Field Day 2020

Lrra to Host Next Weekend

Ossipee-Amateur radio enthusiasts throughout New Hampshire’s Lakes Region and southwestern Maine are invited to join the Lakes Region Repeater Association next weekend for its annual Field Day.

This year’s event, which begins Saturday, June 27 at 10 a.m., will run through Sunday, June 28 at noon at Constitution Park on Route 25 in Ossipee. Set-up will begin Saturday morning, and all LRRA members and guest are welcome to enjoy a free lunch at noon on Saturday, with hotdogs and all the fixings courtesy of Hannaford. A couple of members are also planning to bring their RV’s to support overnight radio operations, rest and relaxation.

The LRRA is a happy organization of HAM radio enthusiasts who love to meet, talk and play . The organization owns and manages a two way radio system that re-transmits weak signals at a higher power, enabling them to cover longer distances without degradation and provides back-up for emergency communication needs in the event of a commercial power failure. For more information about the organization, or for further details on Field Day please click here.

The annual event called “Field Day” is the climax of the week-long Amateur Radio Week sponsored by the American Radio Relay League, the national association for Amateur Radio.

Using emergency power supplies, local ham operators constructed emergency stations in parks, shopping malls, schools and backyards around the country.

Their slogan, “When All Else Fails, Ham Radio Works” are more than just words to the hams as they prove they can send messages in many forms without the use of phone systems, internet or any other infrastructure that can be compromised in a crisis.

“The fastest way to turn a crisis into a total disaster is to lose communications,” said Allen Pitts of ARRL. “From earthquakes, tsunami and tornadoes, ham radio provides the most reliable communication networks in the first critical hours of the events. Because ham radios are not dependent on the Internet, cell towers or other infrastructure, they work when nothing else is available.”

Cal Calvitto WA1WOK & Don Percy W1DND taking it easy!

Bob Ness KB1DLX and his clever Drone

Bob Nelson N1EUN & Butter Fly Beam

Don Percy W1DND, Jane Greer W1REX, Sandy Percy W1SND, Mike Biasin W1MWB chewing the rag.

Field Day 2020, Constitution Park, Ossipee, NH command center

Field Day 2020, Constitution Park, Ossipee, NH looking west.

Cal Calvitto WA1WOK, Frank Hammond W1WU, Bob Nelson N1EUN assembling Butter Fly Beam

Frank Hammond W1WU and Bob Nelson N1EUN assembling Butter Fly Beam. Picture taken from Bob Ness KB1DLX drone!

Field Day 2020, Constitution Park, Ossipee, NH end of day.

Bob Nelson N1EUN and Cal Calvitto WA1WOK getting ready to play radio.

Frank Hammond W1WU and Bob Nelson N1EUN assembling Butter Fly Beam. Picture taken from Bob Ness KB1DLX drone!

Frank Hammond W1WU and Bob Nelson N1EUN assembling Butter Fly Beam. Picture taken from Bob Ness KB1DLX drone!

Field Day 2020, Constitution Park, Ossipee, NH

Frank Hammond W1WU and Bob Nelson N1EUN assembling Butter Fly Beam. Picture taken from Bob Ness KB1DLX drone!

Frank Hammond W1WU and Bob Nelson N1EUN (and one of Bob's twin boys) assembling Butter Fly Beam. Picture taken from Bob Ness KB1DLX drone!

Bob Nelson N1EUN and one of the twin boys playing radio!

The LRRA gang under a shady tent. Picture taken from Bob Ness KB1DLX drone!

Picture taken from Bob Ness KB1DLX drone!

Bob Nelson N1EUN and Bob Tiffany W1GWU

Bob Nelson N1EUN

Frank Hammond W1WU

LRRA Field Day 2018 was held on Gunstock Mountain June 23 and 24. A fun time was had by all.

