06/28/2024

It was a successful 2024 ARRL Field Day, despite severe weather and extreme temperatures impacting much of the country. Social media has hundreds of photos and stories from the United States. By Wednesday morning, nearly 2200 log entries had been received, with more arriving hourly. Just a reminder, the deadline for entries is July 23, 2024. Check out the ARRL Field Day website[1] for the latest updates and information.

ARRL member-volunteers on the Board of Directors, along with Section Managers and other Field Organization staff fanned out to visit as many of the sites as possible in their areas. We've collected some of their photos and reports from the road on 2024 ARRL Field Day.

Kenzie Denton, KO4GLN, is the Assistant Section Manager for Youth in the ARRL Virginia Section, and she is the 2023 winner of the Roanoke Division Service Award, the Division's highest honor. A junior at Old Dominion University (ODU) majoring in pre-med, she is president of the ODU Amateur Radio Club, and undertakes many youth outreach initiatives. Her latest was a fox hunt aimed at encouraging girls to participate by using the legacy of Amelia Earhart as inspiration. The Williamsburg Area Amateur Radio Club (WAARC) is known for having a high percentage of active YL members.

Denton and her mother, Nicole, handmade 62 pennants to memorialize Silent Key members of the Williamsburg Area Amateur Radio Club (WAARC). The pennants were strung on two lines which hung adjacent to the park shelter where the club was operating category 3A. It took about 30 minutes to make each pennant, and the collection will remain a fixture for future club events.

ARRL Treasurer John Sager, WJ7S, joined the Utah Valley Amateur Radio Club[2] (UVARC) at their Field Day operation in Trout Creek, Utah. "I joined what was supposed to be a three-man team of CW operators, John Mitton, KK7L, Ralph Nunn, K7RLN, and me ... as a 3A station operating under the UVARC callsign of K7UVA," said Sager. "We were joined by Forrest Stephenson, KI7QCF, a fairly new CW operator and POTA activator, who wanted to see our CW effort in action. We ended up making about 500 CW 3A QSOs during Field Day for the K7UVA effort. 

Ed Wilson, N2XDD, Vice Director of the Hudson Division, drove a total of 947 miles to visit 18 different Field Day sites within the Division. He started on Saturday morning visiting the Warren County (NY) Amateur Radio Club[3]. After a last-minute cancellation of their original site, they quickly scrambled and secured a new location in Lake George, New York. "It was great visiting all the clubs and speaking about my passion for bringing more clubs together on joint efforts, as well as my strong beliefs on increasing education outreach within the hobby," said Wilson. "Along the way I got to meet various club officials and members, listening to their concerns and sharing my visions for the future. I was also able to meet 10-year-old Michael Jones and his 12-year-old brother, Zaydin Jones, grandchildren of April MacMurray, WU2BBY, at the Schenectady Curling Club joint site. On Long Island, at the Long Island Mobile Amateur Radio Club[4] (LIMARC) site, met two more kids, Aiden Reiter, KE2BXH, and Caleb Sullivan, who were busy making contacts when I arrived."

 


[1] https://field-day.arrl.org/fdentriesrcvd.php
[2] https://uvarc.club/
[3] https://sites.google.com/site/wcarasite/
[4] https://www.facebook.com/LIMARCinc/

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