Field Day has come and gone for another year. At the Manatee Amateur Radio Club/ ARES site in a parking lot at the entrance to G.T. Bray Park in Bradenton, the results were mixed. With plenty of help from club members young and old, the antenna raising for the club station went very well. Radios and antennas were tuned up and in short order the site was ready to send and receive contacts from around the country. The GOTA (Get On The Air) station had a few more problems, but by the start of Field Day at 2 PM local time all was ready.
Unfortunately, Mother Nature threw us a few curveballs. It rained, sometimes heavily, off and on throughout the 24 hours of the event. Propagation, the atmospheric factor in determining whether we got contacts or not, remained stubbornly one way the whole time. The operators at the radios could hear stations from around the USA from Washington State to Connecticut. The down side was that they could not hear us. I have no doubt that some of the stations we heard were using major power adders like linear amplifiers and really big antenna arrays. Since we were using only 100 watts instead of the 1500 available with a linear amp, we tended to get lost in the pileups that occur with any contest event like Field Day.
The satisfaction we can take away comes from the fact that the radios and antennas we used were all working properly, the generator ran flawlessly throughout the event and so all of the readiness tests we set for the unit went well. The nature of an event that is scheduled for the same weekend every year is that weather and propagation pay no attention to the plans of mere humans.
During a real emergency, of course, the frequencies we would use would be devoid of operators not involved in the recovery effort, either from common courtesy or by fiat from the FCC who might declare certain frequencies for the use of responders only. The traffic level might be just as heavy, depending on the needs of the situation, but it would be between assigned radio operators and stations directly involved in the disaster response.
Still, it was a very fun event. One of our club officers showed up with donuts and coffee in the morning on Saturday. Another showed up with a large tray of cookies. Another club member made two huge pots of chili for lunch. She even included salad and Italian bread. On Sunday morning, another club officer made pancakes for all in attendance. The members who worked so hard were very appreciative. Thanks to Mike, KI4WAY, Jonelle, KI4WSN, Audrey, KJ4YMX and Frank, AC4MK. Other members brought bottled water and snacks at various times throughout the weekend. I don’t remember who they were but they were appreciated as well.
When nature cooperates, Field Day can be a roaring success, with thousands of contacts. However, it is good to remember that the purpose of Field Day is not the contest aspect. It is to get our radios and antennas away from the house and away from the power company’s grid. To prove that we can communicate without outside infrastructure because when the "big one" (choose your own disaster here) hits, that entire infrastructure will be unusable for days, perhaps weeks. There will be no cellular service, there will be no Internet, and there will be no power lines or phone lines. There probably won’t even be any street signs and most of the streets will be blocked with downed trees or debris. This year we at least proved that we can communicate without any help from the grid or the other parts of the infrastructure we normally depend upon. Field Day was therefore a success.
With it the “Official” start of “Hurricane Season”. As I have been writing for the past few columns, extreme weather can arrive at any time in West Central Florida, but officially, the period from the 1st of June to the 30th of November is “Hurricane Season”. The mavens who are responsible for such things are saying that this year will be an active one for severe weather. How that will affect us in WCF remains to be seen, but I would not bet against them.
What does this mean for amateur radio operators in our area? For starters, it means making very sure that the systems we have assembled to operate without normal power still are in working condition. If you have a generator, check it out, change the oil and the spark plug(S). Make sure the fuel has not gone bad. Yes, gasoline does go bad if left unused in the tank for a long time. A fuel preservation additive added to a good load of gas will keep this from happening, but most of us forget to do that when we store the genset. Make certain that the batteries for your hand-held radio are charged up and ready to go. Use and recharge them regularly. If you do not, you will be bitterly disappointed when you go to use them in a real emergency.
It also means that your “GO-Kit” should be restocked with all the necessities that will keep you going for several days when that major storm hits and you have no power, no Internet and no cell phone. Not to mention no grocery store and no discount store to buy more clothing. As we have seen in years past, being unprepared to deal with the effects of a major natural disaster can mean real hardship. Not only for the unprepared person, but also for the people who have to come to their rescue at considerable risk to life and limb. There are many web sites and brochures available that list what you should have in a “GO-Kit”. Read and follow their instructions. This paragraph applies to everyone, not just the amateur radio operators among us.
The hams in our area, and indeed, hams all over North America, will be gathering, each in their own communities, on the forth full weekend in June (June 25 and 26 this year) to set up and test their radio equipment in a multinational exercise called “Field Day”. They will demonstrate their ability to make contact with each other all across the US and Canada without depending on the power company to supply any electricity. Using batteries, generators, solar power and even fuel cells for power, they will operate in parks, fields and parking lots using portable antennas and field expedient shelters such as tents, RVs, and the occasional pavilion if they happen to be located in a park. Logbooks will be duly filled out and records of contacts sent off to the ARRL in a kind of “bragging rights” contest to see who made the most contacts. There are no trophies, and the real reason for the weekend is simply to make sure that all of our equipment indeed works and works well.
As hams, we invite the general public to join us and see how we do what we do. We can maintain contact between an EOC and the shelters where the population has gone to be safe from the storm. We can maintain contact between the EOC and officials outside the disaster area so that supplies can be requested and mutual aid from outside the affected area can know where to go to do the most good. We can even send messages out for those affected to let loved ones know that they are safe.
It comes as a major shock to most non-hams when they find out that after a severe weather disaster like a hurricane, none of the stuff they depend upon still works. In point of fact, there will be NO Internet, NO cell phone service, NO power, NO gas stations, NO Wal-Mart, NO street signs, NO traffic lights, NO refrigeration, NO lift stations in operation, NO nothing. For several hours to several weeks there will be no services of any kind if a major hurricane hits in our area. Roads will be blocked with fallen trees or flooding. First Responders like Police and Fire Services will be swamped with calls that they cannot answer.
It is vital that everyone make a real effort to be able to survive a major disaster on their own. You can do this by making sure you have a sufficient supply of non-perishable food on hand for at least one week. You can make sure you have a “GO-Kit” stocked and ready so if you have to evacuate to a shelter or another location, you will at least have a change of clothes, a toothbrush, medicines, and money that you can carry easily. Most cars can go about 300 to 400 miles on a tank of gas, so tank up when it gets below a half tank. Remember, the gas stations may have gas in the tank in the ground, but they cannot fill your car’s tank without power.
I realize that this all sounds sort of apocalyptic. Unfortunately, the truth is that for several days or perhaps weeks, the apocalypse is going to look like a vacation. Remember New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina. Need I say more???
73
Geoff Haines
N1GY
Bradenton, Manatee County, FL., USA...