American Radio Relay League Field Day

Ham radio has long carried the reputation of being a “senior male’s hobby,” but that picture is changing fast. More and more younger operators — girls and boys, young women and young men — are discovering what amateur radio can offer. Field Day is one of the best places to see that shift happening in real time.

One of the reasons the hobby continues to attract new people is its reliability during emergencies. When other forms of communication fail, amateur radio keeps working. Every radio we use at the event can run on 12‑volt batteries, solar panels, wind power, or a generator. During Field Day, most of our computers could also powered by battery or generator for the entire event, demonstrating how flexible and resilient the setup can be. We did decide to run them on commercial power this year, however, for stability.

It’s a reminder that amateur radio isn’t just a pastime; it’s a skillset that remains relevant, adaptable, and increasingly appealing to a new generation of operators.

Because the Jay County Fair was operating at the fairgrounds, we weren’t able to hold our ARRL Field Day at the clubhouse this year. Instead, we set up at Milton Miller Park on the north end of Portland, and it turned out to be a great choice.

We were on the air from about 9 AM until 6 PM — since we don’t officially compete in Field Day, we focused on enjoying the day, making contacts, and spending time together. Despite the weather’s best attempts to interfere, we still logged a good number of QSOs.

And as always, the food and company were the real highlights. Good meals, good conversation, and good radio made for a solid Field Day 2026.

We didn't really take any photos from 2023 and 2024, but we were still out there. 2025 was a little different. We had a new member, Jeramiah (KD9CCW - pictured below) who nailed this one. He didn't need a logger, just the logging program. He had pileups that were over six deep at times. And he was FAST! He ended up logging 452 contacts out of the 477 we logged total for the club. His last entry was at about 4:30 AM on Sunday, June 29 and that was the last entry made by the club during the contest. Our total score for the event was 1904 since we ran everything on either a generator or battery power and was a 5A station. Yes, the other tranceivers were on but there was very little logged with them, likely due to antenna issues or band conditions.

Because of the "CoVid-19 "pandemic," we weren't able to do Field Day from our usual place. Instead, Tony Cline was gracious enough to let us use his barn to operate in. For the a first time, it wasn't too bad, but we did learn that a steel barn isn't the greatest to put an antenna in. We really were in it for the fun. Had a few great cookouts and Tony and his family cooked up a great pot of ham and beans along with corn bread and watermelon. How can you beat that? Thanks, Tony! And thanks to Rick Wagaman for providing the photos. By the way, looks like Google isn't doing the slide show like are on the other photos at the moment. I'll be trying to improve this display as time goes on. Meanwhile, it's possible to add comments to the photos.