By Karen Butler

On Saturday and Sunday, June 28-29, amateur radio operators throughout the United States and Canada will take their equipment to remote areas to practice operating their ham radios in abnormal situations with less than optimal conditions.

The annual “Field Day” is an emergency radio practice along with a contest and a fun family outing with picnics and camping. The event is sponsored by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), which has a membership of 150,000 licensed radio members.

Over 35,000 amateur radio operators in the United States and Canada will practice setting up their antennas, radios and power sources this weekend to demonstrate communication preparedness for a community emergency.

The Pine Mountain Amateur Radio Club (PMARC) will set up and transmit at the top of Cerro Noroeste (the mountain west of Pine Mountain Village, formerly sometimes referred to as Mt. Able; take a left at the Apache Saddle USFS fire station and go up Cerro Noroeste to the top). The contest is to contact as many other amateur radio stations as possible during the weekend. Visitors are welcome to join in the fun.

PMARC will start set-up at 7 a.m. on Saturday morning and transmit around the clock until Sunday at about 3 p.m. For this special weekend only, an exception is made to the rule that you must have an FCC license to transmit. You can use the radio with the licensed operator’s permission and presence while you are at the radio.

Bring your family and maybe a picnic basket and camping gear. You’ll learn a lot and have a good time.
For more details, call Karen Butler at 661.242.2211.

This is part of the June 27, 2014 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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