He pulls up a chair and sits down in front of his state-of-the-art digital radio system, which hooks up to computers, transmitters, receivers and antennas that tower quietly in his backyard. He picks up his walkie-talkie, tweaks the tiny knobs and then tunes in to a particular frequency.

The radio cackles to life and Krawetz, 70, begins: "Hi. This is N6HM. Can we do a test net? Over."

A pause. A heartbeat. And then another voice booms in over the radio. "Hi Howard. This is Bob WA6OIW. Sure we can. Over."

In a couple of minutes more voices with strange call signs (codes) join the radio conference. Apart from Howard and Bob, there is Donna WA6SCU, Del WA6YOQ and Don KB6UQN.

All of them are FCC-approved, licensed ham operators who've dedicated their radio services to a public emergency program called Sunnyvale Amateur Radio Emergency Services, popularly dubbed SARES. And this impromptu chat over the ether is a routine procedure "hams" adopt to check their instruments and signals on a regular basis.

After a few more minutes of radio mumbo-jumbo Krawetz signs off. "That's a QSL," he says. In radio lingo, "QSL" means "Roger" or more simply, "Got it"!

There are more than 165 amateur radio operators in the city of Sunnyvale who are members of this city-sponsored public safety program, and their primary responsibility is toward the city and the Sunnyvale Unified School District. In the event of a disaster like an earthquake, a flood or a terrorist attack, members of this emergency radio outfit spring into action.

"When there is a disaster on a large scale, telephone lines go down and even cell phone connections become unreliable. The only sure source of communication is the radio," explains Lt. Doug LaMar, coordinator at the Sunnyvale Office of Emergency Services.

"In such situations, these amateur radio operators become the eyes and ears of the city, reporting situations from various positions. Instead of sending public safety officers to various sites to check on the status, SARES members radio in reports that are received at our central command center," explains LaMar.

LaMar recalls the role of SARES during the torrential rains and floods of 1998. "We had our ham operators stationed at various points to monitor the level of rising floodwater." SARES members radioed in their information from several key locations, and all the information was collected at the central command center. If there were situations where action needed to be taken, the information was sent to the dispatch center, which alerted the necessary departments. "Instead of burdening the police officers with just scouting locations, more than 75 of our radio operators did the job for them," explains LaMar.

Members of Sunnyvale's radio emergency service are also involved in communications for special events such as emergency drills, parades, festivals, races and more.

While these members volunteer their services to the city, many hams have found themselves assisting during dangerous situations in neighboring cities as well.

Krawetz remembers volunteering during a raging fire in the Oakland hills. "I was positioned with my radio at a safe spot and my job was to report in case I spotted fire. Things were OK until I suddenly felt enormous heat hitting me. When I looked around, across the road, I saw the fire rapidly advancing in my direction." Krawetz was quickly evacuated from the area.

For most hams, radio is all about adventure--a gadget that brings out the little schoolchild in every person who dabbles in it. But in this age of the Internet and digital dogma, one might wonder if the radio is an archaic
technology.

"No," answers Andreas Ott emphatically. Ott, a hardware engineer at a high-tech firm, points to the walkie-talkie he holds in his hand. "This gadget is so advanced that it has a microprocessor inside it and it would be impossible for me to reconstruct." The 30-something engineer belongs to the younger breed of radio enthusiasts who continue the legacy of Guglielmo Marconi, the first person to detect and produce radio waves over long distances. He is popularly called "the Father of Radio."

"Gone are the days when you can solder your own radio out of a little kit," says Krawetz. Growing up as a cowboy on the plains of Texas, Krawetz recalls using barbed wire fences as antennas while constructing his primitive radio. But since then this ham who herded cows has come a long way. These days Krawetz specializes in Wireless Ethernet--an advanced method of sending data from his computer to another system within a 20-mile radius using radio waves.

These days hams even have their own satellites. Some companies with extra space on their rockets let hams piggyback their satellites into space.

Most amateur radio operators take their fascination with the technology to the next level--specializing in specific frequencies. "There are people who do moon bouncing," explains Ott. This is a technique where two radio operators send ultra high frequency signals towards the moon. The signals bounce off the moon and are then received by the other person.

Another popular pastime among radio enthusiasts is crossing continents with their radio waves. A person can tune into high radio frequencies and connect with ham operators from other countries. Even before globalization, radio waves have been the conduit for cultural crossovers, creating radio pals between nations.

Krawetz recalls making new friends in Japan just before his official trip to the country years ago. "I tuned in to their frequency and was asking for people to help me out. Many hams quickly pitched in, and when I reached Japan, they took me out and showed me places. We've remained good friends since then."

Bill Tasker, 93, is a World War II veteran and has been a radio aficionado for the past 40-odd years. He is the oldest member of SARES. Though he can't see too well these days, his radio could recount stories. The radio has traveled with him over the years, while he and his wife, also a licensed radio operator, toured the country. "Everywhere we went we made new friends through our radio," says Tasker.

He recalls the special bond he developed with a Hawaiian family through the radio. "I was trying to contact somebody in Hawaii before our vacation there and I found a friend." Over the years, the two families developed a unique friendship that brings a smile to his lips even to this day.

These days his radio gives him a sense of purpose. Tasker, who lives with a caretaker in a mobile park for seniors, has the necessary gadgets to radio for help in case of an emergency in this community. And he looks forward to the programs organized by SARES. During the weekend of June 28 and 29, the organization had its annual big event--a field day at Raynor Park where all members of the service get together have fun, run drills and test their equipment.

Though nobody seems to recall the exact year the radio emergency program was started in Sunnyvale, Howard Krawetz, who was one of the initial members, believes it was sometime around the mid-1960s. "Since then ham radio has come a long way," he points out.

And his office is a tribute to that. An entire wall exhibits years of gizmos from yesteryears, including first-generation vacuum tubes, diodes and even some blackened X-ray tubes.

But some things haven't changed--like a ham's love for the radio and the neverending quest to tinker with thin air.

For more information about SARES, call 408.730.7190, email sares@ci.sunnyvale.ca.us or visit http://www.ci.sunnyvale.ca.us/public-safety/emerg prep/sares.htm.