Registration for meals is now closed.
But you are still welcome to come out–just 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 24th starting at 2:00 PM until Sunday June 25th 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.
The operation is comprised of 3 HF stations (all Elecraft K3 radios). We also have a 6 meter station (Icom IC7600), a satellite station and a Get-On-The-Air (GOTA) station for new and unlicensed hams to start. For modes, we run SSB (voice), FT8 and CW if we have any operators that wish to operate CW (bring your favorite paddle–a Bencher is provided). 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 as well as a Get-On-The-Air (GOTA) station to help you get started. 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. Lunch is provided (hamburgers and hot dogs). Dinner Saturday will be catered by Sonny’s BBQ (pork, chicken, baked beans) with sides provides by the attendees (dish to share). We do ask two things related to food. One, we need to know you are coming so please sign up by clicking here (closed now) so we have an accurate count of the 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 (side or dessert) to share with everyone (no, a bag of chips is not a side-dish). 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 24th 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 24 rain or shine at 2:00 PM with setup starting at 8:00 AM.
