Field day

From MMAE

Join us on Amateur Radio Field day to experience long distance radio emergency communications.

Towers are set up in the memory mall with the B&W antenna stretched between them.

On the fourth weekend of June, visit the Amateur Radio Club at UCF in the Memory Mall and learn about amateur radio! Try your hand at contacting people across the country. Event occurs for 24 hours from 2pm Saturday until 2pm Sunday between HPA and Classroom building I. Participants can observe long distance emergency communications operation, learn about radio, and get on the air yourself if you would like to try it! Voice, digital, and satellite methods will be tried.

Field Day is the most popular on-the-air operating event in amateur radio. On the fourth full weekend in June, tens of thousands of amateur radio operators gather for a public demonstration of our service. Field Day is part educational event, part operating event, part public relations event – and ALL about FUN! Amateur radio is about knowledge and growth. It is a hobby and service that truly offers “something for everyone.” Amateur Radio embraces both the old and new. While CW may no longer be a testing element, it is still a strong and favorite operating mode for many. Tens of thousands of operators are embracing digital technologies, from RTTY to newer digital modes like PSK31 and Olivia. Phone operation, probably the largest segment of the hobby, also has new frontiers to be explored with digitized voice, VOIP, and IRLP. And this is why Field Day – the largest annual on-the-air operating event – is so exciting. It gives all – the old timer and the newcomer, the brass-pounder and the computer assisted operator – the chance to share and teach the broad range of modes and technologies we find in our hobby. Quoted from ARRL Field Day page

Field day is a national contest sponsored by ARRL Everyone interested in amateur radio is invited. All are welcome, no experience is necessary to participate and there is no cost. For additional information please contact Keith Wall at kwall@knights.ucf.edu

[edit] Things to check out

See what a truly portable and temporary radio system looks like.
Watch as operators send and receive messages.
Get to know what it takes to send a radio message across the country.
Listen to the radio and hear dozens of stations at once.
Try your hand at it! All visitors are welcome to talk to other stations or make contacts using computer based communications systems.
Our entire setup is independent of commercial power: we keep running when nothing else does. We operate on 100% emergency power, charged by solar cells.
Our information table has free handouts with information about amateur radio, our club and getting licensed.

[edit] Special plans

Members of ARC@UCF Operating Several Radio Stations on Field Day 2008

We will attempt to make a contact via orbiting satellites.
Educational activities: We will have radio and electronic direction finding demonstrations.
Get On The Air! All visitors are welcome to come and talk on the radio.
All ages welcome to participate.

[edit] Location and logistics

For driving directions, this field is next to our new tailgate location. Other field day locations can be found on the ARRL Field Day Station Locator page. (3 in this area are listed there last I checked.)

Satellite views of antenna orientation showing principal lobes from the inverted V and B&W antennas.

28.604N 81.1994W 28 36' 14.56"N 81 11'57.95"W