Members of the public are invited to join in amateur radio emergency broadcasting exercises on the North Olympic Peninsula this weekend.
Amateur radio clubs in Clallam and Jefferson counties will take part in the 40th anniversary Field Day, a national emergency preparedness radio exercise involving nearly 40,000 individual participants and more than 2,500 clubs.
Members of the public, including children, are welcome to participate in operating radios and talking with amateur radio operators — also known as ham radio operators — across the country with the assistance of local, licensed radio operators.
Port Townsend
The Mike and Key Amateur Radio Club in Port Townsend will operate from Fort Flagler State Park on Marrowstone Island.
Guests are welcome to visit to operate radios between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Saturday.
Visitors should check in at the information booth at the entrance to Battery Gratten on the northeast corner of the park.
The event is free to the public, but a State Park Discover Pass is required to access the park.
An automated pay station is located at the entrance, where attendees can purchase a one-day or annual Discover Pass.
Fort Flagler is a 784-acre former Army post established in the 1890s to guard the entrance to Puget Sound.
The location’s high eastern bluff offers an ideal location for the club to test emergency communications at a remote location without access to city conveniences, club members said.
The club will deploy eight mobile radio stations operating on generator power.
For more information about the club, visit www.mikeandkey.org.
Port Angeles
The Clallam County Amateur Radio Club will broadcast from the Clallam County Fairgrounds, 1608 W. 16th St., Port Angeles, during Field Day.
The public is welcome to view antennae and radio setup at 1 p.m. today at the fairground carnival field.
Guest radio operators will be able to use the club’s radios from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday.
Visitors are advised to use the west entrance across from William R. Fairchild International Airport. Participation is free.
The radio club will operate three radio stations through the night, all operated from emergency power as operators take the opportunity to practice and test their equipment in conditions similar to those that may exist in a natural disaster or other emergency.
For more information about the Clallam County Amateur Radio club, visit the website at www.olyham.net.
For amateur radio operators who cannot attend the Field Day, talk-in will be on the club repeater, W7FEL 146.76 MHz (minus 600 KHz offset, tone 100).
Field Day scores
During Field Day, scores will be kept by each club to reflect how effective each participating organization performs during the exercise.
Points will be awarded for contacts made with other Field Day stations, the number of guest operators, youth operators and for innovative advancements in emergency communication, such as using solar power to transmit.
Field Day is the single largest emergency preparedness exercise in the U.S., as well as a picnic and camp-out for radio operators.
“Despite the development of very complex, modern communications systems — or maybe because they are so complex — [amateur] radio has been called into action again and again to provide communications in crises when it really matters,” according to the American Radio Relay League, an association of emergency radio operators.
“Amateur radio operators are well-known for communications support in real disaster and post-disaster situations.”
In 2014, 2,686 clubs and individuals participated in Field Day, and 37,428 active participants made more than 1.2 million contacts with other radio operators around the world.
Amateur radio clubs offer classes and Federal Communications Commission certification testing for amateur radio operators.