle Mojica accepts an appreciation plaque from ROARS President Steve Stipp for her $250 donation the club.

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ROARS received another lift with a recent $250 donation by Rechelle Mojica. The money is being used to pay for the club’s insurance.

Mojica is a ham radio operator, with the call sign K4EWE. She donated the money on behalf of her late father, Richard “Dick” Warren, who was a ham radio enthusiast with the call sign K6OBS.

Mojica said she donated the money after reading a San Diego Union-Tribune article about ROARS’ involvement in connecting to the International Space Station. She said she remembers her father telling her about how ham radio equipment could be used to talk to astronauts on the space station.

Warren was a disc jockey for more than 25 years on the KSON radio station in San Diego. He helped students pursuing their radio and broadcasting degree at KKSM at Palomar College.

“He would have loved to have helped out with something like that,” Mojica said about the Ramona Lutheran Church and School space communications project. “My dad was a lifelong ham radio operator for over 65 years before he passed away in 2018.”

ROARS named the late ham radio enthusiast Richard “Dick” Warren an honorary lifetime member.

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ROARS gave Warren a plaque naming him an honorary lifetime member of ROARS.

“This story really touched me, and my dad would have loved to have been involved in working with the kids,” said Mojica, a San Diego resident whose family also set up scholarships through the National Association for Amateur Radio (AARL) and a Memorial Scholarship at Palomar College.