If you’re interested in amateur radio even a little bit, you’ll want to head out to Kent Park this weekend to check out the annual XRX Amateur Radio Club Field Day. It’s a day when radio operators from all over the area come together to practice their skills totally “off the grid.”
Held on the fourth weekend in June every year, Field Day is an nationwide event, held simultaneously with 1000 similar stations across the US and Canada over a 24-hour period and involving more than 30,000 radio amateurs. Operators communicate via voice, Morse code and computers connected to transmitters.
On Field Day, operators are challenged to transport their equipment away from their homes, set up in a park or remote area, rebuild their stations, put up antennaes and broadcast in quasi-emergency conditions, without drawing electricity from RG&E, or using the internet or cell phones.
ARRL, the National Association for Amateur Radio, describes Field Day as the “single most popular on-the-air event held annually in the US and Canada.”
Field Day is a picnic, a campout, practice for emergencies, an informal contest and, most of all, FUN! It is a time where many aspects of Amateur Radio come together to highlight our many roles. While some will treat it as a contest, other groups use the opportunity to practice their emergency response capabilities.
The contest part of the weekend is simply to contact as many other stations as possible during the 24-hour window, which begins Saturday and continues overnight through Sunday, overcoming any challenges thrown by weather or technical problems along the way.
The XRX Radio Club will set up again this year in the parking lot past the playing fields at the very north end of Kent Park on Schlegel Rd. Last year the club had five separate broadcast stations, complete with generators, computers, transmitters, and all manner of antennas. (Click here to check out the blog I wrote about last year’s Field Day.)
Visitors are more than welcome to stop by. These guys are always happy to share their passion with interested onlookers.
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(posted 6/21/2022)
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webster on the web 
Thanks for the posting, Missy. With so many fun things to do on a beautiful Saturday or Sunday, (Saturday 2PM – Sunday 2PM) this event is unique. Guests can see a variety of radio related technology in action, and even talk to someone on-the-air! Kids especially enjoy Morse Code in use and seeing how computers and radios interface for world-wide communication. Spend an hour & check it out.