“Survival Sam has left the building.”  Duane waved at Sam as he drove out of the Café 23 parking lot.  Then he turned to me as he put on his baseball cap.  “Well, now that we’ve solved the world’s most critical problems and got our bellies full of breakfast, what’s on your agenda for today?”

            “I’m planning to go to see what’s happening at the local amateur radio club’s Field day activity later today,” I said.

            “What’s Field Day?” he asked.

            “It’s an annual event held by ham radio clubs all over the country to operate in what you might call survival mode.  They set up a kind of survival radio camp for the weekend.”

            “Really?”  Duane fumbled with his keys, preparing to unlock his car door.

            “Yeah, they operate radio equipment off the power grid by using generators.  Some smaller radios can even operate with solar power.  Then they also  practice various communications skills.  It’s good practice in case of emergency situations,” I said.

            “I’ll bet the ham operators have been busy with all the crazy weather and fires and such.”

            “Right.  They’ve been called out to help in several states this spring and summer.”

            “Can anybody go see what’s happening, or do you have to be a ham radio operator?”

            “Oh, sure, they invite anybody to come see what they’re doing.  In fact, many clubs have a Get On The Air station, where non-hams can get on the radio with the help of a licensed operator.  Also, some clubs arrange to have local media coverage or maybe a visit from a mayor or some other public official,” I said.

            Duane looked thoughtful.  “Cool.  I’ll check it out.  When is it?”

            “Our local club is probably putting up antennas and getting equipment set up this morning at the state park near here, but the communications part starts early this afternoon and goes through early Sunday afternoon.  The diehards who stay through the whole things are pretty wiped out by then, as you might imagine.”

            “When you say the communications part, what do you mean?” asked Duane.

            “Well, they talk to other stations participating in Field Day around the country and try to see how many contacts they can make on the different ham bands.  They also contact other stations using Morse code and computerized digital modes.”

            “The digital thing sounds pretty cool, but isn’t Morse code pretty old fashioned?” Duane asked.  “Does anybody really still use it?”

            “Ham radio operators will tell you Morse code cuts through static and fading better than voice transmissions,” I said.  “It’s not necessary to learn it to get a ham radio license any more, but there are plenty of hams who still do code.  It’s not dead, in spite of all the newer technologies out there.”

            Duane brightened for a second.  “Hey, can I hear this on my shortwave radio?”

            “If it picks up the ham bands, and if your radio has the ability to listen to single sideband.  Without that, ham radio talk will sound like Donald Duck with a mouth full of Oreos.”

            Duane laughed.

            “But there is a way you can hear Field Day on shortwave this year,” I went on.  “A guy by the name of Ted Randall in Lebanon, Tennessee, will be broadcasting live from Field Day in his location.  He’ll be on WBCQ shortwave at 7.415 MHz. at two different times today.”

            Duane opened his car glove compartment and pulled out a pen and small notepad.  “I’ve heard WBCQ on my shortwave radio.  When is he on?”

.

            “Today from 2-5 Eastern and again from 11 PM to 2 AM Eastern,” I said.  I gave Duane a second to write.  “Randall will be connected to a radio studio and invites calls from ham operators involved in Field Day.

            “Phone calls?”

            “Yeah, I guess this is one time hams will need cell phones,” I said as I fished for a piece of paper in my shirt pocket.  “Let’s see.  The number to call during the broadcast times to get on-the-air or any time during Field Day for information is (931)528-0133.  Nobody’s ever done anything like this before, so this should be interesting.  If you listen to WBCQ on 7.415, you can hear calls from hams all over the country, and people in many parts of the world will hear it, too.”

            “That’s pretty cool,” Duane said.  “What if somebody wants to visit the site where their local ham radio club is doing Field Day?  How would they find it?”

            “Good question.  The ARRL—that’s the Amateur Radio Relay League—has a link on their site for that.  I’ll do a blog post and put the link there.”

            “Sounds great,” Duane said.  “If I don’t make it out to Field day, I’ll try to remember to check out WBCQ."

For a Field Day site near you, check out the ARRL Field Day Locator here:

http://www.arrl.org/contests/announcements/fd/locator.php

Listen to the Field Day broadcasts on WBCQ shortwave live online at http://www.wbcq.com.

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