Field Day 2022 in NE PA

[wv2vvl]

The Warminster ARC in Bucks Co., PA has around 100 ham members. They administered the VE exams that I took last year to get my General license.

I was invited to attend their Field Day operation. I had a fail in my FT8 setup but was told that a number of hams that used this mode would be at the site.

I go there & found fewer than 20 hams, which was disappointing. And the ham who had first set me up on FT8 didn't even bother to say hello. I left after 20 minutes.

Back home I monitor 146.52 MHz. All afternoon I heard one station, who I gave a point to.

It's sad to see ham radio decline. The published growth of hams here is only 1%/year. Hard to support the ARRL's profits that way.

Jack

 

[alcahuete]

You're never going to get 100% of any hobbyist club to show up at an event. People have lives. Hams are no exception. This is especially true in a hobby where a lot of the participants are older, and those people are out in the field in the middle of summer.

Secondly, nobody really likes using VHF at Field Day, when one table over, you can talk around the world. I assure you, the HF bands were plenty crowded this weekend. Our club made somewhere around 30 VHF contacts, including 2 that were made by me, simply because I happened to be walking by the table on the way to get a hamburger and liquor, and I heard people calling. That was the first time I used 2m in years.

That said, sorry you didn't get the welcome you deserved. A lot of clubs out there simply don't care about new members, the public, etc...not a tiny bit. Our club is quite the opposite, and I guarantee you would not have left after 20 minutes.

 

[hill]

Sorry about your experience at Field Day.

Our radio club here in Maryland the Aero Rsdio Club has around 50 members and had way over half assist in some form

We had around 600 contacts and worked most sections. Had a great PR display and many non ham visitors
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I closing it goes both ways. Maybe you could have reached out to others at the event and stayed much longer.

 

[k6cpo]

The League continues to push Filed Day as an "Emergency Communications Exercise" but in reality it's nothing but a contest. Field Day bears absolutely no resemblance to what amateur radio might be doing in the event of a major disaster. If Field Day were to mimic an emergency communications exercise, the first the organizers should be doing is checking to see if the participants have taken the requisite ICS and NIMS courses and turning away anyone who doesn't have record of them. Then they should check to determine if the individuals have been vetted by the proper governmental agency. Only then should they be allowed to participate.

 

[Lauri-CoyoteFrostbite]

Me, I think today FD is thinly veiled as an emergency prep event.

Historically I don't think that was the case- remembering that radio pre-the-dignal age was a time when the radio art was filled with plenty of magic; it definitely was useful for emergencies. Civil Defense had RACES, plenty of government agencies had ham radio liaisons...... a ham with a radio in his car was often the only communications on an emergency scene..... call letter license plates meant something.... etc., etc.

But enough tripping back to a different era.
In much of the under developed world ham radio is an invaluable emergency asset. But for the western world with its pamper'd classes --with our internet, cel' phones, video texting etc.... and the awesomely linked and groomed police/emergency and military networks---- sorry amigos-- amateur radio is small potatoes (but I won't discount it when it comes to SHTF episodes like hurricanes.)

I think that FD, however, serves a far more important role today. In an emasculated, panzy ass'd society it serves as an invaluable link to what remains of the connection to the American pioneer spirit. People still want to be in control of their lives, and to be part of things helpful to others- and much bigger than themselves. If FD "emergency prepared-ness" fills that void then ---

"Good one on ya, Mates"

I love FD for what it was, and for what it has become.

I can hang out and drink beers and eat hamburgers, talk radio, fumble my way thru a CW contact--- with the best of them.

This year with two friends we celebrated FD in a semi-traditional way.... the beer and hamburgers anyway. We made three 10 metre FM contacts, --watch'd the sunset from the porch of my house --- (we were a "1-D" station)- And at sun down, slightly drunk, we stuck a fork in the 'contest'------------- and called it "Done."


Lauri




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[RichardKramer]

Me, I think today FD is thinly veiled as an emergency prep event.

Historically I don't think that was the case- remembering that radio pre-the-dignal age was a time when the radio art was filled with plenty of magic; it definitely was useful for emergencies. Civil Defense had RACES, plenty of government agencies had ham radio liaisons...... a ham with a radio in his car was often the only communications on an emergency scene..... call letter license plates meant something.... etc., etc.

But enough tripping back to a different era.
In much of the under developed world ham radio is an invaluable emergency asset. But for the western world with its pamper'd classes --with our internet, cel' phones, video texting etc.... and the awesomely linked and groomed police/emergency and military networks---- sorry amigos-- amateur radio is small potatoes (but I won't discount it when it comes to SHTF episodes like hurricanes.)

I think that FD, however, serves a far more important role today. In an emasculated, panzy ass'd society it serves as an invaluable link to what remains of the connection to the American pioneer spirit. People still want to be in control of their lives, and to be part of things helpful to others- and much bigger than themselves. If FD "emergency prepared-ness" fills that void then ---

"Good one on ya, Mates"

I love FD for what it was, and for what it has become.

I can hang out and drink beers and eat hamburgers, talk radio, fumble my way thru a CW contact--- with the best of them.

This year with two friends we celebrated FD in a semi-traditional way.... the beer and hamburgers anyway. We made three 10 metre FM contacts, --watch'd the sunset from the porch of my house --- (we were a "1-D" station)- And at sun down, slightly drunk, we stuck a fork in the 'contest'------------- and called it "Done."


Lauri

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Well said Lauri!