The New Jersey Knights of Columbus have taken some advice from the Gospel of Matthew, namely that their light (and good deeds) should not be hidden under a bushel basket, but instead set high upon a lampstand for all to see.
Beginning May 5 and running through May 20, the Knights have been operating over several amateur radio stations statewide under a special amateur radio call sign, K0C (K-zero-C) with the dual intent of sharing their philanthropic deeds and encouraging Catholic men to join the fraternal organization. The project, known in amateur radio lingo as a “Special Event Station,” has been attempting to operate out of all five dioceses in the state until the last day of the 127th New Jersey State Convention in Wildwood.
“My hobby is ham radio, and I love the Knights,” said Knights District Deputy Thomas M. Perrotti, who designed and spearheaded the project. “This is a nice way to bring these two passions together.”
Perrotti was licensed as an amateur radio operator in 1979, and currently holds an Amateur Extra license under the call sign of N2JIE. The member of Holy Cross Parish, Bridgeton, has been a Knight since 2011.
After approval from the Knights, Perrotti met with nearly a dozen Knight operators over Zoom, as well as alerting a number of publications to which amateur radio hams subscribe that a Special Event Station exists. Hams don’t blindly broadcast, but rather have one-on-one conversations with other operators; in honor of the 127th N.J. State Convention, Perrotti and his fellow hams are operating in frequencies ending in 127.
The origins of amateur (“ham”) radio stretch back to 1901 when Guglielmo Marconi communicated across the Atlantic Ocean with a high-power radio device and giant antennas. To curb bandwidth interference, Congress passed the Radio Act of 1912, requiring amateurs to be licensed and restricted to a single wavelength; the American Radio Relay League was formed two years later as relay stations were organized. Transatlantic transmitting and receiving tests began in 1921, and by July 1960, the first two-way contact via Earth’s Moon took place.
Many powerful amateur stations could jam operations in an area, and their operators were dubbed with the derogatory “ham” label by commercial operators. Perhaps unfamiliar with the real meaning of the word, amateurs adopted it for themselves, and over time the negative connotation disappeared.
The Vatican has its own amateur radio station (call sign HV5PUL); the patron saint of ham radio operators is Saint Maximilian Kolbe. Famous hams include King Juan Carlos of Spain, Sen. Barry Goldwater, Marlon Brando, Joe Walsh, Donny Osmond, Priscilla Presley and Walter Cronkite.
In this time of smartphones and Internet availability, amateur radio still holds an important place in the communications arena, Perrotti argued.
“It’s not just an old man hobby,” he said, chuckling. “Amateur radio is used in the early hours of a disaster when cell towers and telephone lines may be down. All hams need is a radio, a battery and an antenna to transmit.”
What are the ham operators transmitting during the Special Event Station? Why, 30-second-long bits of that light of the Knights, shining for all to see.
Perrotti said, “Hundred of facts about accomplishments, donations of time and money and Knights’ success stories were given to each operator, information from the annual report and a Knights history book.” The operators also link to a Knights webpage, QRZ.com/db/K0C, which directs operators to Knights facts and enrollment data.
“From what the Knights have done for Ukraine [donations] here in the Camden Diocese, to what we do worldwide, helping out after disasters, both with manpower and donations, I would be crazy NOT to tell people worldwide about what we do as Knights,” he said.
A goal of amateur radio operators is to collect QSL cards (postcards) that they exchange with one another as confirmation of the conversation. They contain messages, pictures and usually the station’s callsign. The Knights plan to post the Special Event Station’s cards as a lasting memento of the project.
Despite ongoing solar flares, at press time, the Knights ham operators have logged more than 400 calls from such far-flung places as Egypt, Germany, Italy, Poland, Slovenia, Russia and many American states. A Special Event Station for King Charles III made contact over Coronation Weekend, and one ham conversed with a station in Mystic, Conn., using the repeater system on the International Space Station.
A light shining upon a lampstand, indeed.
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