SANTA CLARITA ON STANDBY; LOCAL HAM OPERATORS WILL BE READY TO HELP.

Byline: Angela M. Lemire Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - If all else fails, there's Jim Osment.

Osment, a 62-year old Saugus resident, is one of three HAM radio operators trained to keep communications flowing between public safety, emergency response and government officials tonight, if modern communications systems fail as a result of Y2K-related problems.

When most people at midnight will be toasting the New Year, dodging confetti, blowing noisemakers or kissing beneath pointy paper party hats, Osment will be posted at the emergency communications center at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital with his battery-powered HAM radio at the ready.

Other volunteers for the county-run Disaster Communications Services will rotate posts at Santa Clarita City Hall and Los Angeles County Fire Station 73 in Newhall, Osment said. More than a dozen others will be on standby at their homes, where they have HAM radio stations set up, he said.

``It's a pretty neat thing,'' said city Emergency Response Coordinator Donna Nuzzi. ``As a last resort, they'll keep our communications systems up and running for emergency services. These volunteers could talk to people all over the world if we needed them to.''

Although the roots of HAM, or amatuer, radio communications go back roughly a century, a common misperception is that HAM radio is too antiquated and obsolete, said Osment, noting that it remains a popular and useful hobby for a wide range of professionals, including doctors and attorneys.

In fact, HAM operators certified in emergency communications by county police and fire were utilized in the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, city officials said.

Besides a HAM operator's license, emergency radio operators must be trained and certified by county police and fire authorities, Osment said.

Osment, whose interests in electronics and radio spanned his entire adult life, finally took up the hobby six years ago after retiring from his career in the aerospace industry.

After passing all required certifications, he equipped his own home with an emergency radio station, like most HAM operators. In emergency situations, his setup enables him to run communications for nearly five hours on dry-cell batteries.

For backup power, he can relocate the portable system to his car and run it off the car battery, he added.

But the ``HAM'' acronym remains a mystery to him.

``No one seems to be able to answer that. We're still scratching our heads,'' Osment said.

He speculated that it derived from a ``coined phrase'' nearly a century ago - perhaps ``had a lot of money.''

``It was considered an expensive hobby back then and still can be,'' he explained with a laugh.

H-A-M stands for ``home amatuer,'' according to Gale Research Inc.'s 1993 publication of ``Acronyms, Initialisms and Abbreviations Dictionary.''

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HAM radio operator Jim Osment will be ready to keep comunications flowing.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer