June 2022. Amateur Radio Field Day exercise.
The above dates have come and gone and once again the Juan de Fuca 55 plus centre's amateur radio group took part in this North American disaster preparedness event. Aside from being a great way to ascertain just what pieces of equipment would be vital to implementing an emergency radio station, the annual ARRL (Amateur Radio Relay League) field day event is always great fun.
We arrived at the JDF back parking lot on Saturday shortly after 8:30 am in spite of the fact our intended start time had previously been determined to be 9:00. Isn't that a testament to our willingness to participate in this prestigious event. Imagine Amateur radio operators across North America gathering in small groups or even striking out as individuals to jury rig antennas and radio lash-ups for the purpose of contacting like minded persons where ever possible. One can only hazard a guess at the total number of actual participants across North America.
All that aside, before the official start-up time, we had erected 2 wire antennas, suspended from trees that surround the parking area nearest to the annex. Last year we operated with 4 operators and a single radio but this year we just had to step up operations to 2 radios and as many as 6 different operators. More had been invited to join us but did not.
I wish I could say that radio conditions were great for communications but they were anything but. Where are those danged sunspots when you actually need them? After a slow beginning, conditions did improve toward late afternoon and we managed to make more and more contacts into the evening. Now, this is a 24 hour event but we old timers all decided to retire somewhere near the witching hour to grab a few hours sleep and resumed our quest for more contacts somewhere in the wee hours of the morning (Sunday). I can't say for certainty when the other operators actually returned to the task at hand but I can say it was before I did as I managed to sleep right through until 5:00 AM.
Once I awakened and joined in the frantic rush to increase our contact count I managed to complete the score sheet I had started the previous day. Somehow once that task had been accomplished I seemed to run out of steam and settled for relaxing in a comfortable chair while enthusiastically encouraging the others. Maybe it was because most of the contacts I made were done using Morse Code rather than the easier voice contacts and I have to honestly say, my skills in that area have sadly deteriorated to next to none. However, using Morse Code as a means to communicate garnered me double the points for each contact, so all in all I was content with my “score” Next year I intend to be substantially improved at receiving Morse Code. It was a requirement to send an receive at the speed of 15 words per minute when I earned my license but over the years, that requirement has been dropped. Amateur radio operators today are no longer required to learn Morse Code.
I took fewer pictures this year than I did last year but I still have a few to post on the JDF website.
G. Schumacher -- with Dave Court, Alan Hoover, Ev. Schumacher, Brent Besse and Don Rosberg as enthusiastic participants
The above dates have come and gone and once again the Juan de Fuca 55 plus centre's amateur radio group took part in this North American disaster preparedness event. Aside from being a great way to ascertain just what pieces of equipment would be vital to implementing an emergency radio station, the annual ARRL (Amateur Radio Relay League) field day event is always great fun.
We arrived at the JDF back parking lot on Saturday shortly after 8:30 am in spite of the fact our intended start time had previously been determined to be 9:00. Isn't that a testament to our willingness to participate in this prestigious event. Imagine Amateur radio operators across North America gathering in small groups or even striking out as individuals to jury rig antennas and radio lash-ups for the purpose of contacting like minded persons where ever possible. One can only hazard a guess at the total number of actual participants across North America.
All that aside, before the official start-up time, we had erected 2 wire antennas, suspended from trees that surround the parking area nearest to the annex. Last year we operated with 4 operators and a single radio but this year we just had to step up operations to 2 radios and as many as 6 different operators. More had been invited to join us but did not.
I wish I could say that radio conditions were great for communications but they were anything but. Where are those danged sunspots when you actually need them? After a slow beginning, conditions did improve toward late afternoon and we managed to make more and more contacts into the evening. Now, this is a 24 hour event but we old timers all decided to retire somewhere near the witching hour to grab a few hours sleep and resumed our quest for more contacts somewhere in the wee hours of the morning (Sunday). I can't say for certainty when the other operators actually returned to the task at hand but I can say it was before I did as I managed to sleep right through until 5:00 AM.
Once I awakened and joined in the frantic rush to increase our contact count I managed to complete the score sheet I had started the previous day. Somehow once that task had been accomplished I seemed to run out of steam and settled for relaxing in a comfortable chair while enthusiastically encouraging the others. Maybe it was because most of the contacts I made were done using Morse Code rather than the easier voice contacts and I have to honestly say, my skills in that area have sadly deteriorated to next to none. However, using Morse Code as a means to communicate garnered me double the points for each contact, so all in all I was content with my “score” Next year I intend to be substantially improved at receiving Morse Code. It was a requirement to send an receive at the speed of 15 words per minute when I earned my license but over the years, that requirement has been dropped. Amateur radio operators today are no longer required to learn Morse Code.
I took fewer pictures this year than I did last year but I still have a few to post on the JDF website.
G. Schumacher -- with Dave Court, Alan Hoover, Ev. Schumacher, Brent Besse and Don Rosberg as enthusiastic participants
Field Day 2015:
What is "Field day" you wonder? Well it's not a seniors specific event but it is an event that the Ham Radio group from Juan de Fuca seniors did participate in this year.
Here is a description of what took place:
Juan De Fuca Seniors Center Amateur radio group:
Saturday June 27 and Sunday morning of June 28 The Amateur radio group at the Jdf Center actively participated in an annual exercise sponsored by the ARRL (American Radio Relay League). This exercise, known to radio amateurs as “Field day” takes place on the fourth weekend of June every year. The objective of the field day exercise is to work (contact) as many stations as possible on any and all amateur bands (excluding the 60, 30, 17, and 12-meter bands) and to learn to operate in abnormal situations in less than optimal conditions. To summarize quickly, Radio clubs and individuals take their radio equipment into the “field” and set up temporary stations at various locations. From there they attempt to make as many contacts as possible with others using these temporary stations.
Saturday morning at 8:30, the Juan de Fuca group met at the center and commenced erecting a temporary antenna. We were pleasantly surprised to find that we were able to get a wire antenna up, supported by 2 trees as well as connect all the necessary gear in just over one hours time. This bodes well for a quick initialization of our station under emergency conditions.
We used the space known as the annex for this operation and for the next 24 hours we operated almost continuously (we took a short break in the middle of the night as well as nourishment breaks throughout this time frame). We had 4 participants, 3 of whom are members of the Juan de Fuca 55 plus. The other was a guest operator who kindly donated a few hours of his time and was rewarded with the camaraderie of the group as well as a few quick snacks.
During the time we operated we made 140 “legitimate” contacts and numerous other contacts with fellow “Hams” that did not necessarily meet the rules as set out by the ARRL. All in all those who participated enjoyed the event and headed home tired and sleepy perhaps but none the worse for wear.
This is the first time this Field day event has been hosted by the JDF 55 plus Seniors center as far as we know and we are hopeful there will be more successful field day events over the years to come. We just have to wait until next June to try it again.
Ignore the date shown on the photos. It appears the camera has not kept up to date.