ARRL Field Day is always held on the 4th full weekend in June. This year, the dates are June 24th & 25th. There is a lot of information about Field Day on the ARRL website. Please take a look, there, if you’d like to learn more about the overall event.
The Jamestown Amateur Radio Club will, once again, be setting up for Field Day at the Wings on Strings Kite Flying Field near Jamestown Reservoir. We will begin setup a couple hours before the event actually starts, so that we can be prepared to be on the air, right at the 1:00pm start time. Anybody that might be interested in how we set up for remote operations are invited to be present during the setup. You might be asked to help out, just a bit, so be prepared (no heavy lifting involved). During the setup time, we may not be too sociable, just so you’re aware.
Once the event starts, it usually gets really busy on the radio, so if you would like to get a first-hand view of how radio contacts are handled during an event like this, you’ll want to be around at about 1:00pm. Even if you’re not an amateur radio operator, you can get on the air, yourself (no license required), if you’d like.
We will should the grill up and running, later in the afternoon (depending on the weather) on June 24th (probably around 4:00pm to 5:00pm). Hamburgers and hot dogs have always been on our “menu”. The food will be free, so don’t expect to pay anything, either. There may be a limited supply, though, depending on how many people actually show up, so keep that in mind.
Field Day is a 24 hour event, which (as mentioned before) begins at 1:00pm on Saturday and ends at 1:00pm on Sunday. We will be “working” the airwaves throughout the night, as much as possible. We ask that you do “not” stop up and visit us in the middle of the night, unless you let us know, first. We just don’t want any “surprise” visitors in the wee hours of the morning. To let us know, call or text 7 Oh 1 Two 6 Nine 5 Two 9 Two. We will also be listening to the local repeater (147.180MHz) and 146.520 MHz.
We hope that anybody that has any kind of interest in ham radio is able to visit us on June 24th. There are a lot of misconceptions about the hobby, and we can usually answer any questions that you might have. It is also a fairly easy hobby to get in to. There is no need to know Morse Code, and only a 35 question multiple choice test to get started. Even some entry level radios start at under $30.
We hope to see you there!