2019 Field Day

2019 Fayette County Amateur Radio Club Field Day
June 22 & 23, 2019 – The Ridge Nature Area

Members of the Fayette County Amateur Radio Club will be participating in the national Amateur Radio Field Day exercise, June 22 – 23 at the Ridge Nature Area located at 390 Burch Road, Fayetteville, GA. This event is free and open to the public.

The 2019 field day was a success! Go here for pictures.

The tentative schedule of events are as follows:

  • Saturday, June 22,2019
    • 2pm – Field Day start
    • 3pm – Demonstration of Emergency Communications (KN4YZ & AI4RT)
    • 4pm – Demonstration of Winlink (W8BYH)
    • 5pm – Demonstration of APRS (KI4ASK)
    • 6pm – Special presentation (Club)
    • 7pm – Contesting tips (K1ZN & KV4UD)
  • Sunday, June 23, 2019
    • 8am – Field Day reopens to public
    • 2pm – Field Day concludes

 

Ongoing activities throughout the event include:

  • Get on the Air (GOTA) radio station – where members of the public can try ham radio
  • 2 full powered contesting stations talking to radio operators around the world
  • Mini fox hunt (radio scavenger hunt) – to find a hidden radio transmitter
  • Radio listening post – shortwave, scanner, HF, VHF, UHF, digital

 

Press coverage of our event in The Citizen newspaper.  Thank you to the Publisher and fellow amateur radio operator Cal Beverly, KJ4WUL!

 

Since 1933, amateur (ham) radio operators across North America have established temporary ham radio stations in public locations during Field Day to showcase the science and skill of Amateur Radio. For over 100 years, Amateur Radio – sometimes called ham radio – has allowed people from all walks of life to experiment with electronics and communications techniques, as well as provide a free public service to their communities during a disaster, all without needing a cell phone or the Internet. Field Day demonstrates ham radio’s ability to work reliably under any conditions from almost any location and create an independent communications network. Over 35,000 people from thousands of locations in the United States participated in Field Day in 2018.

 

Fayette County has an active Amateur Radio community that uses a series of VHF/UHF radio repeaters and FCC licensed volunteers to provide support communications to the National Weather Service Skywarn program, Fayette County 911 and Fire/EMS, and other local first responders when called upon through the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES). The club also provides communications support for public events like Balloons Over Fayette, March of Dimes Walk-a-Thon, Cystic Fibrosis Ride for Life and Tri-PTC Triathlon.

 

Anyone may become a licensed Amateur Radio operator. There are over 725,000 licensed hams in the United States, as young as 5 and as old as 100. And with clubs such as the Fayette County Amateur Radio Club, it’s easy for anybody to get involved right here in Fayette County.