The Brownwood Amateur Radio Club’s annual “Field Day” event is Saturday and Sunday, June 27-28, at the Brownwood American Legion Post across from the Brownwood Regional Medical Center at Crockett and Morris Sheppard. Event coordinator Jerry Wetherholt said the event will begin Saturday afternoon at 1:00 pm, and run continuously until 1:00 pm Sunday afternoon, sanctioned by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL).

Ham radio clubs across America and Canada compete for points during the last full weekend of June every year. Each contact made by the club earns points. Brownwood Amateur Radio Club President Rich Dugger said the Brownwood club will operate four amateur radio stations, including one station that will be accessible to the general public to come in and operate.

Under the rules of Field Day, all of the ham radio equipment must be powered by generators and not a public utility. Dugger added that one of the club stations will be operating exclusively on solar power. The WEOC (Wetherholt Emergency Operations Center) mobile communications trailer will feature the digital Win-Link 2000 System, which is a radio e-mail system. It also includes voice communications, digital communications, and Morse Code on the HF bands, local VHF and UHF operations, Automated Position Reporting System (APRS), and a “Digipeater” which is used for extending the range of digital communications systems.

Wetherholt says the entire weekend is not just a competition, but tests the readiness of the local ham radio operators in the event of a major emergency that could affect communications. It’s also a social gathering of the local Hams. The public is invited to attend and find out about the exciting world of Amateur (Ham) Radio.

Pictured above is a participant of a previous year’s event.