If you are on this site, and not into communications, then you should be. Communications is key, even if only you plan "to listen" in a SHTF scenario. The annual "Field Day" is this weekend, starting at 2:00 PM Eastern time ( but many people will be there all of Saturday and part of Sunday). You can find the Field Day location with a ton of amateur radio operators by going to this site: Field Day Station Locator (just type a ZIP code) I would encourage everyone on this site to learn as much as you can about radio as a form of communication. My local club will be setting up Saturday morning -- you can learn a lot by helping setup, as well as by asking questions during the whole Field Day. Most clubs will setup a GOTA station -- "Get on the Air" -- where anyone, regardless of experience or age, can get on the air and make a "contact" with someone else around the country. FIND YOUR NEAREST FIELD DAY LOCATION AND LEARN SOMETHING NEW !!!
The club is setting up on the side of a hill, a place we have used quite successfully before. There will be 5 stations up and running, including a GOTA for casual dropins. The word has been published in several papers, and flyers stuck up in the neighborhood bulletin boards. We will go on the air 1400 local Sat, and a couple diehards will go on over night.
Wish I could be home and partisipate, but will still be stuck in the Extended Stay Motel, till July 3rd, when I can Weight-bare on my foot and finally head home... aftergetting cleared by the sawBones...
Methinks the white Toyota will do for some field day activity, all you need to do is crawl out there, fire up a radio and participate.
Nope, We is in Juneau, so no truck, and AlaskaChick’s DL Expired yesterday... So it is DMV, tomorrow, and then Rent-a-Wreck, and get some food... Then to Extended Stay on Thursday... Plan C is being executed...
Just want to add, if you are not already well versed in comms, whether you think you want to be or not, you should visit your local club at their Field Day setup Saturday. See some temp antennas set up, hear some radio activity, perhaps talk with some folks, ask some questions... these are probably the people you'll take your test from, if you choose to get licensed... I don't promise, but some clubs may feed you...
It has rained and dripped all day, here in Juneau.... i have No Ham Comms with me, so I have no way to see how the Juneau Ham Club station is doing, but I hope they are doing well...
20m was hopping yesterday afternoon, but 40 and 80 were less than stellar... Not sure if it was the Juneau club, but we did log a KL7 from there...running 1A.
KL7AIR, the Elmendorf AFB - now JBER - club station was on the air on 20> = using FT-8 20 M was dead - no SSB. We fired up the computer for FT8 and the screen lit up with station from all over the US. Going to be looking at FT 8 for the home station. I suspect PSK-31 would have worked as well.
Huh...interesting. SSB was abuntant in 5-land. Usually I do the chasing, but did call CQ and in about ten seconds had a small pile-up. As far as FT-8 and other digi modes (I'll exempt cw - after all cw predates SSB)...IMO it isn't in the true spirit of Field Day. It takes the human element out of it and automates it. Sure, one can rack up a ton of contacts but it is the computers that establish contact, not people. Call me old fashioned BTW, it wasn't -AIR...want to say it was CHJ or similar...
Agree. We had one FT8 radio, did well enough with it, but it was the first try for the ham running it. Mastering the software is the hardest part, the rest of it, even I could handle if I didn't prefer voice. We had two antenna failures, took them down and replaced them with G5RVs that worked well enough, just ripped time out of the operations. Also had two transceiver problems, one sorta worked itself out, the other will need surgery. Mostly because of that, the count this year is WAY down from last and previous years.
Our local club had a fox hunt Saturday and I wanted to participate but family unit called me away. I've never been involved in one and wanted to check that out.
Everyone o the East coast had their ant pointing west and vice versa. Canadians point theirs South Alaska - we just sit and slap skeeters...
It started to pour just as the contest started, and I spent the day staying out of the rain. The ARRL rules about how to count the number of transmitters are too complex and too hard to understand: we started as 4A and I pointed out that it should have been 2A, since only two transmitters could be used at any given time.
