Alachua County ham radio volunteers will compete at Cuscowilla on June 22-23

Press release from North Florida Amateur Radio Club

ALACHUA COUNTY, Fla. – Just as the Cuscowilla youth campers leave on Friday, June 21, two tall radio towers will arrive for a weekend of nationwide “Field Day” radio competition.

The North Florida Amateur Radio Club (NFARC), as part of the nationwide Amateur Radio Emergency Service, which serves Alachua County Emergency Management during shelter operations in disasters, will use antennas on the two towers to compete in the annual Field Day ham radio contest Saturday and Sunday, June 22-23.  Visitors to Cuscowilla can see the impressive 100-foot portable radio tower of the State of Florida Region 3 Mutual Aid Radio Communications, deployed to help the club compete. The club’s own shorter 35-foot tower with a 25-foot wide ham radio antenna on top will also be on display.

Visitors can enter the front door of the Cuscowilla Lodge to find brochures and a tour guide to show them around and answer their questions from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to noon on Sunday. In addition to the antenna towers, amateur radio stations will be set up in the Lodge and in one of the Cuscowilla cabins.

The NFARC club placed first in the nation last year in their emergency operations center-affiliated segment of this large nationwide preparedness contest, in which typically more than 25,000 hams compete. Club members made over 1,200 radio contacts in the 24-hour competition. This year,  NFARC will operate four different shortwave radio stations simultaneously, each capable of world-wide communications. Membership in the club is free, and volunteers willing to serve Alachua County disaster communications are strongly urged to join.

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. This event is open to the public and all are encouraged to attend.

Field Day is a showcase for how Amateur Radio works reliably under any conditions from almost any location to create an independent communications network. Ham radio functions completely independent of the Internet or cell phone infrastructure, can interface with laptops or smartphones, and can be set up almost anywhere in minutes.

More information about the exciting hobby of amateur radio can be found at https://www.arrl.org/what-is-ham-radio or at the local club’s website, https://www.nf4rc.club/

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