Kansas-Nebraska Radio Club to participate in Field Day

Members of the Kansas-Nebraska Radio Club will be participating in the Amateur Radio Field Day exercise Saturday and Sunday at the VFW Post 7697 in Glasco.
Since 1933, ham radio operators across North America have established temporary ham radio stations in public locations during Field Day to showcase the science and skill of amateur radio.
The event is open to the public and all are encouraged to attend.
For more than 100 years, amateur radio, also called ham radio, has allowed people from all walks of life to experiment with electronics and communications techniques as well as provide a free public service to their communities during a disaster or emergency, all without needing a cell phone or the internet.
Field Day demonstrates ham radio's ability to work reliably under any condition from almost any location and create an independent communication network.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, many clubs were not able to get together for Field Day or were limited in members.
The American Radio Relay League allowed club members to work from home or remotely and have their contacts counted for the club.
“It's easy for anyone to pick up a computer or smartphone, connect to the internet and communicate with no knowledge of how the devices function or connect to each other,” David Isgur, communications manager for the American Radio Relay League, said. “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 radios function completely independently of the internet or cell phone infrastructure, can interface with tablets or smartphones and can be set up almost anywhere in minutes. That's the beauty of amateur radio during a communications outage.
Isgur said that hams can throw a wire in a tree for an antenna, connect it to a battery powered transmitter and communicate halfway around the world.
“Hams do this by using a layer of the Earth's atmosphere as sort of a mirror for radio waves. In today's electronic do-it-yourself environment, ham radio remains one of the best ways for people to learn about electronics, physics, meteorology and numerous other scientific disciplines. In addition, amateur radio is a huge asset to any community during disasters or emergencies if the standard communication infrastructure goes down,” Isgur said.
Anyone may become a licensed amateur radio operator.
There are more than 725,000 licensed hams in the United States as young as nine and as old as 100.
With clubs such as the Kansas-Nebraska Radio Club, it is easy for anybody in north central Kansas to get involved.
For more information about Field Day or amateur radio, contact Nathan Gentry at kc0iws@gmail.com or visit www.arrl.org/what-is-ham-radio or knrc.ks0Ink.net.