Locals look forward to ‘Superbowl of radio’

By BOB MOREHEAD

BGNN senior staff writer/KA8LYJ

Every summer, amateur radio operators all over the world unplug their gear, take it outside, and try to log as many contacts as they can over a 24-hour period using their own power.

This year, Amateur Radio Field Day is June 28-29 and local hams are setting up at the American Legion Post, 220 E Sunset Drive in Rittman.

“It’s a contest but it’s not a contest,” Silvercreek Amateur Radio Association Vice President Nick Trawek, who has coordinated the club’s participation for several years, told BGNN. “We don’t look for winners and losers.”

The Federal Communications Commission and its counterparts around the world grant amateurs wide swaths of the entire electromagnetic spectrum for a playground. In return, amateurs offer their equipment and expertise to relay messages when normal media go down. Last year’s hurricanes and the Los Angeles wildfires are only a couple recent examples.

“This provides an opportunity to practice those skills,” Trawek said.

Antenna erection starts at 10 a.m. and they plan to be on the air around 11, with multiple stations covering about a half-dozen wavelengths. The public is welcome and the curious can try their hand at the microphones themselves under supervision; Field Day doubles as a prime recruiting event for the hobby.

SARA was founded in Doylestown in 1977 and the village still hosts the club’s primary UHF and VHF repeaters. The club draws members from throughout northeast Ohio, including Barberton and Norton. Meetings are the third Thursday every month at 7 p.m. at the Wadsworth Eagles hall and the club hosts quarterly license exam sessions. The next one will be 9 a.m. Aug. 2 at the Rittman fire station.