Amateur Radio's Nationwide "Field Day" Open House Publicly Demonstrates Ham Radio's Science, Skill, and Service -- June 27 & 28
NEWINGTON, Conn., June 15, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Radio amateurs throughout North America will be participating in the national Amateur Radio Field Day exercise, June 27 – 28, sponsored by ARRL, the national association for Amateur Radio. Since 1933, ham radio operators have established temporary ham radio stations in public locations during Field Day to showcase the science and skill of Amateur Radio. This event is open to the public.
For over 100 years, Amateur Radio — sometimes called ham radio — has allowed people from all walks of life to experiment with electronics and communications techniques, as well as provide a free public service to their communities during a disaster, all without a cell phone or the Internet. Field Day demonstrates ham radio's ability to work reliably under any conditions from almost any location and create an independent communications network. Over 45,000 people from thousands of locations across North America participated in Field Day in 2014.
"It's easy for anyone to pick up a computer or smart phone, connect to the Internet and communicate, with no understanding of how the devices function or connect to each other," said ARRL spokesman Sean Kutzko. "But if there's an interruption of service or you're out of range of a cell tower, you have no way to communicate. Ham radio functions completely independent of the Internet or cell phone infrastructure, and can be set up almost anywhere in minutes. That's the beauty of Amateur Radio during a disaster or communications outage."
"Hams can throw a wire in a tree for an antenna, connect it to a battery-powered transmitter and communicate halfway around the world," Kutzko added. "In today's electronic do-it-yourself (DIY) environment, ham radio remains one of the best ways for people to learn about electronics, physics, meteorology, and numerous other scientific disciplines, and is a huge asset to any community during disasters if the standard communication infrastructure goes down."
Anyone may become a licensed Amateur Radio operator. There are over 725,000 licensed hams in the United States, as young as 5 and as old as 100. Members of the public are encouraged to find and visit a Field Day site in their area by visiting www.arrl.org/field-day-locator, or learn more about Amateur Radio by visiting www.arrl.org/what-is-ham-radio.
SOURCE American Radio Relay League
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