June 25/26 2016 is Field Day. All hams are invited to go out and set up as if in an emergency, using field antennas, alternative power sources, etc. and make lots of contacts all over the world. If you have ANY interest at all in ham radio, this is the time to do something about it. Most local clubs will be setting up in a park, and usually they run a grill. There will be examples of many types of radio going on, depending on the interests of your local club - satellite, HF, microwave, voice, Morse code, pictures, fax, texting, the list goes on. Might even be some moonbounce going on. There may be something in the paper, but if you search for your local club, their webpage should have info for you. This isn't the only time to get an introduction to ham radio, but it is absolutely the BEST time. Field Day Search for ARRL Affiliated Clubs
Amen. If you're thinking of becoming a ham, there is never a better opportunity to gain some knowledge and even try out getting on the air, the other reason for field day. I promise no one can attend one without having fun!
Hmm, I notice that Margaritaville is suspiciously close to those coordinates... We are setting up in a park in NC and will have (I think) at least 10 antennas for the 10 stations. Five bands for CW and 5 for phone. Will be my first time at a field day.
It is, indeed. KM3E and N3COT are hosting. As of right this minute, there will be at least 4 transmitters on site not counting the mobile rigs just out joy riding. We can't get an antenna up for 160M but we will have 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6, and 2 covered most of the time. There will be a couple code heads, but most will be phone. I'll be intermittent on all those, but concentrating on 6, just because. Point your rotor about 005 true, and you should hit one or more of us. Friday afternoon will see N3LPJ, AA3EY, WD4GXT, W3GAA and maybe N3CEM, AB3CT and a couple random olde phartes and others doing the heavy lifting for the yagi and high G5RV. in preparation for firing up the machinery for serious on Sat. Assuming you know some of the rest of the club, Don, W3ZKN and Herman, K3EEL both went SK this past year. 73s
This is awesome and I totally would have missed it if you hadn't posted it. Thanks so much! I picked one of the clubs near me and hopefully will be able to check it out this weekend.
Ahh yes, Field Day. When hams set up in a nice park not too far from the toilets. Roll out the BBQ and if you forget anything, don't worry: The 24 hour Walmart is just up the street. Some Field Day groups will also have pizza delivery. The truly devoted will bring their air conditioned RVs. The purpose of all this is to practice for "emergency/disaster conditions" (for people who think a "disaster" is having to wait more than thirty minutes for a pizza).
Find one that has a GOTA station GOTA=Get On The Air for non hams to try it out radio under the tutelage of experienced hams. 6 years ago i went to a Field day event with a GOTA station and made about 10 contacts. By Sept 1 I had passed the Tech and General 6 months later I passed the Extra.
@AD1 for some reason I read that as "when I was 6" and I found the following statements pretty incredible -- ha ha. But we do have a 7 (?) year old who has passed the first exam. And a 13-year old in the club that (early this year) passed the Tech exam and will be ready for the General in a few more months. Go youngsters!
well of course the level of "alternative" varies, but even the ones with the air conditioned R/Vs are a good intro for n00bs. And it's dam hot out there, I ain't complainin.
CommGrats. Thanks for helping the kiddos involved. There is a friend on FB James Lee who has young girls like 8 that 2 have their Extra and the other(3) have generals and techs. They will run a special event station K1D. Anyone on the air will be trying to hit them Field Day at All-Kids Special Event K1D Will Be a Multimedia Event 06/21/2016 In an effort to encourage more youngsters and their families to get involved in Amateur Radio, the kids at Ham Radio (dot) World will mount an all-kids ARRL Field Day special event operation — K1D — over the June 25-26 weekend. Youngsters will set up, operate, and take down the station, which will be located in Deland, Florida. The K1D operators plan to operate on HF and Amateur Radio satellites. K1D will team with the K4G “Get on the Air” (GOTA) station at the same site, and Tom Medlin, W5KUB, of Amateur Radio Roundtable plans to webcast the event on Saturday, 2000 until 2200 U TC, live, followed by video from various Field Day sites around the US from 2200 until 2400 UTC or later. Joining the youngsters at K1D will be AMSAT Vice President-Operations Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, who will be a kid-for-a-day to help get the young ops on the linear satellites. The youngsters built a solar power system from scratch to power K1D, with thanks to Kyocera Solar and West Mountain Radio for donating components. A Genasun MPPT Charge Controller will manage battery charging, and Radiowavz.com is providing a Sentinel Expedition Hex Beam for K1D. The youngsters built a W7FG TrueLadderLine antenna among other antennas and are building additional antennas to use for Field Day. Youngsters as young as 7-year-old Grace, KM4TXT, will be on the air from K1D. For helping to encourage youth in Amateur Radio, stations working K1D and/or K4G during ARRL Field Day 2016 will be eligible for a commemorative QSL card. Stations who work K1D and/or K4G during the 2016 ARRL Field Day will be eligible for a special K1D/K4G Commemorative QSL card. Ham Radio.World is run by Zechariah, WX4TVJ; Faith Hannah, AE4FH; Hope, KM4MPF; and Grace, KM4TXT, who just got her license in May. Their parents are James, WX4TV, and Michelle Lea. James Lea has been a radio amateur since he was 13. The older three Lea children got their ham licenses early last year. Faith Hannah, 10, and Zechariah, 12, were presenters at the Hamvention® 2016 Youth Forum. They spoke on “Experiences in Antenna Selection, Construction, and Use for VHF Applications.”
I went and had a nice time. Met lots of kind people, who gave me information and learned all about the Young Ladies club.
FD ended with sucky bands. One of the guys made a slew of contacts on CW 80M, but other than that, things were pretty dry. There was an opportunity up at Copernicus to view the sun thru the filtered telescope on Friday when one of the members took a ride. He reported zero surface disturbances that might have enhanced conditions.
Yep, 20 and 40 were rolling near the start, but as they faded after twilight 80 stayed dead here. 10 and 15 were silent as a tomb. We had a great time the entire time, from setup until tear down. Well, except for that pesky newsman that kept taking my picture... ...and nary a peep from K1D (see post #14)