Field Day 2013

Picture from last year’s Field Day (2012).

For immediate Release

For Additional Information contact:
Albemarle Amateur Radio Club
https://www.albemarleradio.org/contact

“Who ya’ gonna call? Charlottesville/Albemarle area Radio Hams!”

Charlottesville, VA 2013-06-17 – Despite the Internet, cell phones, email and modern communications, every year whole regions find themselves in the dark. Tornadoes, fires, storms, ice and even the occasional cutting of fiber optic cables leave people without the means to communicate. In these cases, the one consistent service that has never failed has been Amateur Radio. These radio operators, often called “hams” provide backup communications for everything from the American Red Cross to FEMA and even for the International Space Station. Your Town’s “hams” will join with thousands of other Amateur Radio operators showing their emergency capabilities this weekend.

Over the past year, the news has been full of reports of ham radio operators providing critical communications during unexpected emergencies in towns across America including the California wildfires, winter storms, tornadoes and other events world-wide. When trouble is brewing, Amateur Radio’s people are often the first to provide rescuers with critical information and communications. On the weekend of June 22-23, the public will have a chance to meet and talk with Charlottesville/Albemarle area ham radio operators and see for themselves what the Amateur Radio Service is about as hams across the USA will be holding public demonstrations of emergency communications abilities.

This annual event, called “Field Day” is the climax of the week long “Amateur Radio Week” sponsored by the ARRL, the national association for Amateur Radio. Using only emergency power supplies, ham operators will construct emergency stations in parks, shopping malls, schools and backyards around the country. Their slogan, “When All Else Fails, Ham Radio Works” is more than just words to the hams as they prove they can send messages in many forms without the use of phone systems, internet or any other infrastructure that can be compromised in a crisis. More than 35,000 amateur radio operators across the country participated in last year’s event.

“The fastest way to turn a crisis into a total disaster is to lose communications,” said Allen Pitts of the ARRL. “From the earthquake and tsunami in Japan to tornadoes in Missouri, ham radio provided the most reliable communication networks in the first critical hours of the events. Because ham radios are not dependent on the Internet, cell towers or other infrastructure, they work when nothing else is available. We need nothing between us but air.”

In the Charlottesville/Albemarle area, the Albemarle Amateur Radio Club (AARC) will be demonstrating Amateur Radio in the back lot behind:
Earlysville Volunteer Fire Station
283 Reas Ford Rd, Earlysville, VA 22936
http://www.earlysvillefire.org/
https://maps.google.com/?f=q&daddr=283+Reas+Ford+Rd+Earlysville+VA+22936+US
Latitude: 38.144678  Longitude: -78.491183. Maidenhead Grid Locator: FM08SD14BR
Talk in: 146.760Mhz, Transmit Offset -600Mhz, CTCSS tone: 151.4Hz, Modulation: FM
on Saturday 2013-06-22 2PM EDT till Sunday 2013-06-23 2PM EDT. They invite the public to come and see ham radio’s new capabilities and learn how to get their own FCC radio license before the next disaster strikes.

Amateur Radio is growing in the US. There are now over 700,000 Amateur Radio licensees in the US, and more than 2.5 million around the world. Through the ARRL’s Amateur Radio Emergency Services program, ham volunteers provide both emergency communications for thousands of state and local emergency response agencies and non-emergency community services too, all for free.

To learn more about Amateur Radio, go to http://www.emergency-radio.org/.

The public is most cordially invited to come, meet and talk with the hams. See what modern Amateur Radio can do. They can even help you get on the air!

AARC will be operating a Get On The Air (GOTA) station. Members of the public, as well as certain newly licensed or inactive hams, are eligible to use this station under the direct supervision of a licensed control operator. AARC receives bonus points for each group of 20 contacts made using the GOTA station up to 100 points per guest operator or 500 points total, so you are encouraged to make 20 or more brief contacts.

Albemarle Amateur Radio Club(AARC): https://www.albemarleradio.org/field_day_2013
ARRL Field Day: http://www.arrl.org/field-day
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/161274767385545

Hams will be present 24hours/day at the Earlysville site from early Friday morning (setup) until Sunday Afternoon (Teardown).

Not in the Charlottesville/Albemarle area? Hams in your area are probably participating in field day. Visit http://www.arrl.org/field-day for the location nearest you.
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Frankie Jupiter from newsplex TV stations interviewing then club president Jim Crosby K4JEC in front of the main tent at 2012 AARC Field Day Station.
Photo Credit: AARC

Daniel Milner KJ4YHE operating the AARC 2012 Field Day Digital Station while Bill Pond N0WP runs the logging computer at AARC 2012 Field Day Station.
Photo Credit: AARC

Bill Pond N0WP operating one of the HF SSB Phone (Voice) stations at AARC 2012 Field Day Station.
Photo Credit: AARC

Hot air balloon in flight visible behind the beam antenna at AARC 2012 Field Day Station.
Photo Credit: AARC

RV and trailer with solar power belonging to Roland (KK4EDU) and Linda (KI5LLB) Beard at AARC 2012 Field Day Station
Photo Credit: AARC

Patsy Crosby K4PMC with an Arrow combination 2m/70cm Yagi Beam Antenna used for making contacts via ham radio satellites at AARC 2012 Field Day Station.
Photo Credit: AARC

Earlysville Volunteer Fire Department provided the space for setting up the AARC 2012 Field Day Station
Photo Credit: AARC

There will be a VE Session. 9AM saturday morning. This is where people who have already studied for the ham license take their exams.

Club members please sign up for time slots at the online roster: http://vols.pt/Z5G6yp