My club here in Ann Arbor, ARROW, is still debating what to do about Field Day. We are unable to return to the site it was held at last year, so the organizers are still looking for a site. In addition, they have been talking about downsizing from 4A or 5A to 2A or 3A. I don’t think that decision’s been made yet, either.
That prompted me to ask my Twitter followers what they’re doing. Here’s what they had to say:
@NR4CB: My club sets up in a field adjacent to a city municipal building. I’ll visit them for a while during the event.
@imabug: @NR4CB and i’ll be playing FD with my club from the USS Yorktown in the #chs harbour
@waltham845: Trying to get myself to the top a mountain pass do some qrp. barring that qrp out in the field both battery powered hopefully.
@NS0D: I will be a CW operator for the combined FD operation at the Liberty Memorial in Kansas City, MO, using call WW1USA
@W1MSW: @HampdenCountyRA 4 towers, 2 tribndrs, 2 40m monobndrs, 3plexrs, networked stns, N1MM & a whole lot of fun!
@jmurphy7411: Taking part in Formidable Footprint ex w/COARES R1D1. Better to train 4 an exp event than HV fun in a contest
@VA3QV: be operating a 1B station (FT 817 qrp and an end fed wire with 12ah battery and solar panel) somewhere TBD from the Ottawa area
@twintiermedia: Spending it with KB3EIB, his 10 yr old son KD2EVP, his unlicensed son, and our dogs in the woods in Allegany County NY QRPing
@M0PZT: May be out /P on the Sunday to make a racket across the pond. Not sure about this QRP stuff though!
@KD8SRF suggested that we hold it in an Ann Arbor municipal park. The guys looked into that, and not only does the city want money to let us do that, they’re not keen on people staying overnight in the parks.
@KD8SRF then suggested: “If you wanted to go all in, might I suggest Belle isle. State police everywhere. They allow after dark special event. It’s cleaned up.” Belle Isle is the jewel of the Detroit park system. It really used to be fabulous, and the city of Detroit, which has been going through some “restructuring,” has now allowed the state of Michigan to take it over and operate it as a state park.
I actually like this idea a lot, but this is an idea for next year, I think. I would want to make it a SE Michigan event and invite hams from all over the region to participate, not just hams from any one club. Maybe I can even get KD8SRF to help organize this.
So, I’ll put it to you now. What are you doing for Field Day?
My local club moved from a state park out in the boonies to a county park a few years ago. There were two obstacles in the move to the county park: 1) they didn’t allow overnight events and 2) they wanted us to carry more liability insurance than we carry (which has been sufficient for other events, including Field Day and our annual hamfest held at the state fairgrounds). Our county ARES coordinator reached out to our contact at the county EMA, and they struck a deal with the county parks department that cleared both of those obstacles. It is a nice partnership!
It’s also worth noting, that in our first year in said county park, they double-booked the venue. But they were more than willing to accommodate us, they rented two large tents (the kind that’s usually used for weddings), tables, and chairs, and it worked perfect! It worked even better than using the permanent shelter on-site. This will be our third year at this park for Field Day, and we get quite a bit of passersby stopping since we’re in the city in a busy park instead of 30 minutes outside of town and hard to find off the beaten path in a state park.
The newly formed South Plainfield Amateur Radio Club will be holding its first Field Day at one of the parks in town. We would prefer the County park, as there is a gazebo and high visibility. Our Director of OEM is trying to get permission from the County. Barring that, we will go to one of the municipal parks, one that has just about as equal visibility and traffic. Downside is that we’d have to provide some kind of tent/shelter.
We will be operating as 2A battery powered – we will be doing an all QRP event. The plan right now is for one SSB and one CW station. We will be inviting the mayor (the son of one of our members) to come by and it so happens that the wife of one of our members publishes the local town weekly newspaper, so we should get some decent publicity.
Because we just formed a few weeks ago, this is really a minimal KISS effort. But the plan is to have fun, expose Amateur Radio to the public as much as possible. I am going to get in touch with the Scout Leaders in town and extend the invitation for them to visit, also.
Every Labor Day, our town has a parade. In fact, we’re one of three town in NJ that hosts Labor Day parades. At the end of the parade, on the high school athletic fields, various groups and organizations have displays – showing their wares, services, etc. In addition to the local Lions Club and Rotary Club, SPARC also hopes to have a table, where we can hopefully interest newcomers and attract the inactive Hams we have in town.
Count me in if you’re going to do Belle Isle next year!