Ham radio field day 2021

The association’s Field Day event was held at  the New Durham Ball Fields in New Durham, NH on June 26-27 and was a resounding success.   We had 33 people in attendance over the two days and made over 100 contacts.

Thanks to Hannaford for their food donation. And a big thank you to Jayson and Nikki McCarter for food prep and cooking!

And another big thanks to Jonathan Wixon for organizing our Field Day 2021 event!

Emergency communications preparedness is still the primary purpose of Field Day. We tune up our gasoline-powered generators and test our solar panels to ensure that they will be ready in case of an emergency. And, by hauling out into the field all manner of radio equipment, we find out what radios will work best in that operating environment.

Of course, the only way to tell how well your equipment will work is to actually operate it. That’s where the contest part of Field Day comes in. Stations score points by making contacts with other stations, and those with the most points win. Other things being equal, the stations that work the best will make the most contacts and score high in the contest.

Many ham radio field day 2021 stations have multiple transmitters, and when you have multiple transmitters, you need multiple antennas. Setting up a multiple-transmitter operation can be a lot of work. That’s why Field Day is often a club activity. For some clubs, it’s the biggest event of the year. In addition to all the technical activities, clubs use Field Day as a social event. There’s food and drink and reminiscing about Field Days gone by. For some hams, that’s more fun than actually operating.

If you’re not a club member, or if you’ll be out of town that particular weekend, you can find a Field Day site closeby, by going to the ARRL Field Day Locator. The clubs that are listed there are sure to welcome you, especially if you arrive early and help them set up.