Field Day prepares radio operators for emergencies

Local radio enthusiasts couldn’t have asked for a better weekend to simulate an emergency.

Amidst sporadic rain and widespread flooding in the region, The Owatonna Steele County Amateur Radio Club (OSCAR) established a temporary transmitting station at McKinley Elementary as part of Field Day, an emergency preparedness exercise coordinated by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL).

Every year during the fourth weekend of June, rain or shine, thousands of radio operators around the world compete to make the most contacts with other stations. Field Day prepares radio operators to step in should other forms of communication be disrupted by natural disasters and other emergencies. According to the ARRL, the exercise draws over 40,000 participants throughout North America alone.

According to Mike Conrad, who coordinates OSCAR’s Field Day activities, the club logged 1,274 contacts. Matt Arthur, the club’s resident Morse code expert, is responsible for 890 of those. The furthest station they contacted was located in Australia.

Conrad was pleased with their results, especially given the conditions they had to work in.

OSCAR members operated the station over a 24-hour period lasting from Saturday to Sunday afternoon, with some camping out for the entire exercise.

“It wouldn’t be a Field Day without some rain,” said Bob Beier, a digital mobile radio operator.

While the station was sheltered from precipitation, Beier said they had to briefly shut down due to threatening weather, as a radio antenna can easily become a lightning rod in a thunderstorm. He said weather conditions hadn’t impeded their operations significantly, although he was aware of another station in Minnesota that was flooded.

As both a member of OSCAR and deputy director of Steele County Emergency Management, Tom Karnauskas split his time between helping out at the station and checking flood gauges. According to Karnauskas, there’s no such thing as a normal Field Day.

“We’ve always run into weird stuff. We’ve had to shut down for storms and go spot storms and things like that. You never know what’s going to happen with Field Day,” said Karnauskas.

Many OSCAR members do double duty with other public safety groups. Conrad is a member of Steele County’s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and the National Weather Services Skywarn, and most of them participate in one or the other.

Bonnie Johnson, president of CERT, joined OSCAR because she wanted to learn more about radio communications. She said the club’s longtime members patiently showed her the ropes, and she’s now camped out for Field Day for eight years. In recent years, she’s been joined by her husband Tim, also a member of CERT. Johnson highlighted OSCAR’s interest in growing their ranks. The club welcomes the public to visit during Field Day as part of their recruitment efforts.

“They are patient with anyone who starts,” said Johnson. “We’d like to get people involved. Anybody can do it.”

While Field Day is their biggest event of the year, the club also welcomes visitors at their monthly meetings.

Conrad said they don’t have much time to chat with other stations during the competition. When contact is made, they exchange basic information like their location and number of transmitters, and move on. While their conversations are brief, Conrad said there’s a sense of kinship between operators.

OSCAR member Dale Carlson said the hobby offers countless facets for people to explore, even for those who’ve been active in it for decades. When he was 14, his cousin gave him the chance to make his first radio call, sparking a lifelong interest.

“Of course, I got mic shy,” said Carlson. “But I was hooked after that.”

He noted radio operators can even try calling the International Space Station for a chance to speak with an astronaut. He can also contact people much closer to home, using ham radio to stay in touch with friends in other states.

Conrad is aware of OSCAR members trying to bounce radio signals off the moon and even passing satellites.

“There’s always something new you can do,” he said. “They’ll do it for the challenge just to see if they can do it.”