Deadline to signup to be guaranteed meals has passed. Feel free to attend but plan on bringing your own meals.
ARRL Field Day is a combined event to test our ability to setup radio communication under less than ideal conditions–think temporary antennas, generators and radio gear. Our event this year is a combined event with two clubs—the Clearwater Amateur Radio Society (CARS) and the Upper Pinellas Amateur Radio Club (UPARC). The date is June 25th starting at 2:00 PM until Sunday June 26th at 2:00 PM. Setup generally begins in earnest at 9:00 AM on Saturday morning. The location for all of this is the Clearwater Fire Department Fire Training Center at 1716 N. Belcher Road in Clearwater. Click here for a map. Note that SPARC is going on their own this year so check their website for more information.
The operation is comprised of 3 HF stations (an Elecraft K4 and two Elecraft K3 radios). We also have a 6 meter station (Icom IC7600) as well as a satellite station. For modes, we run SSB (voice), FT8 and CW if we have any operators that wish to operate CW (bring your favorite paddle). No experience is necessary beyond a willingness to learn and try something new. If you have never operated a radio, we have plenty of people to help you out to show you how to make a contact. In no time, you will be working stations all over the US and Canada. If you plan on operating, please bring your own headphones. For sanitary reasons, we do not share headphones or microphone headsets. We have adapters for your headphones. We also have desk mics for the radios for those thirty do not have microphone headsets.
We have the equipment all arranged as well as food and drink. Dinner Saturday will be BBQ Pork. We do ask two things related to food. One, we need to know you are coming so please sign up so we have an accurate count of thee people attending so we do not run out of food. We also ask that if you are coming for dinner on Saturday, bring a dish to share with everyone. The public is welcome as one of the purposes of Field Day is to introduce Amateur Radio to new people.
Fred W2SUB will be conducting an education activity for bonus points. The topic is to be determined but drop by the session at 4:00 PM on Saturday the 25th of June. Fred is a terrific teacher and always has an interesting topic. The topic will one posted here as soon as it is known.
Field Day is the premiere event on our club calendars and we hope to see as many club members and guests as possible. Remember, Saturday June 25 rain or shine at 2:00 PM with setup starting at 8:00 AM.
