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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!"
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.
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
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?
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?