10/25/2022

The Wayne Amateur Radio Club[1] (WARC) manned a 30-foot-tall mobile
observational Infrastructure Protection Unit, or SkyWatch tower, at Ohio's
Wayne County Fair in September again this year.

Staffed by specially trained amateur radio volunteers, the tower provided
24-hour surveillance, monitoring, and a record of activity on the fairgrounds,
including medical emergencies, lost children, and other situations where help
may have been needed.

Captain Doug Hunter, KE8JNH, Wayne County Sheriff's Office, stands next to the
SkyWatch tower at the Wayne County fair.

Captain Doug Hunter, KE8JNH, of the Wayne County Sheriff's Office, was
impressed with its performance. "Last year, I put in a request for the tower
from the Ohio Department of Homeland Security," Hunter said. "After seeing the
benefit of having it, I immediately requested the unit for this year's fair."

Positioned near the grandstand, the tower gave volunteers a bird's-eye view of
the midway that allows one person to see from the air what four or five people
can see from the ground. The observation deck is equipped with state-of-the-art
video equipment that provides situational awareness in places where there are
large crowds in attendance.

With an array of pan, tilt, and zoom cameras, the unit provides a 360-degree
view of the fair's most vulnerable areas. It is climate controlled and is
capable of being self-powered to ensure continuous operation.

Eric Mast, W8ELM, a member of WARC, said that club members who have additional
training, apart from their amateur radio licensing exams, take shifts
monitoring the crowd. "Through our training, we understand how to communicate
with law enforcement," said Mast. "We know what they need to hear. If we see a
situation that needs their attention, our radio is connected directly to
dispatch inside their command center on the fairgrounds. Once we report it, we
are out of the loop and law enforcement manages everything from that point."

Captain Hunter added, "As long as this is available to us, we will take
advantage of it. If we can utilize something that increases the safety of
fairgoers, we will take advantage of that. WARC members donated more than 60
hours of their time, and we are very thankful for them."

-- Thanks to Dan Starcher, Public Communications Specialist for the Wayne
County Commissioners Office in Wooster, Ohio, for information contained in this
story.

[1] https://w8woo.org/

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