AMATEUR RADIO FIELD DAY

The Raleigh Amateur Radio Society (RARS) invites all interested persons to participate in our annual Field Day operation.

ARRL Field Day is the single-most popular amateur radio operating event of the year in the US and Canada! Around 35,000 radio amateurs (and the friends and families of many of them) head out into the field, set up temporary stations, and make as many contacts as they can in a 24-hour period.

Field Day combines public service, emergency preparedness, community outreach, and technical skills all in a single event. It demonstrates ham radio's science, skills, and service to our communities and our nation.

We essentially take meadows and wooded areas, turn them into independent communications centers with world-wide communications capabilities for the weekend, and then turn them back into meadows and wooded areas on Sunday afternoon. It’s an amazing transformation!! See the recap of RARS Field Day 2024!

You do NOT have to be a member of RARS or any amateur radio club! You do NOT even have to be a licensed ham. In fact, we especially welcome people who aren't licensed, hams licensed since the last Field Day (at the end of June 2024), and licensed hams who haven't been on HF in a while. There will be a special "Get On The Air" (GOTA) station to introduce you to operating in the high frequency bands or get you back in the game!

We are operating class “3A,” which means a club station (that's the “A”) with as many as three transmitters on the air at the same time (not including GOTA and a "free" VHF station).

We are also looking for experienced operators and people who want to be. We can use phone, digital, and CW ops, so whether you like to talk or to listen to the musical warble of digital modes or the rhythm of the dits and dahs, we have a place for you!! Even though "Field Day is not a contest," we do keep score, and we do care about our results, so we want to make a lot of contacts, but we also want to have fun doing it, and we do!!

We start setting up at 9:00 am on Friday. If you want to learn about station set-ups, putting up antennas, THIS is the place to be! Yes, it’s work, but also a lot of fun and learning. If you have questions when you get there, just ask anyone you see there.

Then we are back at 8:00 am on Saturday for final set-up, before the official twenty-four hour operating period which starts at 2:00 pm. Yes, we go all night, working in shifts, depending on band conditions and availability of operators.

Even if you have NO EXPERIENCE, we will train you, if you like. Each station has a “Captain” in charge and we generally have a radio operator and a logger (using a laptop computer) at each station. So, after observing a while you can begin doing logging . . . simple, just typing into the laptop. Then, if you like, after participating up close, you can slide into the operator’s chair and make contacts yourself.

In between set-up and operating and logging, there are lots of chances for fellowship with other great ham operators and to swap stories, hear about things you may not be familiar with, and just enjoy being around other people who agree that ham radio is a GREAT hobby!!

And FOOD! Just as an army marches on its stomach, so goes Field Day! Friday night we’ll have pizza (or something similar) for the set-up crew, and Saturday it will be a catered meal for everyone. Sunday lunch will consist of the abundant left-overs with additional food as necessary. And all three days there will be lots of cold water, soft drinks and snacks . . . calorie counting is NOT allowed!!

Contact the Field Day Chairman by clicking on his name below if you have any questions, suggestions, or want to volunteer. We hope to see you there!

Marty Young
W4MY
Field Day Chair