BARS 2017 Field Day Plan

What is Field Day?

The 4th weekend in June is just around the corner. That means its time to get ready for Field Day, one of ham radio’s most exciting times of the year.

Field Day is first and foremost a club activity. Sure, plenty of folks go out and enjoy a one or two person portable operation. But nothing says club spirit and fun as a grand social on-the-air activity as Field Day. ARRL Field Day is the most popular on-the-air event held annually in the US and Canada. On the fourth weekend of June, more than 35,000 radio amateurs gather with their clubs, groups or simply with friends to operate from remote locations.

Does BARS have a plan for 2017 FD?

Yes we do and it is available here Field Day 2017 Plan

The 2017 BARS Field Day will be a social event for all club members. Fun and camaraderie will take precedence over making a high score and winning. Field Day, first and foremost is an exercise in operating in emergency like conditions away from commercial power. It is a training exercise for new hams and a way for more experienced hams to sharpen their skills setting up and operating away from a home location. Above all it is not a contest, although many do treat it as such.

The BARS Field Day committee, hereafter just called the committee, has been hard at work searching locations for FD in Billerica, Chelmsford, Littleton, Concord and Harvard Massachusetts. We have found some very promising sites that could become a possible long term future field site for the club. However, the committee realized early on that securing a long term permanent site would take considerable time meeting with officials, filling applications, making presentations, and securing permission. So the first decision the committee faced is what could we secure quickly while we continued searching for a long term location solution for 2018 and beyond.

After forming the committee, we sought input from members and additional volunteers. Input and additional volunteers were solicited via the W1HH Yahoo Group reflector and at meetings. It turns out, the committee members themselves comprised all the volunteers from the beginning and input from the members was minimal.

More to come….

Planning is still going on. We are considering running a number of fun member activities. This might include some simple presentations on how to get started with QRP, how to get started with cw, or some other simple technical talks to keep things engaging throughout. Watch as plans develop for further information here as it becomes available.

Our Guarantee

We guarantee all members will be welcomed to the friendliest field day around and a weekend of social fun and operating enjoyment (solar activity permitting of course). Please put this as a must attend on your calendars.