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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!"
Why are event announced on Slashdot the day before (or even the day of) the event?
Michael Loves Me!
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
so we have all these small, relatively cheap, devices operating together to provide a greater service.
it almost reminds one of some sort of cluster...
In Capitalist America, bank robs you!
What is a contest?
Contests are competetive events designed to simulate the kind of rapid flow of information that would need to occur in the event that radio amateurs were relied upon to handle disaster communications on a large scale.
Field Day, while lots of fun, serves the purpose of getting new people involved with Amateur Radio, and so it is generally a lot less competetive than what you'd find at the typical contest-station during a contest weekend.
In a contest, you try to contact as many other hams as possible, and you get points (multipliers to your score) for every distinct geographical region you contact. Some contests are US only, and many are worldwide. Some are focused on a particular frequency band, and some cover all HF bands.
There is nothing quite like the adrenaline that comes from making serious rate (300+ contacts per hour) for a few hours in a row. Aside from that, there is typically a great deal of team-spirit and good-natured rivalry among contesters, particularly those who are in the same state or county.
If you've always had an interest in ham radio but feared that it didn't have high enough octane to suit your temperment, look no further.
I'll post some web references below this comment soon...
Amazing magic tricks
This is probably in the ARRL link.
:)
Field Day is themed about emergency communications, although it couldn't be considered "practice" for emergencies. (Running/participating in emergency nets, etc.) - That's what ARES/RACES drills are for.
Field Day is purely a contest - BUT it is a contest that was designed with emergencies in mind. Most ARRL (and international) contests have various operator classes - In the case of Field Day, operator classes are based on how your station is powered. I think there's also a rule stating that you can't operate from your own station.
So basically, all Field Day entrants MUST be using equipment brought to the operating position for the event, not stuff that is there at all times. (I think people HAVE operated in tents from backyards, but people prefer to go hardcore and do some mountaintopping, or go to a firehouse, etc. where they can set up with their club. Club operations from community firehouses, etc. seem to be the most common Field Day arrangements.)
As a result, Field Day makes sure there are plenty of operators in this country with portable (or semi-portable at least) equipment that can be set up in a matter of hours. Bonus points to those who can operate for a weekend without a single bit of help from AC mains.
I was thinking of making the trek back up to school for Field Day, but I need to do some car shopping instead. I wish it were a few weeks later.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
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?
One of the most popular uses of packet radio seems to be accessing the local "DX Cluster"
:) I'd say the hardest part of the contest was maintaining power levels. Also, our rotor was broken so we had to send guys up onto the tower to rotate our Force12 while we hit the brake release on the rotor.
It's basically a system that allows people to report stations they hear, allowing someone looking for their final multipliers in a contest to know where to look for a station.
The interesting thing about this is that you're not allowed to advertise yourself on the clusters. As a result, if you appear, it's because someone else put you there. You'd think that the DX clusters would die as everyone would keep their "rare finds" secret so as to keep ahead, but instead, the DX clusters are INSANELY active during contests, which says a lot of good things about the ham radio community in general.
DX spots are wonderful when your club is hunting down their last multiplier (Santa Barbara) in the final hours of the ARRL SSB Sweepstakes.
N2YPH
And keeping your Collins 30S-1 happy for nearly 48 hours of continuous operation is no simple trick.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
I don't have any personal experience with the NYC 'net, but I do know that the various amateur emergency organizations were mobilized for well over six weeks.
It's not always the phone/cell systems that ham radio is designed to replace - Hams are also used to augment already allocated emergency frequencies. (Police, fire). I believe the Red Cross made VERY heavy use of hams for their communications. Simply put, they needed a dispatch-style system that landlines/cells weren't suited to.
In addition, a few years back there was a NASTY ice storm in upstate NY - Many cell tower antennas iced up and ceased operation, and hams came into play then too.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Hams aren't used for emergency notification of the public. Hams primarily provide communications infrastructure to those who REALLY need it in an emergency situation.
For example, hams will often assist police/fire departments. In NYC post 9/11, the Red Cross made heavy use of hams to maintain communications between all of their mobile units and their command post.
Another emergency organization in addition to ARES and RACES is SKYWARN - In this case, hams provide the "eyes and ears" on the ground to the NOAA. Not too heavily used/needed in the Northeast, but in places like Tornado Alley it's a different story.
In fact, broadcasting is verboten on the amateur bands - So theoretically emergency notification is against FCC rules. (Not like the FCC would care in such a situation. In fact, I believe there are clauses in FCC rules saying that the rules don't apply for emergencies.) Nonetheless, I agree that amateur radio is not the proper medium for emergency notification, but that is not the goal of the amateur emergency organizations.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
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.
I was NOT a ham at the time, but the NY effort was huge. It was what I needed to get off my butt an get my license
Since that time I've gotten involved in NYC ARES. In fact, I've become the Queens County Assistant Emergency Coordinator
-- 73 de KG2V For the Children - RKBA! "You are what you do when it counts" - the Masso
I think you missed the point... perhaps that's why you don't operate anymore.
I mean sure, if you just want to talk to other people there are easier (and better) ways to do so. We lost a lot of folks to the Internet revolution because they simply liked to chat with people. There's nothing wrong with that. I'm an Internet junkie myself.
There's more to it than that, though. For one, it's a challenge. If you like challenges, it's a great hobby. Trying to talk to someone in France while both of you are coping with an unusual accent and bouncing a weak signal off of the atmosphere is very challenging (and VERY exciting). If that doesn't satisfy your desire to be challenged, try to do morse code by bouncing a signal OFF THE MOON.
Or maybe you'd prefer to talk via satellite. There are dozens of amateur radio satellites in orbit right now and YOU CAN USE THEM TOO.
To truly understand how radio waves bounce around is also very difficult (indeed, impossible in some respects... it's very voodoo). Once you sort of get it straight in your head, it's exciting when you're right. Especially if you're trying a little experiment to see if it helps matters.
Most people take cell phones, radio stations, satellite TV, walkie talkies, and other wireless items forgranted. Learning what makes all that work is VERY exciting (to a geek, anyway).
Even better than learning, though... YOU CAN DO IT TOO. Ever wondered how television transmitters get a signal from a camera onto your TV? Or, better yet, have you ever researched the subject and wished you could experiment with it? YOU CAN.
That's just scratching the surface, too. It's a big onion and the more you peel away the more there is.
Sure, there are some "old farts" out there... but those are the nicest and most helpful people you will ever meet.
As for 9/11, yes Amateur Ops were in huge demand. I'm not sure if you noticed, but there was a large antenna on the top of one of the WTC towers... almost all of lower Manhattan's public safety stuff was on that tower. Not to mention television transmitters, radio transmitters, and so on. It was not only a loss of public safety communications but general public communications as well.
All opinions presented here aren't mine.
They are the only guys that are usually bigger nerds than I am.
Their endless facination with acronyms and decimal points reminds me of...er...
...crap...programmers like me.
Nevermind.
"A microprocessor... is a terrible thing to waste." --
GeneralEmergency