Andy Ludlum – K6AGL

Field Day is CVARC’s largest and most attended event of the year. It’s a time when we get to work as a team and set up antennas, radio and computer equipment, networking, lighting and electrical power in a place that has nothing.

Field Day is CVARC’s open house when we join more than 40,000 hams throughout North America to demonstrate ham radio's science, skill and service to our community.

The ARRL Field Day has been an annual event since 1933 when it started as an emergency-communication exercise. Today, not only can we practice our communication skills, we have a great opportunity to tell the story of amateur radio. Not just its past, or the present, but also its future.

When will this take place?

Field Day is the weekend of June 24th and 25th. CVARC’s event will be at Maple Elementary School, 3501 Kimber Drive in Newbury Park. Set up begins Friday, June 23rd around noon. Field Day radio operation runs 24 continuous hours, 11:00 AM Saturday to 11:00 AM Sunday.

What can you do for Field Day this year?

If you are a veteran ham, encourage non-licensed people to visit the site and get on the air. Strongly encourage the newer club members, the Technician licensees, to sit down at your station and work HF frequencies above their license class. Help new operators gain contesting experience. Field day is a strange hybrid of emergency communication exercise and contest. While not an official ARRL contest, on Field Day we try to make and log as many contacts and we can with people all over the country. This year, our Field Day Chairman Ben Herrera-W6JWZ is putting special emphasis on overnight operation – a perfect time for new hams looking to log some serious radio time.

If you are a new ham, get involved and have fun. If you have time, come Friday afternoon and help set up. It’s a great experience to learn how to set up a tall mast or the big tents we borrow from the County. But most of all, sit down at several stations and operate. Try something new. The band captains and other operators want to show you how to use a different radio setup or how to work an unfamiliar band or mode. Remember, with an Extra class supervisor at the operating point of the transmitter, Technician class hams can make transmissions in the Extra class bands using the club call of AA6CV.

We’ll have a GOTA (Get on the Air) station which is a perfect opportunity to give family and friends an opportunity to get on the air for the first time.

One of the best parts of Field Day is the great BBQ. Our Field Day BBQ dinner will take place on Saturday June 24th. Wood Ranch BBQ & Grill will provide a full service BBQ dinner on-site arriving at 3:00 PM and serving at 5:00 PM. The cost is $20 per person. For those who would like to attend, please sign up and pay at the next club meeting on June 15th, 7:30 PM, at the East County Sheriff's Station, or mail the following information with your payment to:

Conejo Valley Amateur Radio Club
P.O. Box 2093
Thousand Oaks, CA 91358-2093
Include:
Your name:
Call sign:
Phone number:
Number in your party:
Payment total ($20 per person):

Please try to pay in advance, as it helps us plan, but our focus is making sure everyone has a great time, so we will accept payment at the time of the BBQ.

The activities don’t end with the last QSO on Sunday morning. Help is needed for demobilization too. It’s as much fun taking it down as it was setting it up and everyone is invited to help.

Field Day has a little something for everyone: a contest, a social event and an opportunity to learn and practice your operating skills. It also is our best opportunity to demonstrate Amateur Radio to the organizations we might serve in an emergency, as well as show the general public why ham radio has been called upon again and again to provide communication in crises when cellphones and the internet stop working.

73,

Andy
K6AGL