Field Day

By far, Field Day is our largest planned club activity every year.

Field Day is a competitive event designed to simulate an emergency situation where Amateur Radio operators, commonly known as hams, set up radio equipment in the field to compete for score, to test the readiness of Amateur Radio Emergency Communications, and a chance to meet new friends and test the limits of our hobby. The Boeing Employees' Amateur Radio Society (BEARS) also provides communications support to the community as a public service and to the Boeing Emergrency Prepartedness Task Force (EPTF) here in St. Louis. The EPTF is composed of Boeing employees, whose specific skills might be required at the scene of a major emergency.

Field Day occurs annually on the fourth full weekend of June. It begins at 18:00 UTC Saturday and ends at 21:00 UTC Sunday.

Field Day is the annual "shakedown" for the American Radio Relay League's (ARRL) national Field Organization. The ARRL Field Organization has been effective in establishing emergency communication networks in times of floods, hurricanes, fires, earthquakes, and other major disasters. Members of formal emergency organizations such as the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) and the Radio Amateur Communication Emergency Services (RACES) regularly participate in this activity. The ARRL estimates that more than 35,000 hams participate in Field Day every year.

The ARRL's Field Day Website

Field Day is a way for hams to get outdoors and have fun under some difficult conditions, but it's also a chance for us to fine tune our emergency communication skills. We will use power provided by batteries and portable electrical generators, and set up our equipment in the field. The idea is to put together a self sufficient station quickly and simulate the handling of a high volume of communication traffic (messages) by making as many contacts as possible with other hams during the event. Communication modes of voice, Morse code, and Teletype will be demonstrated.

Finally, Field Day is also the vehicle through which Boeing employee clubs participate in our Field Day Challenge contest.

Field Day Challenge

The Field Day Challenge is a private competition between Boeing affiliated amateur radio clubs participating in the ARRL annual Field Day event. The object of the Field Day Challenge is to motivate Boeing affiliated clubs to participate in the ARRL annual Field Day event, create a friendly competition and camaraderie between clubs, and to recognize excellence in contesting performance. A single plaque is awarded to the winning club on a revolving basis. Rules for the contest are available for download in PDF file format.

 Rules for the Field Day Challenge (17 kB file size).