Saturday 24 June from 2pm to 10pm Free admission. For ages eight and up.
The Baton Rouge Amateur Radio Club will take part in an exciting nationwide emergency exercise. Temporary stations will be set up at HRPO as BRARC joins similar clubs across the continent! Some clubs use strictly battery power and solar power. Some clubs use low power outputs (five watts or less) to make contact with other stations all over North America.
Field Day is a twenty-four-hour endurance session of skill and suspense. How many North American sections can the club members contact before time runs out? HRPO patrons will only be allowed on the property from 2pm to 10pm on Saturday 24 June.
The entire eight hours there will be…
*a display of modern and vintage amateur radio equipment
*an area to practice Morse code
*a GOTA station allowing non-licensed visitors to contact another state From 2:30pm to 4:30pm solar viewing will take place.
From 6pm to 8pm, the Train Like an Astronaut course will be open.
Sometime during the event, the operators may attempt to contact the International Space Station.
The Amateur Radio Service (founded decades ago) is the original “social medium”! Half-a-million licensed North American hams—including high schoolers, college kids, parents and grandparents—communicate day after day from coast to coast.
What can people do in the Amateur Radio Service?
*Talk around the world without the Internet or cell phones.
*Send a message to another country using less electricity than a nightlight.
*Transmit your communication in code—Morse code!
*Speak to astronauts on the International Space Station.
What can adults do in the Amateur Radio Service?
*Earn various awards.
*Have more peace of mind knowing that, unlike the internet, federal law mandates sending identifying information during any communication.
*Increase the chances of their families having contact with the outside world during an emergency, simply by connecting radio equipment to a car battery or marine battery.
*Collect weather and flight data from a launched balloon.
What can kids do in the Amateur Radio Service?
*Work toward specialized merit badges and patches.
*Steer radio-controlled cars and airplanes or control robots using ham-only frequencies.
*Keep a hand-held remote transceiver during camping trips.
Come learn more about amateur, or “ham”, radio at this fantastic annual event. Remember, if you like what you see at Field Day there will be plenty of friendly hams around to tell you exactly what you need to do to obtain your own amateur radio license and start transmitting!
[NOTE: Those eleven- to thirteen-year-olds who completed the Forces of Nature Explorers Camp the previous week will receive a special prize for taking part in ARRL Field Day.]