Today is "Field Day" for Ham radio operators, organized by the ARRL. It's a day when folks set up makeshift stations outdoors, and try to communicate with other folks around the country. People set up on mountains, boats, campgrounds, wherever. Others operate from their normal base, but, run their station from backup power, either batteries, generators, solar panels, whatever. That's how I worked today. It's a fun day to see how your comms would work under less than ideal conditions.

Due to a bunch of other obligations, (they are called my wife and son) I was only able to spend a couple hours on the air, testing my generator and a simple multiband dipole in the back yard strung up between some trees.

I was encouraged that when I looked at the log, I had spoken to amateurs in 22 states in that time. (Along with a couple provinces in Canada.) I started thinking about what it would be like if tomorrow I woke up and there was a significant disruption in the public comms infrastructure. If I could contact, somewhat randomly, 22 states in a couple hours on under 100watts and a wire dipole in some trees in the backyard, I felt pretty good about being able to stay connected with the world if TSHTF. This was a North American event primarily, but, Europe and Africa were coming in well this morning also. By afternoon, South American countries were coming in on the higher bands.

I don't get on the air often anymore, usually just for special events like this or JOTA (Jamboree On The Air) that I do with my Scout troop. It's just nice to know that we still have something that will work even if the public infrastructure is damaged for whatever reason. I know other folks that aren't very active anymore, but, still maintain at least a basic HF and VHF capability for just this reason.

Anyone else in the same camp? Who worked Field Day today?
N1GFS 2E EMA