I got a nice email the other day from Bob Karz (K2OID), chairman of the XRX Amatuer Radio Field Day held June 22-23 at Kent Park. You may remember the blog I posted a few weeks ago previewing this annual event, which is part contest, part open house for ham radio operators, the challenge being to set up in a remote location, and over a period of 24 hours make as many radio contacts as possible.
Bob filled me in on everything that happened (and didn’t happen) and remarked on how successful this year’s event was. He was excited to report that they welcomed 20 visitors from the community (“which is high for us”), who’d come by to see what the event was all about and maybe even try their hand at making a contact. He also reported that the “space weather” was
about the same as last year — good, but not spectacular. We were hoping for better, but like the weather outside, it’s variable. Nevertheless, we made over 1100 contacts (more than last year) with stations in every US state and every Canadian province. That’s something we’ve never done before.
“Perhaps most significantly,” Bob added, “five newly licensed hams made their very first radio contacts at this year’s Field Day.”
Cherie Jackson makes a contact while her son Evan, KE2BUY logs 
Analisa makes a contact with help from Joe DiVincenzo AD2DB while her brother looks on 
Evan KE2BUY makes a contact while George Adams K4GWA logs 
JD Dermody N2OYG cooking excellent meals for everyone 
Jerrad Jackson KF2MR grounding our generators for safety 
Our Yagi directional antenna 
The Fox 
Vaughn Clayton KD7UDP and his son hunting the Fox 
Fred Schoenfled, WB2JYF makes a contact while Danielle Williams KE2CCA enters it in the computer log 
A solar cell blanket powered one of the stations
In a follow-up email, Bob added even more details about the day:
We had a nice “fox hunt” that went on while we were making our contacts. Several of us (but not me) found the “fox.” … This year for the first time we had a station run off solar power alone rather than using our generators.
Like many clubs we posted our location on the “Field Day Locator” website (Field Day Station Locator (arrl.org) so hams visiting our area might join us. Sure enough, Rick Rogers, K7RCR who was visiting relatives down the road in Lincoln stopped by and joined us. We now have a friend in Tucson.
We also had a surprise visit from Scott Bauer, W2LC. Scott drove from Syracuse. He is the Western New York Section Manager for the national amateur radio organization and was visiting as many Field Day sites as possible. By the rules, he could only operate from one of them…ours. He is the most amazing Morse Code operator we’ve ever seen. He has trained himself to send Morse with one hand and simultaneously take notes with the other!
Bob concluded, “We had a great Field Day … The results will be released in January, and we expect to have an even better showing than the top 13% of our classification we achieved last year.”
I hope that anyone who wanted to, had the chance to stop by. But if not, no worries. Field Day will return next June, so stay tuned.
73
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(posted 7/1/2024)
webster on the web 
“73” How cute.
Well done, Bob & crew. Glad to see so many folks got a chance to get on the air. I suspect that the attendance was up at least in part due to Missy’s posts. Nicely written article, Missy. You know, if you keep hanging around with these ham-radio types, you and Jack will be invited to get you licenses .. just a matter of time … mark my words.
This amateur radio avocation is a blast! So many facets to explore: Morse code, contests, public service (hams provide communications free-of-charge to a wide variety of not-for profit fundraisers like AHA, American Diabetes, etc.). They bounce signals off the moon (literally called Moon Bounce), relay signals off of orbiting satellites, and talk to folks across the USA and in other countries. It blends science, mathematics, history, geography, a wide variety of technologies, and provides opportunities to practice students studying a foreign language. This is really STEM in action; robotics is fun, but radio is way cooler; but of course, I’m biased.
If your readers attend, or participate in, the MS ROC Great Lakes Adventure bike ride, Mammoth March (Letchworth Park) or the Fairport Regatta events later this year, keep an eye out for hams providing safety and logistical communications.
This is near stuff, thanks!