I'd like to take this opportunity to invite you to partake of an excellent opportunity to find out more about ham radio.
Our club, St. Mary's County Amateur Radio Association, will be participating in the annual national amateur radio emergency exercises that are held on the last full weekend of June each year.
This year, we will be setting up at least four amateur radio stations in a public display on Saturday, 27 June in the morning and beginning a 24 hour period of operation at 2 PM that runs throughout the night.
This event, known as "Field Day", will be set up in the field at the rear of the parking lot of the Hollywood (Maryland) Volunteer Fire Department in Hollywood, which is on the southbound side of Maryland Route 235, about a quarter mile north of the Route 245 traffic light (Hollywood-Leonardtown Road).
We will have a large 30' x 30' tent set up and all equipment will be powered by emergency generators as part of the exercise. This would be a great opportunity to sit down with us and learn about ham radio from experienced hams in the southern Maryland area.
We will have the traditional voice stations but, this year, will also be operating modern digital stations with computers along with a satellite station and other modes of communication. We also will have a fully computerized wireless LAN logging system to keep records.
Amateur Radio 'Field Day' is the most popular annual amateur radio operating event in the country and involves tens of thousands of ham radio operators around the country. The air waves will be buzzing with activity throughout the 24 hour operating period and this would provide an outstanding opportunity to learn about ham radio and how it works.
At the public display, we will have a welcome table with lot's of literature about ham radio plus continuous movies on large screen monitors showing various aspects of the hobby. This would be a perfect opportunity for any hams to come down and focus on ham radio by sitting down and operating the stations, talking to folks all around the country.
We have public restrooms located on-site about 25 feet away from the tent and a huge parking lot right next to the site. This is a very safe location and we have been doing this event there for almost ten years.
Please consider coming down in a couple of weeks and joining us in having some fun with ham radio! You can learn more about our club by going to our web site at www.qsl.net/smcara on the Internet. We will have links on the site to the "Field Day" planning page where you can get additional information about the schedule, picnic on Saturday at 6 PM, see pictures of last year's field day setup, etc.
We look forward to talking with you!
Vr, Pete Butt (WA3UMY)
President, St. Mary's County Amateur Radio Association
--- Interview with SMCARA President Pete Butt – WA3UMY ---
Would you be able to describe in a general manner what functional stations will be available during the Field Day 2009 event?
At this year's Amateur Radio 'Field Day', SMCARA club members are planning to demonstrate a variety of amateur radio equipment and operating modes that are used on a daily basis all over the world.
We will be using typical, relatively low cost radio transmitters and receivers and very low cost (typically home made) antennas and other components.
Visitors to the site will be able to sit down and see what it takes to 'get on the airwaves' and talk to other amateur radio operators all over the United States. If the visitors already have a ham license, they will be encouraged to sit down and do some operating. If they don't have a license yet, we will be more than happy to match them up with a more experience licensed ham who will sit down and walk them through a typical 'contact' on the air.
Visitors will learn how to tune the airwaves, listen carefully for other stations, make a contact using the microphone and exchange information with the other station, log the contact using a wireless laptop computer, and then move on to making additional contacts.
The goal of this year's 'Field Day' is not to make a lot of contacts but, rather, to get more folks interested in this fascinating hobby and help them understand how easy it is to get a license, get on the airwaves, and talk to ordinary folks just like them all over the world.
Field Day is a learning experience for all of us and, while the primary focus has always been emergency preparedness and learning how to rapidly establish a two-way communications capability under relatively austere environments after a hurricane, earthquake, or other disaster, Field Day also affords us an opportunity to get other folks interested in the hobby in a fun, non-threatening way.
We will have a variety of stations set up to demonstrate some of the various operating modes that are permitted under US and foreign laws, including voice, digital and visual modes.
In a prior response to the scouts inquiry, you referenced satellite, digital, voice..... stations, I would like to understand what is being planned for Field Day.
Usually we have three to four stations set up, generally each one is dedicated to a specific operating band/mode on a dedicated antenna for that band. Operators can rotate around as they please to operate each type of mode or band. That makes it easier to set up because each station can be optimized with the right accessories for each mode. In past years, we have normally operated 3A (three stations on emergency power) that were generally set up as follows:
- Station #1: 75 meter SSB/80 meter CW (operating either CW or SSB depending on band conditions and operator preference).
- Station #2: 40 meter SSB and/or digital modes.
- Station #3: 20 meter SSB, CW, and planning on the Digital mode - PSK31 this year.
- Station #4: GOTA station (doesn't count towards the 3A station total.
- Station #5: AJ Farmer usually sets up a dedicated satellite station
And, finally, we try to have a talk-in station set up monitoring the local repeater(s) in case someone doesn't remember how to get to Hollywood Maryland (Hollywood Volunteer Fire Department, 24801 Three Notch Road, Hollywood, Maryland 20636)
What is the Satellite station function?
Used to demonstrate working the satellites, either traditional hamsats or listening for the space station if their orbit comes close during field day... normally this station is for fun and demonstrations. Refer to AJ's demo in the 2005 Field Day movie.
Will there be a dedicated CW station?
Sometimes we have but normally we share a station, either on 80 meters or 20 meters. Normally, there aren't too many folks that use CW at Field Day anymore. I would suspect more folks would rather try PSK31 or similar digital modes.
What digital format/components will be used?
Most likely PSK31... it's the easiest to use in a field day setting.
What are the voice components?
Standard HF radio with microphone (and a good operator, hopefully) + headsets for all to keep the noise level down
What frequencies will be used for all the above?
Any authorized frequencies in the band that meet Field Day rules and the antenna can load up on.
What kind of antenna's will be used?
Combination of standard dipoles and inverted vee's hooked between the existing tower and the trees; HF verticals; and beams (yagi on a rotator) for 20,15,and 10 meters.
What other components will be typically used in the Field Day Event......
Headsets, keyers, power supplies, pencils, pens, blank paper (for notes), coffee, sodas, etc.
Past Years Field Day Photos:
--- Field Day 2008
--- Field Day 2002
--- Field Day 2001
--- Field Day 2000
If you have any Field Day questions please feel free to email Pete at: [email protected]