It’s that time of year again; summer and Field Day! LRRA Field Day 2018 was held on Gunstock Mountain in New Hampshire. Each year the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) sponsors Field Day. It becomes a “picnic, a campout, practice for emergencies, an informal contest and, most of all, FUN!”

The event takes place on the fourth weekend of June. The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) promotes its own version of Field Day for operation via the amateur satellites, held concurrently with the ARRL event.

If you are curious about AMSTAT, it is a worldwide group of Amateur Radio Operators (Hams).  Formed in the District of Columbia in 1969 as an educational organization. You can check the AMSAT status page at http://www.amsat.org/status/ and the pages at https://www.amsat.org/two-way-satellites/ for what is available in the weeks leading up to field day. To reduce the amount of time to research each satellite, see the current FM satellite table at https://www.amsat.org/fm-satellite-frequency-summary/ and the current linear satellite table at https://www.amsat.org/linear-satellite-frequency-summary/.

Good contacts can be made with satellites on Field day, and with some of the less-populated, low-earth-orbit satellites like FO-29, AO-7, EO-88 or the XW satellites.

During Field Day the transponders come alive like 20 meters on a weekend. The good news is that the transponders on these satellites will support multiple simultaneous contacts. The bad news is that you can’t use FM, just low duty-cycle modes like SSB and CW.

AMSAT is a terrific organization and for over 50 years, AMSAT groups in North America and elsewhere have played a key role in significantly advancing the state of the art in space science, space education, and space technology.

Many AMSAT volunteers throughout the world have had far-reaching, effects on the future of both Amateur Radio, as well as other governmental, scientific and commercial activities in the final frontier call space.

2018 FD, so band conditions weren't the best

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Amateur radio field day June 28-29, 2014 event at Dan Morgan W1UR farm.

Our Letter to the Editor

Come to Amateur Field Day on June 28-29, 2014

To the editor

I would like to take this opportunity to formally invite the public to the Amateur Radio (AKA Ham Radio) “Field Day” being held in Wolfeboro by the Lakes Region Repeater Association radio club. Our event will take place this year from 1p, m, on Saturday, June 28^th, through 4 p.m. Sunday, June 29^th, located “in the field” at 451 Pleasant Valley road in Wolfeboro.

There will be opportunity for anyone to operate a properly supervised “GOTA” (Get On The Air) amateur radio station, as well as view our setup for this event. This is a fun field exercise for Amateur Radio operators to simulate conditions of emergency communications and we invite the pubic to see what we are capable of.

More information about the event and our club is available at the following link: shttps://www.lrra.w1bst.org/home, http://www.arrl.org/field-day. We hope to see you all there!

Clayton Ferry Wolfeboro

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As a Side Note:

Twice a year, ARRL offers an event designed to promote Amateur Radio to our youth. Share the excitement with your kids or grandkids, a Scout troop, a church or the general public!

Kids Day is designed to give on-the-air experience to young people and hopefully foster interest in getting a license of their own. It is also intended to give older hams a chance to share their station and love for Amateur Radio with their children.

• Dates and Times

Generally the first Saturday in January, and the third Saturday in June, see the ARRL Contest Calendar for current Kids Day event dates at   http://www.arrl.org/contest-calendar

Kids Day always runs from 1800 UTC through 2359 UTC. Operate as much or as little as you like.

Suggested Exchange

Name, age, location and favorite color. Be sure to work the same station again if an operator has changed. To draw attention, call “CQ Kids Day.”

Suggested Frequencie

10 Meters: 28.350 to 28.400 MHz

12 Meters: 24.960 to 24.980 MHz

15 Meters: 21.360 to 21.400 MHz

17 Meters: 18.140 to 18.145 MHz

20 Meters: 14.270 to 14.300 MHz

40 Meters: 7.270 to 7.290 MHz

80 Meters: 3.740 to 3.940 MHz

You can also use your favorite favorite repeater (with permission of the repeater’s sponsor).

Be sure to observe third-party restrictions when making DX QSOs.