Field Day 2015

What is field day? Well, I will let the ARRL or the National Association for Amateur Radio explain it:

ARRL Field Day is the single most popular on-the-air event held annually in the US and Canada. On the fourth
weekend of June of each year, more than 35,000 radio amateurs gather with their clubs, groups or simply with
friends to operate from remote locations.

Field Day is a picnic, a campout, practice for emergencies, an informal contest and, most of all, FUN!

It is a time where many aspects of Amateur Radio come together to highlight our many roles. While some will treat
it as a contest, other groups use the opportunity to practice their emergency response capabilities. It is an excellent
opportunity to demonstrate Amateur Radio to the organizations that Amateur Radio might serve in an emergency,
as well as the general public. For many clubs, ARRL Field Day is one of the highlights of their annual calendar.
The contest part is simply to contact as many other stations as possible and to learn to operate our radio gear in
abnormal situations and less than optimal conditions.

We use these same skills when we help with events such as marathons and bike-a-thons; fund-raisers such as walka-thons;
celebrations such as parades; and exhibits at fairs, malls and museums — these are all large, preplanned,
non-emergency activities.

But despite the development of very complex, modern communications systems — or maybe because they ARE so
complex — ham radio has been called into action again and again to provide communications in crises when it
really matters. Amateur Radio people (also called “hams”) are well known for our communications support in real
disaster and post-disaster situations.

Now, I suppose you are wondering; how come you are not out somewhere operating with a club or in a tent? Well, the simple answer is, that I do not do well in tent situations and I really do not have the money to go get a camp site. Now, the reason why I do not operate field day with a local club is because at the local club around here, you have to be a member to operate and you have to get on a list to operate.

This presents a problem for me; because for one, I am not a member of that club, nor have I ever been and most likely will never be either. The other problem is, that I actually like to operate and not just sit around and look at a bunch of old people. I know Field Day is not a contest, but, it is an operating exercise; and not a sitting around looking at people exercise. Therefore, I choose to use my own station, at the house I live in. That class is 1D and I am in Michigan.

Here’s a video of me, talking about my field day set up:

I will be active, most likely on all of the HF bands, except for 160 or 80. Those bands are usually too noisy in the summer for good communications.

My strategy will be to figure out what bands are open, find a clear frequency and hold it, by calling CQ. Meaning that I’ll start listening on 10; if I don’t hear anything there, I will move to 15 and so on. I hope to give this CW memory keyer that I bought a good workout. I will be using GenLog for logging. I will also be using CWGet by UA9OV for copying CW. I can head copy, but not that good; so, I use a reader. Some people might have an issue with that, I say to them, “Have a Nice Day.”

I will operate from start of field day, till my old body tells be to hit the rack, or go to bed, and then Sunday, when I get up, I will operate till it’s over.

See you all on the bands tomorrow! 😀