Cape Hatteras Electric Cooperative recently made a $1,000 donation to the Fessenden Amateur Radio Society (named for inventor and 1800s radio pioneer R.A. Fessenden). The donation was met with an additional $1,000 from North Carolina’s Electric Cooperatives and will be used to purchase a new repeater for the group’s analog system.
The HAM radio system has been converted to digital, leaving the analog radios as the only communication system that will still work in the event that the island’s fiber optic cable is compromised. This donation will ensure that Hatteras Island has a way to communicate to the outside world during times of crisis.
Radio Society member Richard Marlin demonstrates using the analog system at the Hatteras Island Rescue Squad in Buxton.