‘Field Day’ seeks to give ham radio experience

The Garland County Department of Emergency Management complex will host an array of transmitters and antennas today.

Amateur Radio Field Day, an open event arranged by the SPA Amateur Radio Association, will begin between noon and 1 p.m. today at the complex and last into the afternoon. The event, which is held in multiple locations across the United States and Canada on the fourth Saturday of June, is “the single-most popular on-the-air event held annually” in the two countries, the association said in a news release.

Amateur radio, or “ham radio” as it is often called, is “a worldwide community of licensed operators using the airwaves with every conceivable means of communications technology,” the release said. During the June event, more than 35,000 radio amateurs gather together to partake in their hobby.

“Basically, it’s an open contest and practice for amateur radio operators to set up their equipment in circumstances that they might normally not do day-to-day,” said association President Robert King.

Field Day will use the complex’s mobile communication and command trailer for its operation. King said that the trailer has amateur radio equipment due to the fact that the public agency equipment is sometimes overrun with its own traffic, and will potentially use it for the event.

King said that Field Day will explore all aspects of amateur radio, starting with the setup.

“We’re gonna go through all of the setup and everything, just like we were called out to go to an adjacent county or two or three counties away, and set up a mobile communications unit to help with that response,” King said. “There’s a whole lot of different components that go into this. It’s not just, ‘Throw the radio up and start talking.’ It’s a procedure.”

The contest entails the event’s participants contacting as many other stations as possible. King also said that the people

running Field Day will be there to answer any questions that the public might have about the practice of amateur radio.

“Any amateur radio operator or anybody that’s interested in amateur radio and what it can do, and asking questions about what it takes to be an amateur radio operator, the testing and licensing process, they’re welcome to come and ask those questions and basically see what it’s like to operate the equipment and what all it can do for them,” King said.

While many who use it consider it a hobby, King said that amateur radio is put to practical use in disaster situations and is set up in locations such as campers and under tents. The release stated that “ham radio has been called into action again and again to provide communications in crises when it really matters.”

King said that although many amateur radio operators practice on a regular basis, they do not necessarily operate in such situations. He said that he hopes Field Day will give hobbyists the chance to “practice that kind of event.”

“They set their equipment up in these extraordinary circumstances to mimic if they were having to set up in disaster situations,” King said. “They learn about setting up antennas, they learn about setting up the radio equipment, generators, for that instance when something may happen in their local or regional area that they’re called upon to provide communications for and make contacts — not only locally, but even their state, region, and even the world.”