Amateur Radio “Field Day” showcases ham radio for area residents

Greg Butler, a District Emergency Coordinator for the Virginia Section of ARES®. Courtesy Photo

FRONT ROYAL – For anyone who would like to learn more about amateur or “ham” radio, this Saturday and Sunday will be a great opportunity, as members of Warren County EmComm will be set up at the Fantasyland Playground on Commerce Avenue in town. The group will be there as part of the national Amateur Radio Field Day exercise.

Since 1933, 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 to the public.

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 participated in Field Day in 2016.

“We have become a society that is largely dependent on smartphones, computers, and the Internet to communicate. Many people don’t consider the complexity of the systems that allow this connectivity,” said Greg Butler, a District Emergency Coordinator for the Virginia Section of ARES®, the emergency communications arm of the American Radio Relay League, the national association for Amateur Radio. “However, if an interruption of cellular or Internet systems occurs, you have no way to communicate. Ham radio is completely independent of the Internet or cellular telephone infrastructure, and can be set up almost anywhere in minutes. That’s the beauty of Amateur Radio during a communications outage.”

“Hams can literally throw a wire in a tree for an antenna, connect a transmitter powered by a generator, battery, or solar panels and communicate locally, regionally, and beyond,” Butler added. “Hams can even use their radios to send email out of a disaster-stricken area with no Internet service. This is a huge asset to any community during disasters if the standard communication infrastructure is damaged or degraded. These are the types of things that will be demonstrated on Field Day.”

“Warren County EmComm members will also assist Field Day visitors who want to try their own hand at talking on Amateur Radio. There are over 725,000 licensed hams in the United States, as young as 5 and as old as 100. Perhaps a Field Day visitor will become the next ham radio operator in the Front Royal/Warren County area.”

For more information about Field Day, contact Greg Butler at 540-551-5253 or visit www.facebook.com/WarrenCountyEmComm.

If you are going: 

• Saturday, 2 p.m.-9 p.m., at Fantasyland Playground
• Sunday, 9 a.m.-5 pm., at Fantasyland Playground