"This is WA9ZXS. I'm heading back to the QTH."

"Roger ZXS. QSL."

Believe it or not, this is a conversation between two ham radio operators. It means: "This is call sign WA9ZXS. I'm heading back home." "OK, (call sign) WA9ZXS. I understand."

You can hear this kind of language almost every day on ham radios.

This ham is not something you buy at the local deli. This one goes back to the days when many people were building their own radio transmitters and would bring neighbors, friends and relatives to sing over the airwaves. Radio listeners would hear them and call them "hams." The label has stuck with amateur radio operators for years.

These days, hams do more than sing. Whenever there's an emergency, police, firefighters and paramedics are often called to help _ and amateur radio operators sometimes come to the scene, too.

Locally, they've helped with disasters such as the chemical spill on the Northeastside last May, the 1990 natural gas explosion at Fort Benjamin Harrison, and the deadly plane crash at the Ramada Inn in 1987.

Children's Express recently talked to two ham radio operators, Mike Sercer and John Patton, about their work in the community.

We also talked to Wayne Morgan, communications officer for the Marion County Emergency Management Organization, which coordinates the county's response to disasters in the area. Morgan explained how his group often works with amateur radio operators.

"Emergency management is the cycle of recognizing, identifying hazards, assessing the risk, attempting to find ways to minimize the problem and then responding to the problem when it happens," he said.

That's where amateur radio operators come in. Emergency workers sometimes need assistance from hams in passing information to places such as hospitals and safety crews.

Hams also help in tracking the movement of disasters such as tornadoes and chemical spills, so emergency crews can alert residents who may be in danger. The hams also stand by at many walk-a-thons, boat races and bike races in case emergency information needs to be relayed.

Each year the hams have a Goblin Patrol on Halloween. They patrol neighborhoods throughout the city and report vandalism to the police. On Halloween 1985, an 11-year-old girl was kidnapped and the hams helped search for her. She later was found safe.

On Halloween 1963, there was a propane gas explosion at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum that killed 74 people and injured hundreds. Some of the first people at the scene were amateur radio operators.

The hams are strictly volunteers and make no money for the work they do.

"Like any other volunteer they have their own self-motivation that allows them, or spurs them on, to contribute to the community, and they've done it in an outstanding fashion for years and years and years," Morgan said. "We look forward to the opportunity to work with them in times to come."

The hams are as enthusiastic about their hobby as Morgan is about them.

"I had an amateur radio license before I had a driver's license," Sercer said. "I just always had an interest in electricity and, later, radio. And I guess it was just a natural course to follow. Pursuing amateur radio is one of many hobbies."

"I got involved with a bunch of guys that were doing some things by amateur radio and I got curious and got interested and got sucked in, I guess," Patton said. "I've been licensed since 1976, I think. I have two sons, a daughter and a wife who are licensed, and (I'm) working on the rest of them (his family)."