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Field Day 2002
suwain_2 writes "This weekend, amateur (ham) radio operators across the country will be setting up to practice emergency communications. Particularly after the tragic events of September 11th, I thought the general public, particularly Slashdot readers, might be interested in seeing what we do. This year bonus points are awarded to stations who have a "Get On the Air" station, to give non-hams a closer look (and even a chance to operator) at exactly what goes on. Unfortunately, the ARRL, who sponsors Field Day, has very little information on their site for non-hams, but what information they do have exists here. Check out the local newspaper to see if it's mentioned, and, if it is, stop by this weekend and take a look!"
The Albemarle Amateur Radio Club (WA4TFZ) will be holding it's FD2002 (warning: PDF) at the Earlysville Firehouse. Come check it out if you're near Central VA. Should be starting around 10AM on Sat. morning.
From the National Association for Amateur Radio:
Why Ham?
"Ham: a poor operator. A 'plug.'"
That's the definition of the word given in G. M. Dodge's The Telegraph Instructor even before radio. The definition has never changed in wire telegraphy. The first wireless operators were landline telegraphers who left their offices to go to sea or to man the coastal stations. They brought with them their language and much of the tradition of their older profession.
In those early days, spark was king and every station occupied the same wavelength--or, more accurately perhaps, every station occupied the whole spectrum with its broad spark signal. Government stations, ships, coastal stations and the increasingly numerous amateur operators all competed for time and signal supremacy in each other's receivers. Many of the amateur stations were very powerful. Two amateurs, working across town, could effectively jam all the other operators in the area. When this happened, frustrated commercial operators would call the ship whose weaker signals had been blotted out by the amateurs and say "SRI OM THOSE #&$!@ HAMS ARE JAMMING YOU."
Amateurs, possibly unfamiliar with the real meaning of the term, picked it up and applied it to themselves in true "Yankee Doodle" fashion and wore it with pride. As the years advanced, the original meaning has completely disappeared.
Come see the Boston Amateur Radio Club operate at:
Larz Andersen Park
Brookline, MA
Behind Museum of Transportation
15 Newton St
Brookline, MA 02445-7406
Objects in the blog are closer then they ap
Actually Ham Radio played a vital part in the aftermath of 9/11, here in Loudoun county (Northern Virginia), the local amateur radio operators came out in force, primarily providing emergency communications support for the area around the pentagon, helping to coordinate the arrivals of huge numbers of rescue workers and vehicles, and providing communications between the local Red Cross chapter and the hotel where everyone evacuated from Dulles airport was taken. I met many of these guys at the local Red Cross office, and watched as they built a communications network to support an area where every phone line and every cell tower was completely overloaded. At the time I couldn't even imagine the effort that probably went into building a net in New York.
Loudoun Amateur Radio Group Field Day Page
-- Jason Kohles KG4PPU
Raynet were to be the backbone of radio communications during the Cold War in the event of a nuclear strike on the UK - for details.
Evil ZEN Scientist
Given that you used 73 to say Goodbye, I'm guessing you're a ham.
Radio is both international and local. There are international contests, but there's nothing stopping people from operating locally.
Due to the emergency communications focus of Field Day and the fact that 99.999% of all emergencies are relatively local (In fact, a nationwide catastrophe has yet to happen...), it makes sense that it's just the USA. Other countries might also hold similar contests during the year, too.
N2YPH
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
from the ARRL site:
The traditional expression "73" goes right back to the beginning of the landline telegraph days. It is found in some of the earliest editions of the numerical codes , each with a different definition, but each with the same idea in mind--it indicated that the end, or signature, was coining up. But there are no data to prove that any of these were used.
The first authentic use of 73 is in the publication The National Telegraph Review and Operators' Guide, first published in April 1857. At that time, 73 meant "My love to you!" Succeeding issues of this publication continued to use this definition of the term. Curiously enough, some of the other numerals then used have the same definition now that they had then, but within a short time, the use of 73 began to change.
In the National Telegraph Convention, the numeral was changed from the Valentine-type sentiment to a vague sign of fraternalism. Here, 73 was a greeting, a friendly "word" between operators and it was so used on all wires.
In 1859, the Western Union Company set up the standard "92 Code". A list of numerals from one to 92 was compiled to indicate a series of prepared phrases for use by the operators on the wires. Here, in the 92 Code, 73 changes from a fraternal sign to a very flowery "accept my compliments," which was in keeping with the florid language of that era.
Over the years from 1859 to 1900, the many manuals of telegraphy show variations of this meaning. Dodge's The Telegraph Instructor shows it merely as "compliments." The Twentieth Century Manual of Railway and Commercial Telegraphy defines it two ways, one listing as "my compliments to you;" but in the glossary of abbreviations it is merely "compliments." Theodore A. Edison's Telegraphy Self-Taught shows a return to "accept my compliments." By 1908, however, a later edition of the Dodge Manual gives us today's definition of "best regards" with a backward look at the older meaning in another part of the work where it also lists it as "compliments."
"Best regards" has remained ever since as the "put-it-down-in-black-and-white" meaning of 73 but it has acquired overtones of much warmer meaning. Today, amateurs use it more in the manner that James Reid had intended that it be used --a "friendly word between operators."
--- Ask me about my Sig -- it's a 9mm.
Well, It doesn't have to do with ham equipment inasmuch as it has to do with CB. Equating the two is a MAJOR fallacy. A lotta folks with CBs will modify them to drive an extra watt or two out of them, and will make the things splatter RF all over the place, throwing interference at just about anything electronic. And "SSB/CW" goes all the way from the HF band into the Microwave band.
SSB means single side band, which is a form of modulation. CW means Morse Code, which is, well, the code. Both get lots of distance, but CW mainly because of the quality of the information. To understand a CW message, all you need is to discern timing of two pulses of different length intervals. To understand voice (AKA Phone) or packet, there's more "information" being shoved into the bandwidth, thereby making it harder to understand as the quality of the signal decreases.
So, blaming it on SSB/CW even is a fallacy, because people can, with poorly designed equipment cause problems in FM-modulated signals.
Of course, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.
The Seattle Mike and Key club will be operating their field day activities out of Fort Flagler state park near Port Townsend. Here's a map from their web page.
If you're already a ham, just ask on the local repeaters, or get in touch with someone on 146.52.
If you're not a ham, check your local newspapers, or just go to google, look for an amateur radio club in a geographic area near you. For example, I live in Clay County, so search for Clay County Amateur Radio and you'll eventually find our web site.
We have a blast over field day. Typically, operations are done using emergency power. My club has a generator on a trailer, for field day as well as for emergencies.
The other cool thing about field day is that all you tecnician licenses (who can't normally transmit below 30 Mhz) can because clubs will have General and Extra class control operators around. So you get to play on HF and get a little incentive to upgrade your license.
So, anyone's who's got a few hours over the weekend, we start at 1800 UTC (13:00 CDT) on Saturday, and go for 24 hours. Show up, ask questions, and learn stuff.
Put a memo in your pda for next year then -- it's always the 4th weekend in June. Next year, June 28 and 29.