Amateur Radio Society Hosts 2022 Winter Day – The Lakelander

Submitted by Lake Whitney Amateur Radio Society

March 3, 2022

You may have noticed some activity at the Lake Whitney Library on the last Saturday in January. The Lake Whitney Amateur Radio Society (LWARS) was participating in an event called Winter Field Day.

You may have seen the article in The Lakelander the week of January 26, announcing Winter Field Day 2022 as well as information on Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES), the ability to spot and report severe weather .

Amateur Radio Winter Field Day is an event held the last full weekend of January each year. The event serves as an emergency preparedness test, as well as a competition between radio enthusiasts to make as many contacts as possible in a 24-hour period.

Amateur radio is a fun and interesting hobby, but it also serves as a public service resource in an age when normal business communications such as landlines and cell phones and even power supply services could be interrupted by an emergency. Winter Field Day is an opportunity to ensure we are ready for emergency communications should our services be required.

Thanks to the article in The Lakelander, Winter Field Day was very successful for the Lake Whitney Amateur Radio Society this year. At least eight visitors came to check on our operations. Several interested visitors brought their own portable radios to be programmed to receive local communications until they could obtain a transmission license, while others wanted to learn more about amateur radio and how to become a licensed operator.

Members of the Lake Whitney Amateur Radio Society arrived at the library early Saturday to set up radios, computers and antennas for the event. When the event officially began, club members took turns making radio contact and recording the results.

During the Winter Field Day event, our club was able to establish a total of 119 contacts with other amateur radio operators in 31 American states and two Canadian provinces (Quebec and Ontario). We had 63 contacts by telephone (voice over radio), 45 contacts by CW (morse code) and 11 digital contacts (computer to computer via radio signal).
The Lake Whitney Amateur Radio Society meets at 10 a.m. on the third Saturday of each month at the Lake Whitney Public Library.

If you are interested in this hobby and possibly participating in public service events, please come and visit. Many members can answer your questions and help you become a licensed amateur radio operator.

The club also offers mentoring opportunities and (low-stress) license testing opportunities before or after meetings.