Field Day June 2001

Douglas County ARES Members Practice Emergency Communications

Amateur Radio operators work around the clock, the last week in June, to set up field radio communication stations, get on the air, and contact thousands of other operators in the US and Canada as part of participation in the American Radio Relay League’s Field Day.

Field Day is a way for hams to get outdoors and have fun under some difficult conditions, but it’s also a chance to fine-tune emergency communication skills. We use generators, solar power and battery power, and we set up antennas in the field. The idea is to put together a self-sufficient, working station quickly and begin making contacts.  These are the conditions that we would need to operate under in a real emergency”

First HF contact! A 10 year old contacts a Ham Radio station 2300 miles away.

Field Day is designed to encourage new hams to be active on HF, give them a taste of "contest" style operations and get involved in Emergency Communications.

(L to R)  Ed Hill KE4JCG, Paul Bailey K4KJ, Chris Bailey KG4FDD

(L to R)  Leonard Abbe KF4BPR, Chris Stricker KG4FMQ, ARES Emergency Coordinator  Marcus Bailey KF4YSD

Leonard Abbe KF4BPR, works contacts on 40 meter Single Sideband

Another youngster talks to ham radio operators in Canada.

Solar panels, marine batteries and a 5000 watt generator allowed the Douglas  County ARES field day goup to run 4 radios and 3 computers, totally independent of commercial electric power.

 Steve, KG4HSH, uses PSK-31, a digital mode that allows operators to chat using their computer keyboards, much like an internat chat room.

ARES groups in the USA have been effective in establishing emergency communications nets during floods, hurricanes, fires, earthquakes and other major disasters.

The emergency radio capability can still operate even when all commercial power is dead and the infrastructure for cell phones, landline phones or internet is totally disabled due to disaster damage.

Members of formal emergency organizations such as the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) regularly participate in the yearly Field Day. The Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL) estimates that more than 35,000 hams participate in Field Day every year.