John Scarffe, Nederland.  “Hello, this is the Indian Peaks Radio Club calling from Nederland, Colorado.”

Club members gathered around a microphone and ham radio set up in the back of Room 108 at the Nederland Community Center.

“Hello, Indian Peaks, this is Boulder and you’re coming in loud and clear,” came the clear and crisp reply.

“We’re making our initial contact today,” the voice spoke clearly from Nederland.

“You have made your first contact,” Boulder answered. “Congratulations.”

“We have made our first contact, Yea. Over and Out, signing off WOZ Ned.”

When the Indian Peaks Radio Club first made contact with the outside world at about 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 20, at the Nederland Community Center, the conversation went something like that. The Club hosted an open house at its new digs in Room 108 surrounded by a wide variety of Ham Radio equipment in the room adjacent to the Nederland Board of Trustees meeting chamber.

Mike Mussler, who led the organization of the club along with his wife, Jan, said he was approached about the need for emergency radio communication in Nederland, and the Board of Trustees then formed an Emergency Preparedness Action Committee. Since then, the Town has provided a room for ham radio and emergency classes and to set up a radio station, he told a packed room at the Open House.

The labor of setting up the room and some of the equipment came from interested area residents, members of the club and club trustees. Mussler thanked Community Center Director Dawn Baumhover and Nederland Trustee Randy Lee for their assistance in setting up the club and the room.

“This has been hugely gratifying to me,” Mussler said. He explained that a resident ham, Susan Marchman, had made a huge donation to enable the Club to open. Her husband, Richard Lee Marchman, had passed away while doing a rescue as part of his job.

The Marchmans donated a large amount of valuable equipment to the club and were honored guests at the open house. Mussler said it would have taken several years to assemble the equipment needed to open the club and make first contact, but with the Marchmans’ donation they did it one year.

Mayor Joe Gierlach attended the open house and read a proclamation. He also read it later that evening at the Board of Trustees meeting.

Gierlach said, when he was first elected to the Board, the Town was in financial trouble, and he said when the Town had money they would invest in emergency preparedness.

Then three major incidents occurred, and the Board had to address how to be prepared.

Room 108 is going to be an emergency center with the ham radio club, where the Town can prepare for emergency evacuations and have communications during emergencies. “I’m really proud of it,” Gierlach said. “It couldn’t have happened without the Marchman family.”

The proclamation recognized Dick Marchman, who dedicated his life through service to the community as an EMT in the area for more than 25 years and as an amateur radio operator for 65 years. He will be best remembered for his support of the Indian Peaks Radio Club.

Following the reading of the proclamation, the Club made its first contact, and those in attendance enjoyed refreshments and inspected the room and the equipment. Honored guests then made the short trek to the Trustees room for the reading of the proclamation there.