By Gabe Themar
From June 28-29, the Brandon Amateur Radio Society (BARS) participated in the American Radio Relay League (AARL) Field Day. BARS spent Field Day at Riverview Redeemer Church, located at 12404 Boyette Rd.
Field Day is an open house for amateur radio societies. Every year on the fourth full weekend in June, radio societies and licensed club members all meet and set up their radios, ranging from large radios with tall, powerful antennas to radios smaller than a walkie-talkie. Once set up, participants search different frequencies to make connections with members of other clubs around the world. After exchanging radio identification information with each other, participants log the information into ARRL’s website and a connection is marked. Teams and individuals can win awards for finishing making the most connections within the 24-hour window.
Interested locals can also get in on the fun, as BARS opened the doors to the public for Saturdays and Sundays. Everyone who entered had the opportunity to enjoy some food, learn more about BARS and meet radio enthusiasts, including many veterans who built their own radios. BARS Field Day also featured a Get on the Air station at the front door, which let visitors make a radio connection themselves and briefly speak with someone from another state or even another country.
“Field Day is an important time,” said Ron, a longtime BARS member. “It’s a simulation of a disaster event; you bring your radio out of your home and get it working where it’s not meant to work. This way, we can make sure that we can make contact with help in the event of a bad weather event, like a hurricane.”
BARS finished Field Day with 137 contacts, including connections with other ham radio stations across the country in California as well as international contacts with operators in Costa Rica, U.S. Virgin Islands and Trinidad and Tobago, over 1,800 miles away.
BARS members also serve their community by reporting to shelters that open up during hurricanes, setting up their radios and acting as direct lines of communication between shelters and emergency services during power outages.
Those interested in learning more about radio, getting their own amateur radio license or joining BARS can find more information at https://brandonhamradio.org/. Those interested in learning more about Field Day or other amateur radio events can also find more information at www.arrl.org.
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