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Hams ride the waves at radio club Field Day
The members of the Sterling Park Amateur Radio Club camped out at Park View High School last weekend to ride the waves.
Radio waves, but in a sense, the surf was up, said Dick Maylott, a SPARC member since the 1980s. The club's three stations – one Morse Code, two voice – contacted more than 1,900 radio enthusiasts across North America from 2 p.m. June 28 through 2 p.m. June 29.
By the time they went off the air Sunday afternoon, they had reached out to radio colleagues in every state except Nevada and logged in nearly 500 more contacts than in 2007. With bonus points for operating in a public place, publicity, messages passed and operating a GOTA (Get on the Air) station, the SPARC club totaled at least 7,000 points. That total could put the Sterling club in the top 10 percent in its category nationwide, Maylott said. "Improved antennas, plus a major late-night effort by three members contributed to the results," Maylott said.
The annual Field Day, organized by the American Radio Relay League, tests emergency readiness. The assumption is the power grid, along with cell phone communication, is down. Radio operators go to fields and parking lots and malls and backyards to string antennae, fire up generators and deploy solar panels.
"All of it is fun," said Bud Aiello, of Herndon. "Standing here, sweating, putting up those antennas Friday night was fun."
Even more fun, Aiello said, was finding four envelopes full of QSL cards from the radio league. Every card represents a contact he made, on the air, since last October.
QSL stands for either, "Did you receive my communication?" or "I received your communication." Since 1916, postcards have changed hands to confirm those contacts.
Aiello joined the club two years ago when his son came home from Scout camp with a new interest in amateur radio.
Jim Purks, formerly the voice of bluegrass music at WAGE Radio, manned the 10-meter station Sunday morning, and in an hour logged in contacts in Michigan, Ohio, eastern Massachusetts, Texas and Ontario.
He was still marveling at his new antenna, strung like a stethoscope over the goal post behind his tent. That antenna, he said is the lowest-tech, least complicated he has ever used.
And it gave him the best results. For the first time in years, he left his tuner in the car. The antenna gave all the reception he needed.
"We are here in case the radio and phone system goes down," Purks said. He was a radio operator in the Navy years ago, got his amateur license in 1997 and just passed the highest test available for his extra class license.
The Federal Communications Commission, and the ARRL, Purks said, keep a list of all amateur license holders, by latitude and longitude. "If we are ever needed, they can reach us."
Contact SPARC at KF4NVA. Reach out to Purks' home station at KF4PQL. Learn more about the ARRL at www.arrl.org . And call Jim Chappell, 703-437-6379, to learn more about SPARC.
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