Field Day 200

“Radio Hams” from Fresno and the Valley join in national deployment

Public Demo of Emergency Communications June 27 - 28

Centerville , California -- It’s not your grandfather’s ham radio.  Or even your grandmother’s.  It’s all that, and a lot more.

Central Valley “hams” will join thousands of Amateur Radio operators demonstrating their emergency capabilities this weekend.  During the past year, ham radio operators provided critical communications during disasters in towns large and small across America and the world.  California wildfires, winter storms, tornadoes—amateur radio operators were there to assist, often as the first to provide rescuers with critical information and communications links.  During the weekend of June 27-28, the public will have the opportunity to meet local ham radio operators, get on the air themselves, and see amateur radio in action. Digital, satellite, voice communications, and Morse code are among the many exciting modes that hams across the USA will be publicly demonstrating during the annual radio event called “Field Day,” sponsored by the ARRL, the national association for Amateur Radio.

Using only emergency power and temporary antennas, more than 30,000 ham operators around the country will construct emergency stations in parks, shopping malls, schools and back yards in a few hours.  Their slogan, "Ham radio works when other systems don 't! " is put to the test as they send messages without the use of phone systems, internet or any other infrastructure that can be com pr omised in a crisis.  Hams utilized their “Field Day” skills during Hurricane Katrina, as Amateur Radio was often the ONLY way people could communicate; hundreds of volunteer “hams” traveled south to save lives and pr operty. “Field Day is an excellent opportunity to practice emergency preparedness,” said Skip Tyson, Field Day Chairman and Vice-President of the San Joaquin Valley Amateur Radio Society.  “It’s vastly different to operate in the field, with all the things that can go wrong, compared to sitting at your radio desk at home.”

"We hope that people will come and see for themselves, this is not your grandfather's radio anymore," said Allen Pitts of the ARRL.  "The communications that ham radio people can quickly create have saved many lives when other systems failed or were overloaded.  And besides that – it’s fun!”

In the Central Valley area, the San Joaquin Valley Amateur Radio Society will be demonstrating Amateur Radio at Kings River Ranch, 16786 E Kings Canyon, on June 27-28.  They invite the public to come and see ham radio’s new capabilities and learn how to get their own FCC radio license before the next disaster strikes.  Voice, Morse code, digital modes, and even “earth-moon-earth” –bouncing a radio signal off the moon and back to earth—will be demonstrated, and unlicensed folks can try their hand at amateur radio communications at the Get On the Air Now Station, with a coach to supervise.  Children are especially encouraged to take a turn at the station, in order to foster interest in science and technology.

There are over 650,000 Amateur Radio licensees in the US , and more than 2.5 million around the world.  Through the ARRL’s Amateur Radio Emergency Services pr ogram, ham volunteers pr ovide emergency communications for thousands of state and local emergency response agencies, all for free.

To learn more about Amateur Radio, go to www.emergency-radio.org.   See what modern Amateur Radio can do.  It’s your grandfather’s ham radio, and more!

Our event is open to the public. Call Carole/W6TTF at 288-7597, or email w6ttf@comcast.net, for more details. Hope to see you there!

Directions to SJVARS Field Day:

Take Kings Canyon 11.6 miles east of Clovis Avenue (about 15 minutes).  Fuji Farms is on the north side of the street.  Look for our banner and signs!

Or go to the URL below, type in WA6SJV, and see the map!

http://www.arrl.org/contests/announcements/fd/locator.php