What is Field Day?
Field Day is an annual “open house” event since 1933 where operators set up temporary transmitting stations in public places to demonstrate ham radio’s science, skill and services to the community.
When is Field Day?
Field Day is held on the fourth weekend in June. More than 31,000 radio amateurs gather with their clubs, groups or simply with friends to operate from remote locations!
Who can participate in Field Day?
Anyone who is a licensed amateur radio operator can participate in Ham Radio Field Day. Additionally, unlicensed individuals can join in by operating under the supervision of a licensed operator. Everyone is invited!
Want to know even more about Field Day?
Field Day Fun!
Field Day is a picnic, a campout, practice for emergencies, an informal contest and, most of all, FUN!
Click HERE for this year’s Local Cedar Rapids Field Day Flyer
Field Day 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 volunteer to 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 that can benefit with radio communication!
Saturday morning is critical to have help setting up antennas and supplying power to all stations. Other key items to accomplish prior to the start of Field Day is to get on the air and perform a station check, send a few messages over the air to check your station and also listen for any interference issues so they can be addressed if needed.
Formal operation of field day begins at Saturday 12:00 PM Noon, and running through Sunday at 1:00 PM. It’s a great idea to have folks help take down stations after the event ends. Help with antennas, cables, ropes and general cleanup are always needed so we can leave the area cleaner than before we were on the site.
There are 3 rules for Field Day
- Have fun!
- Come and get involved setting up and operate; learn how to set up a military mast and pole kit.
- Learn how to help log QSO’s (station to station contacts).
- Help your new ham Get On The Air (GOTA), Invite family friends to field day. Socialize and meet new friends!
- Come on Sunday to help pack up and get the park cleaned up. If you brought something for field day, come by and pick it up prior to 3:00PM on Sunday.
- Think of Field Day like camping!
- You may not always have everything you need, but you need to be creative and flexible.
- If you think you’ll need it, bring it with you. If you think we could use it bring it.
- It may or may not go as planned, but it is fun when it all comes together.
- Station captains will need tables, chairs, and tent.
- If you are operating in the EMA tent it has air conditioning, and has power so you will not need a generator, but you may want a fan or may even a power strip and bring more coax because you are now in a central location so you may need longer runs.
- If you are actually “camping”, bring bug spray, lights, etc. Take notes and keep track of lessons learned on what worked and what could have been better for next year.
- Be safe!
- Plan for bad weather such as wind and rain; stake things down as best as you can.
- Have something to cover your equipment and secure it, like a Rubbermaid tote to put your radio, headset and computer in.
- Think safety; mark the guy wires and stakes in the ground.
- Listen to your club president/event leader if the need for any reason arises to shutdown operations.
