Allen Miller, from Klickitat County, at last year’s Radio Amateurs of the Gorge Field Day, held at the Mount Adams Horse Camp. This year’s event will be held June 22-23 at WAAAM, located at 1600 Air Museum Road.
Allen Miller, from Klickitat County, at last year’s Radio Amateurs of the Gorge Field Day, held at the Mount Adams Horse Camp. This year’s event will be held June 22-23 at WAAAM, located at 1600 Air Museum Road.
Members of the local ham radio club, the Radio Amateurs of the Gorge (RAGS), will be participating in the nation-wide Amateur Radio Field Day exercise on Saturday, June 22 at the Western Antique Aeroplane and Automobile Museum (WAAAM), off of Tucker Road. The event will begin at 9 a.m. and continue overnight into Sunday.
Field Day demonstrates ham radio’s ability to work reliably under any conditions from almost any location and create an independent communications network, said a RAGS press release. More than 35,000 people from thousands of locations in America participated in last year Field Day activities.
RAGS members will set up several operating radio positions in the lawn adjacent to the outdoor pavilion in front of the WAAAM main entrance using portable antennas and radios, which will be powered by generators or batteries as though it were a real emergency, such as a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake, said the press release. The objective is to operate continuously for 24 hours without using commercial power or communications infrastructure.
“Anyone can pick up a computer or smart phone, connect to the Internet or cell service and communicate, with no knowledge of how the devices function or connect to each other,” said the press release. “But if there’s an interruption of service or you’re out of range of a cell tower, you have no way to communicate. Ham radio functions completely independent of the Internet or cell phone infrastructure, it can interface with tablets or smart phones, and it can be set up almost anywhere in minutes. That’s the beauty of Amateur Radio during a communications outage or disaster.”
Field Day will include demonstrations of satellite communications and digital data communications using high frequency radio and very high frequency radio, as well as two operating voice and Morse code operating positions.
Those interested in obtaining their amateur radio license will be able to sign up at Field Day for a study class and examination planned for this coming November in Hood River.
This event is open to the public and all are encouraged to attend.
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