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.